Let’s first look at the shape of this series from the “Celtic” collection. Comic book lovers who love beautiful presentation will savor their pleasure thanks to this white canvas back and the sublime cover illustration created by Ugo Pinson. The cover pages represent a map of the March 1793 insurrection. An effective way to project yourself directly into the geopolitical context of the period studied, on glossy paper.
But does this attractive, high-quality exterior presentation keep all its promises? Is the form worth the content? Thierry Jiroudel had warned the reader in the preface to the first volume of the series: this is a history of Brittany written by Bretons. Thus, his approach differs markedly from the conventional way offered by history textbooks.
If the point of view is Breton, historical rigor is the watchword of this series: the sources are quoted, numerous references at the bottom of the page refine the knowledge of the reader; a succinct bibliography and other more extensive notes satisfy the appetite of the curious. This history of the chouannerie carried out by passionate lovers of their region goes as far as it can in detail throughout its fifty-eight plates. You learn, for example, that Monsignor Bareau de Girac was Bishop of Rennes in 1788 or that Colonel Tuffin de la Rouërie had taken part in the American War of Independence by embarking in Nantes in February 1777 aboard the Morris.
Some readers might find this multitude of details tedious but it is the prerogative of precision and everything is made digestible thanks to the lively way of presenting them that the comic strip allows. The realistic drawing of Christophe Babonneau is generous, rich in detail and rigorous on all levels, be it architecture, furniture, uniforms or historical places.
The coloring by William Lopez is most appropriate, sticking wonderfully with this period of terror, hope and blood, all in dark hues matching the golden and ocher colors of autumn. They thus tell of themselves the twilight of the history of a fiery region whose last hopes of freedom were stifled by the execution on June 25, 1804 of one of its most famous representatives: Georges Cadoudal.
This people will not be any less proud of its roots because it still transmits to us today its culture and its ancestral soul still alive. This album is both a solid and attractive version of the history of Brittany. The reader who tackles it will come away conquered and at the very least educated.
To be reserved, however, for lovers of non-fictionalized history. Point here of fiction where one follows the heroic acts of the main characters of a popular saga but well a respect of the historical actors and the not watered down events of the history of the Chouans.
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