An inside look at France’s superstar cartooning team

Maybe Later sees Dupuy & Berberian working separately for the first time, each cartoonist taking turns to tell the behind-the-scenes making of their bestselling Mr. Jean series. In fluid black-and-white, with hilariously paranoid digressions and surreal dream sequences, Maybe Later is a record of their unique artistic partnership, midlife and its demons, the stress of deadlines, and the friends and colleagues who help and goad along the way. Above all, it’s about the creative process, with aliens, pawns, and deflated superheroes battling procrastination and self-doubt in defense of the simple pleasure of telling stories through pictures.

Maybe Later is a rare opportunity to discover each of the artists in his own right. And for newcomers, it’s a superb introduction to the quiet wit, brilliant narrative style, and refined visual language of the Mr. Jean stories; the first three short stories are collected in D+Q’s Get a Life.