franceinfo 2024 prize for current affairs and reporting comics

How did George Lucas, a young American filmmaker, create the first part of “Star Wars”? In pain. This is what “Les Guerres de Lucas” tells, an investigative comic carried out at full speed, and crowned this week by the 30th franceinfo prize.

Lucas Wars immerse us in what has become more than a success, a franchise and a universe that revolutionized global pop culture. A dazzling success, like the book by Renaud Roche and Laurent Hopman, of which it is the first real comic book.

Investigate in Hollywood and the far reaches of the galaxy

Is this the spirit of the times? A need for lightness in particularly gloomy news? These are not the arguments put forward during the deliberation, when it was necessary to defend Lucas Wars in the middle of a solid selection of works which spoke of the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, Iran, the Mediator scandal or even the terrible assassination of the history professor, Samuel Paty.

One of the journalists, a member of the franceinfo prize jury, summed up the common thinking in one word: “This book is a gem”. The screenwriter Laurent Hopman and the designer Renaud Roche managed to transform the creation of Star Warsas the film was then called in French in 1977, in epic.

“I had the opportunity to see the first Star Wars, at the time, in 1977. It made me want to continue and tell this incredible and above all human story. The setbacks of George Lucas are also spectacular than the film’s special effects.”

The screenwriter, Laurent Hopman

at franceinfo

A director who falls from Charybdis to Scylla

The reader will vibrate with all the comings and goings of his emotional elevator. The pangs of creation, the flashes of the young genius, but above all, the twists of fate and the incomprehension of most of those who are reluctant to carry out the project.

Graphically, it’s modern, stripped down, fast and exciting. The designer has the touch of an animation graphic designer. However, the staging is that of an action comic. 200 pages full of information gleaned from the best sources.

One anecdote among dozens of others: Did you know that Star Wars had precipitated in the United States the end of what we called permanent cinema? When you could stay in the theater and watch the film again with the same ticket. So many fans were glued to their seats that venues revised their policies. From now on, one ticket = one session.

The good thing about comics is that you can reread them immediately. And even indefinitely.

Lucas WarsRenaud Roche and Laurent Hopman, published by Deman, Franceinfo 2024 Prize for current affairs and reporting comics.