Comics | Julie Doucet wins the Angoulême Grand Prix

Quebec cartoonist Julie Doucet won the Angoulême Grand Prix on Wednesday, a prize awarded to her to highlight her entire career.

Stephanie Morin
The Press

This prize, the most prestigious in the world of French-speaking comics, has been awarded every year since 1974 during the International Comics Festival in Angoulême, France. This is the first time a Canadian has won this honour, and only the third time the Grand Prix has been awarded to a woman.

“I still can’t believe it,” says the cartoonist when we reached him by phone in Angoulême. I am dumbfounded. It’s as if I had received a hammer blow on the head! Winning the Angoulême Grand Prix is ​​huge; it’s the biggest award in the industry. It’s crazy when you think that I started from a little fanzine with a name not very clear! »

In fact, it was in 1990, after meeting comic book lovers at the University of Quebec in Montreal, that Julie Doucet launched her first publication: a photocopied fanzine entitled Dirty Plottewhere she recounts in French and in English her daily life, her anxieties, her dreams… From this project were born other albums with no better names (including Criss ciborium), until the cartoonist left comics in 1999 to devote herself to printed art.

A good choice, according to the artistic director of the Festival

Obviously, the world of comics has not forgotten the author, now 56 years old, despite more than 20 years spent without drawing the slightest speech bubble…

You should know that for several years now, the winners of the Grand Prix d’Angoulême have been chosen by a vast panel made up of authors from all over the world who have been published in French. “More than 1,800 authors participated this year,” says Victor Macé de Lépinay, artistic director of the Festival. Voting is totally free and authors can vote for whoever they want in the first round. »

The names of the three cartoonists who finished first in this first round are put to a second vote. For the first time in the history of the Festival, three women competed for the honour: Catherine Meurisse, Pénélope Bagieu and Julie Doucet.

“I think the jury chose well,” says Victor Macé de Lépinay. Julie Doucet’s work is distinguished by the strength and radicality found in it. There is a total freedom and independence of spirit in her, as well as a darkness and violence in the themes addressed. There is a particular feminism in her work, especially in the subjects that are treated. »

“In France, we rediscovered it with the publication of Maxiplot, a very comprehensive anthology recently published by L’Association. Even if Julie Doucet’s work dates back a few years, it is not outdated. It is so impactful and so radical; it’s a real slap you get reading it. Julie Doucet is also a pioneer for the autobiographical narrative, as well as for telling her dreams. She has a very raw and direct way of directing herself. She is an author who deserves recognition. »

Julie Doucet now sits in the pantheon of comics with big names like Franquin, Tardi, Enki Bilal, Régis Loisel or Art Spiegelman, to name a few. How does it feel to be surrounded so well? “I don’t know, I didn’t dare look at the winners,” says Julie Doucet. I prefer to disregard this information! »

An expected return

The big question that early admirers ask themselves: will this award convince her to return to her first love? “I don’t know what I’m going to do in the future, but I’ve been working for two years on a book that’s a revisit of comics. There is no square on the other hand; it is a large continuous fresco which extends over 130 pages. But it’s narrative, it’s autobiographical. And there are bubbles! »

The album, titled Time Zone J, due out in English in April on Drawn & Quarterly. The publication date of the French version is not yet known.