Glénat
BD —The affairs of state, these “political affairs which involve members of the government of one or more states” according to Wikipedia, have marked the history of the Fifth Republic until today, the Sarkozy-Gadhafi affair or the Benalla affair – currently under investigation by the courts – being just two very recent examples among dozens of other scandals which have fascinated as much as disgusted public opinion.
A new collection of comics published by Glénat revisits three affairs of state that shook the Fifth Republic. Three albums released on April 7 each constitute the first episode of a series that will develop its ramifications. At the helm: Philippe Richelle, Belgian screenwriter fascinated by the secrets of European political history, and more particularly of France (The mysteries of the Republic, Banking Secrets, Behind the scenes of power…) He is assisted on these new titles by three designers whose realistic lines are quite similar: Régis Penet, Pierre Wachs and Alfio Buscaglia.
Far right
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Glénat
The most convincing of the three volumes is the one devoted to the Far Right (Volume 1: A bulky man), which tells of the rise of the creator of the “National Party”, the acceleration of which is made possible by the misappropriation of a heritage. Under the name of Jean-Maurice Le Guen, we obviously recognize Jean-Marie Le Pen, the story of the album revolving around the suspicion of capturing the Lambert heritage at the origin of his fortune. It is the big limit of this series that to change the names and the details (dates in particular) to avoid the lawsuits in defamation, rather than to state clearly the accusations, which for example dared the comics. Sarkozy-Gaddafi (Delcourt) and Benalla and me (La Revue Dessinée / Le Seuil), which were really well-documented surveys. This is because Philippe Richelle has decided to freely draw inspiration from historical facts in order to integrate a fictional dimension into them, sometimes even imagining plausible explanations for cases that have not yet been clarified.
However, this does not prevent his work from claiming an educational interest. The Vichy origins of the “National Party” are not obscured (the National Front was indeed created in particular by a ancien Waffen SS : Pierre Bousquet with the former militiamen François Brigneau and Roland Gaucher, which we cannot repeat enough), nor his historical links with the OAS. On the other hand, the stories of murders associated with these proven facts seem more fantastic. They will force the curious reader to do some research to disentangle the true from the false, which is a very good thing.
Jihad
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Glénat
Jihad – Volume 1, Secret defense is a bit more confusing. The facts recounted in this album take place in the 1980s, around a case of arms trafficking to the Middle East involving the DST and members of the government. The idea of installing Jihad in those years rather than today for this series is relevant, and undoubtedly aims to dispassionate the subject. But the somewhat muddled story loses the reader, even if the pieces will undoubtedly be glued together in the next episodes. The scenario here seems more fictional, inspired by the Karachi affair, which is however later. The rest should hang up the wagons with another part of the story, that of Islamist terrorism.
Cold War
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Glénat
Cold War – Volume 1, Passage to the West, is a more classic story. A story of double agents, and in particular of a KGB agent who went to the West through Finland who will remind readers of the essay in a somewhat distant way The spy and the traitor the journey of Oleg Gordievsky, here attached to an investigation to flush out Soviet moles infiltrated at NATO’s Paris headquarters.
In these three albums, the association of historical facts with elements of fiction is surprising. The concept may put off some readers who would prefer more factual scenarios or surveys. However, this mixture of genres has certain virtues, such as that of questioning our relationship to history. He reminds us that our ability to believe the improbable (and therefore to sink into conspiratorial stories) can only be linked to our fascination with scandal. Perhaps nourishing this dark part present in each of us through fiction, forcing us to question what is told to us, will instill in each of us a necessary doubt, which will remove for the future the temptation to succumb too quickly to theories and to the rumors which sometimes outweigh our indignation about more contemporary scandals.
See also on The HuffPost: Steven Appleby’s ‘Dragman’ Turns Into a Superhero When He Puts on Women’s Dresses
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