The article examines the presence of reflexive processes in the series Obscure Cities, in particular through a comparison between the two versions of the first album, Samaris. In these comic books, which already in their title give priority to urban spaces rather than to the adventures of characters, the spectacular exhibition of the world tends to prevail over the story. The author shows how Schuiten and Peeters’ reflexive approach is not in contradiction with an emphasis on worldbuilding. Even if some motifs that intertwine text and image refer to characteristics of the language of comic books and are treated in such a way that they produce a discourse on the possibilities of the medium, immersion into the fiction is not attenuated; it is paradoxically reinforced by a subtle interplay between real world and the world of fiction, which gives the latter a fascinating power of absorption.