► In the circles of hell
The hunting accident
by David L. Carlson (screenplay) and Landis Blair (design)
Translated from English (United States) by Julie Sibony, Éditions Sonatine, 472 p., € 29
When young Charlie sets down his suitcases in Chicago in 1959, after his mother’s death, his gaze first lingers on his father’s dark glasses. Now that they are going to live together, he wants to understand the origin of his blindness. Matt Rizzo then tells his son about an unfortunate hunting accident.
→ DOSSIER. Angoulême BD Festival 2020
But when the police ring their doorbell years later, the secret ends up being shattered. It was actually during a robbery that he lost his sight. Cornered, the former gangster decides to tell Charlie about his heavy past.
Inspired by the testimony of a friend, David L. Carlson’s graphic novel takes us to 1940s Chicago, under the reign of the Mafia, as well as to the dismal Stateville prison where Matt Rizzo is incarcerated. After suddenly losing his sight, and his freedom, he must also share his cell with Nathan Leopold. Incarnation of evil, he will nevertheless save his fellow inmate from suicide, by teaching him braille through reading Hell by Dante.
→ THE FACTS. Comics: in 2021, the Angoulême festival is doubling
Ode to literature, The hunting accident tells how poetry can bring back light, even in a man stranded in darkness. Landis Blair, challenged to represent the unfathomable perception of a blind person, deploys all his talent as an illustrator here. His hatched drawings in black and white – which recall the inhabited drawing of Emil Ferris (Fauve d’or 2019) – magnify a story of great power.
And also :
Unbelievable !,
by Zabus (script) and Hippolyte (drawing),
Dargaud, 200 p., € 21
Jean-Loup, a lonely little boy full of tics and tocs, flees the others by taking refuge in his mind. But one day, a tiny detail comes to shake up his existence … Hyppolite’s aerial line, with false airs of Sempé, gracefully serves Zabus’ tale, both funny and touching.
► In the colors of fantasy
all coda
by Simon Spurrier (script) and Matías Bergara (design)
Translated from English (United States) by Philippe Touboul, Glénat Comics, 336 p., € 29.95
L’heroic fantasy is a genre that celebrates the power of the imagination. You have to accept it, to enter the universe created by the British screenwriter Simon Spurrier and the Uruguayan designer Matías Bergara. A universe in which humans rub shoulders with all kinds of creatures with a more or less enticing appearance, and where magic spreads in green waves and purplish explosions.
Visual exuberances and caustic dialogues evoke Terry Pratchett, the prince of the genre, while the desolate landscapes of a universe both medieval and post-apocalyptic bring to mind Mad Max. But the album is also distinguished by its scenario, rich and breathless. all coda recounts the tortuous quest of a tortured bard, Hum, who seeks to save his wife Serka from her own dark side.
The thickness of the characters surprises in this fantastic universe. The hero’s adventures, carried out with full speed, are interspersed with more introspective pages which see him writing beautiful letters to his wife that resemble a diary. All the aesthetic codes of comics Americans – outrageous bloodshed included – are put at the service of a grandiose saga where colors burst on each page.
And also :
Pico Bogue, volume 12: “Inseparable”
by Dominique Roques (screenplay) and Alexis Dormal (drawing),
Dargaud, 48 p., € 12
The presence of this twelfth volume in the official selection sounds like a deserved reward for all the work of the authors, mother and son, who have been writing the adventures of Pico Bogue for 13 years. Heir to Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson, this red-haired child has a learned culture, easy sales pitch, and mischievous intentions. Tasty boards, served by an irresistible design and colors.
► Vertigo of life
Rusty Brown
the Chris Ware
Delcourt, 356 p., € 49.95, translated from English (United States) by Anne Capuron
Rusty Brown begins as a choral film by Robert Altman. The general shots of the small American town where the introverted young boy lives, persuaded to be a superhero, which gives his name to this extraordinary work, is followed by a presentation of the characters whose paths intersect. WK Brown, cantankerous English teacher and Rusty’s father, revisits his childhood memories.
One of his students, the turbulent Jordan Lintn, spends his life rehashing childhood trauma. Finally, Joanna Cole, Rusty’s teacher, seems to be waiting for Providence to smile on her …
You might as well say it straight away, you have to arm yourself with courage (and sometimes a magnifying glass) to read this new work by Chris Ware, one of the most avant-garde authors of American comics (Special Prize in Angoulême in 2013 for Building Stories).
Deeply melancholy and wildly inventive, this novel with polished graphics seeks to alternate points of view and narrative temporalities to better reproduce the erratic thread of the characters’ thoughts. We come out wrung out, but transformed, as the questions about life choices are posed in a dizzying way.
And also :
An exemplary year,
by Lisa Mandel,
Autoédition, 400 p., 20 €.
The year 2020 has not been lost on everyone. Lisa Mandel used it to get rid of her addictions, against all odds (and especially herself). With a lively and loose line, close to a caricature, she tells, with a good dose of self-mockery, her daily fight against the slice of too much pizza, the boozy aperitif or the stupid series.
In this hilarious and introspective almanac, which she first posted on her website and social media before self-publishing, she tackles the reign of appearance and injunctions to perfection.
► Christian comics lacking inspiration
After a disappointing 2020 vintage, the authors of Christian comics must find the path to creativity.
In recent years, the Christian comic book prize, awarded on the occasion of the festival of the same name in Angoulême, was the occasion to rejoice in a new impetus. The presence on several occasions of big names in “secular” comics (the duo Dufaux and Jamar, Zep) confirmed an interest in religious themes in the ninth art, styles and scenarios freed themselves a little from too classic canons. This exciting development culminated last year with a varied and high level selection.
Alas, 2020 will have come to a halt. Not that the recipients of the 2021 Prize for Christian Comics are of poor quality. But the winner, Bernadette & Lourdes: the survey by Alban Guillemois and Yvon Bertorello (Artège BD), and Face to face: Jesus and Pilate by Delalande, Gombert and Garcia (Robinson), which received a special mention, are precisely the only two albums of the selection to show inventiveness in the graphics and the writing. For the rest, the lives of linear saints and a realistic line without roughness were too often the norm in the production of the past year.
In order not to appear unfairly harsh, it is necessary to underline one fact here: Christian comics is a difficult genre. Everyone perceives how respect for sacredness or concern for historical rigor or evangelical fidelity can become a straitjacket. Above all, do not betray anything, especially do not shock the reader.
But a comic book will never be reducible to educational or catechetical support. Emotion, humor, good characters, the originality of the story, the quality of the drawing will never be optional to conquer an audience, Christian or not. A good Christian comic strip is above all… a good comic book. Screenwriters, cartoonists, but also editors: daring!
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The major absentees
It is certainly not easy to put together a balanced selection of comics, a skilful mix of works published by big publishers and independent houses, established authors and young firsts.
Unfortunately, there are many absentees this year, starting with the last volumes of Arabic of the future (Allary), Golden age (Dupuis) or Animal castle (Dargaud), but also Carbon and Silicon (Ankama), Beautiful Hello (Futuropolis) and the beautiful journeys ofAmericana (Casterman) and Khalat (Almost Moon), Ecumenical Jury Prize 2021. Too bad.
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