Thorgal, the most famous Viking of the 9e art, is back for a brand new adventure. The brand new album Farewell Aaricia presents itself as a carte blanche inaugurating the creation of a new collection entitled “Thorgal Saga” where authors will narrate a different episode in the life of “the child of the stars”.
At the controls of this first opus, the cartoonist Robin Recht, himself a great fan of the saga. The latter was not going to miss an opportunity to put his mark on the series imagined by the duo composed of the Belgian screenwriter Jean Van Hamme and the Polish designer Grzegorz Rosinski who had a lasting mark on his adolescence.
“Thorgal, who asks only to lead a peaceful life with his family, is a courageous hero who is both romantic and timeless”, launches Robin Recht at the end of the line. “When I was a child, in the mid-1980s, the series gave me the dose of fantasy culture that I needed at that time and the intelligence of the creators is to have managed to mix so many kinds in a delicious salad. »
Cult saga
Since its birth in 1977 in the pages of the newspaper Tintin, “the child of the stars” has come a long way. Forty volumes on the counter, without forgetting the last offering of Robin Recht, all accumulating more than twenty million copies sold in France and throughout the world. It must be said that the whole, rich in Scandinavian myths and historical references, has everything to please lovers of wonderful worlds.
The Thorgal odyssey — now handled with dexterity by authors Fred Vignaux and Yann — has several parallel plots featuring the brave Viking and his relatives catapulted into a universe where Nordic legends, science fiction and heroic fantasy. “Thorgal, it’s a bit like The Little House On The Prairie met The Lord of the Rings, emphasizes Recht. A touching peaceful warrior and victim of a cruel and unjust fate. »
A saga that has lasted 45 years necessarily brings its share of ups and downs, but among the issues of the main series, Recht lists a dozen masterpieces (archers, Alinoe Or The master of mountains to name a handful), which is already quite extraordinary, he notes. “These very great comics deserve in my opinion to remain alive, to be read and to be treasured. »
He also finds it unfortunate that Van Hamme and Rosinski are still not recognized at their fair value by their peers. “It’s a shame since this legacy would have earned both of them the Grand Prix d’Angoulême for all of their work, but in France, the milieu does not forgive creators for having turned towards the public and not towards the Academy. »
Prior to the project, the author explains that he briefly met the Belgian screenwriter who sold his rights to the series some time ago. It was especially with the designer Rosinski that he spoke during the development ofFarewell Aaricia. The latter, whom Recht affectionately qualifies as “lunar and whimsical”, always keeps an eye on his baby even if he no longer signs albums. “We spoke several times by videoconference, because it was during the pandemic. But these virtual meetings were an opportunity to get to know each other and receive some of his valuable advice. »
A geek among the Vikings
When Le Lombard editions offered him a number in the form of a carte blanche, the 48-year-old author saw all the scriptwriting potential of being able to work on the character for the duration of a story. “I embarked on this project with a certain childish recklessness,” he says. I felt like I was being given the keys to a wonderful toy store. I had a lot of fun. »
Born in Burgundy, Robin Recht, trained at the Decorative Arts in Paris, is a screenwriter and comic book artist nourished by geek culture, video games and superheroes. He says he is inhabited by the desire to remodel in his own way the characters who fascinated him when he was younger. He is thus at the origin of several adaptations, including three volumes of the Elric series and a remarkable version of Conan the Barbarian. “There are artists who constantly seek to create new universes, I prefer to revisit figures and cultures that made me dream. »
However, the author has sought in recent years to “diversify his work”, notably alongside Matthieu Angotti. The duo has signed more contemporary works such as the political chronicle Disintegration. Diary of a counselor at Matignon or The cage of idiotsa colorful camera in the form of a thriller adapted from the novel The Hunchback’s Garden by Franz Bartelt.
“I like to alternate between different graphic universes, between a teenager’s pleasure and an adult’s pleasure. Thorgal represents an obvious pleasure of youth, but I didn’t want to do a tribute number, a knee to the ground in front of the great elders. What interests me is to offer all readers, whether they know the series or not, a real adventure made up, I hope, of a single author’s language and vision. »
Farewell, beloved
It remains only with Farewell Aaricia, Recht wishes to be part of a continuity, “out of respect for the readers of Thorgal”, without imposing a graphic and narrative style that breaks with the past as certain authors have been able to do for other comics. “I am thinking of the magnificent work of Matthieu Bonhomme for lucky Luke or Emile Bravo for Spirou, he lists. These designers offered a particular sensitivity both in form and in substance. »
Although Recht’s apocryphal Thorgal has become an aging man, presented in the twilight of his life, fans of the saga will recognize the codes of the series. The harsher and more radical proposal, however, plunges the character into full mourning, the latter having lost his beloved Aaricia. “What makes, in my opinion, the heart of the series, is the almost fusional relationship between Thorgal and his wife, adds the author. Seeing him confront the worst is the starting point for a new ordeal. »
We thought we knew everything about the great deeds of the Viking, but the addition of time travel and the presence of a strong family figure make the originality of this album which represents in a way a nod to the longevity of the saga. “I play on two temporalities that allow me to dialogue between what the character has become today forty years later, worn out by life and more mature, and the essence of the character in what was fresh, juvenile and very sunny at the start of the series. »
Two Thorgals for the price of one