Space Warped

Hervé Bourhis • Rudy Spiesser

My GN Bookshelf

A place where we return to the stories on our shelves

and look at them again… through a different lens.

And that has been part of what makes this so interesting.

Space Warped A Find From Friends

This latest find came from our pals at Orbital Arts in Kensington Market.

Leo and Jo run the artist-owned shop, and every time we step inside there is always something unexpected waiting on the shelves.

Leo is a huge Star Wars fan, so when he handed me Space Warped this past Sunday, I knew it was probably going to be fun.

I just did not expect it to be this clever.

First Impressions

There is an immediate sense that this book understands the world it is playing with.

Yes, it is clearly riffing on Star Wars.

But it does it with affection rather than imitation.

The humour lands in small ways.

Quick reactions. Strange little moments. One liners that catch you off guard.

It feels playful without trying too hard.

Some parody books repeat the joke.

This one actually finds its own rhythm.

A Familiar World… Seen Differently

What surprised me most was how fresh parts of it felt.

When a story leans this closely to something we all know so well, you expect to see the beats coming.

But Space Warped shifts things just enough.

The scenes move lightly.

The tone never gets heavy.

And underneath the humour there is still a real sense of adventure carrying the story forward.

It reminded me how much pacing and tone matter, even in comedy.

The Artwork

The artwork took me a little longer to settle into.

It has a rougher, grittier quality than the kind of graphic novels I usually gravitate toward.

At first, the muted palette and heavier cartoon style pulled me slightly away from the page.

But what really started to pull me in was the way the colour backgrounds kept shifting throughout the book.

The page layouts stay fairly consistent, so those changes in colour and atmosphere bring a small burst of energy to each new sequence.

It keeps the eye moving.

It keeps the story feeling alive.

And slowly, the artwork began to make more sense within the tone of the book itself.

It feels messy in a very intentional way.

The artwork may not pull you in immediately.

But it slowly becomes part of the charm.

Final Thought

What stayed with me about Space Warped was not just the parody itself.

It was the balance.

The book understands the world it is borrowing from, but it still finds room to create its own identity.

And honestly… those are often the books that linger the longest.

Especially when they come recommended by friends who know exactly what to hand you.

If you are a Star Wars fan, this is a series worth picking up.

About the Artists

Hervé Bourhis and Rudy Spiessert are the creative team behind Space Warped.

Bourhis developed an early love for superheroes and comics, eventually building a long career in French graphic novels and humour-based storytelling. His first published book won the Goscinny Prize for best emerging scriptwriter, and he later became known for works such as Alas and the Petit Livre series.

Spiessert came from a background in visual communication and illustration before moving into comics. His work carries a playful, expressive energy that feels deeply connected to cartooning and performance.

Together, they bring a distinctly European comic sensibility to Space Warped. The humour feels layered and affectionate, while the artwork embraces exaggeration, movement, and grit in a way that gives the book its own strange charm.

Until next time, Annellie