By awarding among the 43 albums in the running, the prestigious Fauve d’or to the first volume of the Revolution choir fresco, drawn by four artists by Lorientais Florent Grouazel and Rouennais Younn Locard, and entitled Liberté, le 47e Angoulême international comic book festival has not only distinguished the talent of these two young authors, who met on the benches of high school, but also offered a particular resonance to the social anger that has been expressed everywhere in France for more one year. A significant choice in an economic context of precariousness of the profession of comic strip authors – more than 30% of them live below the poverty line. All the Anguman winners also closed the Fauve ceremony last Sunday, going up on stage with their fists raised, meaning that they would not be seen at the next edition if their situation did not improve. And quickly, while 2020 has been declared the year of comics…
Because Revolution, by endeavoring to bring to life, as close to its characters, its little people, the effervescence and the insurrectional potential of the people of Paris, also tells of other revolts, like that of the “Yellow Vests”. If we cross in these 336 pages the figures which accompany from the benches of the school our books of stories, Robespierre, Mirabeau, Saint-Just, Marat, we follow especially figures of this popular Paris seized in the agitation of this spring 1789, which will decide the future of France. There is Marie, a street girl with a tired eye, always in search of a combination to eat, Abel de Kervélégan, a Breton recently arrived, who accompanies his brother, Augustin, deputy of the Third Estate, in the United States. Generals in Versailles, Queen Audu, chief of the merchants of Les Halles, who is eyeing the granaries managed by farmers general starving the Parisians.
Exemplary historical reconstructions
There are also all these heated discussions in the salons, the mansions, all these conspirators who work for the king. We even recognize a pamphleteer to whom Florent Grouazel and Younn Locard have given the features… of Eric Zemmour. There are above all these exemplary historical reconstructions, illuminated by warm colors – the authors confess to being inspired by candle-lit plans by Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, they did well – this sense of rhythm, of editing, of language, so close to ours, and destinies that intertwine. “They are not historians, but they reconstruct the real“, attests Pierre Serna, professor of history of the French Revolution at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, who signs the preface to this large-scale comic book, which will quickly become a reference in terms of historical comics.
Two volumes covering the periods 1795-1796 are planned. We can’t wait to dive into it, because, curiously, the Revolution, unlike the Second World War, was rarely addressed by the 7e art. And, above all, also intelligently. “We hope this book resonates particularly today“Younn Locard said while receiving the Golden fawn. He vibrates with noise and fury.
Révolution, T. 1: Liberté, by Florent Grouazel and Younn Locard, Acte Sud / L’An 2, 336 p., 26 €.
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