Albert Robida's Mad Scientist with 'Revolver à Microbes' — Victorian Satirical Caricature
Closer in spirit to Robida's own Le Vingtième Siècle than to straightforward pulp adventure, this sardonic pen-and-ink caricature depicts a bearded scientist hunched obsessively over a cluttered laboratory bench bristling with flasks labeled 'Sirop de Bactéries,' 'Culture de Bacilles,' and 'Ferments.' Above him hangs a device ominously tagged 'Revolver à microbes,' anticipating biological warfare anxieties decades before they crystallized in fiction. Robida's scratchy, expressive linework perfectly captures Belle Époque techno-paranoia with dark comedic wit.
The concept of a microbe-firing revolver is genuinely unsettling and prescient, but the restrained caricature style keeps it cerebral rather than lurid. It would intrigue a scientifically curious reader rather than grab a newsstand browser by the throat.
“Revolver à microbes Sirop de Bactéries Culture de Bacilles [illegible] Ferments Bouillon [?]”
