The true from the false
Critical look at the counterculture of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s? Journey into the history of erotic collage? Game on the thin line between true and false? A bit of all these answers, can we imagine when reading this Bacchus. Artist of ecstasy, a colorful album by Marc Tessier, who worked in photographic images and cinema before comics, and by the designer Jean-Pierre Chansigaud. So who is this Bacchus? According to what we learn here, it is an artist of theunderground Canadian, born in Toronto in 1931 under the name Dimitri Mavreas, who would have given in comics, photos and collages of an erotic nature in a form of aestheticism making him a pioneer of autofiction. We highlight, here, the work of the authors who managed to “find” numerous period documents allowing us to better know, finally, this artist who has escaped us in this game of mirrors that is reality. Because, as Rimbaud said, “I am another”…
François Lemay
Bacchus. Artist of ecstasy
★★★1/2
Marc Tessier and Jean-Pierre Chansigaud, Moelle Graphik, Quebec, 2024, 208 pages
Red like the resistance
Missak Manouchian and his wife, Mélinée, were received at the Pantheon last February, the ultimate tribute to these French people, as the poet Aragon said. Executed in February 1944 by the Nazi occupiers, they were Armenians of origin, and around them gravitated the members of the Francs-tireurs et partisans – Main-d’oeuvre immigrant (FTP–MOI), a group of resistance fighters made up of immigrant workers who decided to join the resistance during the Second World War. In this album which borders on documentary, Jean-David Morvan (Spirou), Hiroyuki Ooshima, Georges Duffau-Epstein and Tcherkézian simply tell, without stylistic effects or fluff, the journey of Manouchian, who narrowly escaped the Armenian genocide before settling in France to become a worker and communist activist. The design, greatly inspired by the famous red poster, the one that the Nazis put up in 15,000 copies throughout France to denounce the Francs-tireurs, is effective without being touting, like the scenario.
François Lemay
Missak, Mélinée & the Manouchian group
★★★★
Jean-David Morvan, Hiroyuki Ooshima, Georges Duffau-Epstein, Thomas Tcherkézian, Dupuis, Charleroi, 2024, 142 pages
Lying to yourself
Who doesn’t know the children’s tale of the little boy who cried wolf? Cartoonist Ariel Slamet Ries (Witchy) from Australia offers a modern, punk and exploded version of the ancient myth of Aesop. Change of scenery, therefore, with this fable set in an isolated African village featuring a girl named Dawa. This young orphan tries to be accepted by the villagers, but her rebellious character – and her lies told repeatedly – pushes her to take reckless risks. With its breathtaking rhythm and its dynamic panels exploded with bright colors, the work keeps us captive throughout an adventure that can be read in several ways, either a metaphorical story on the art of lying, or a reading that addresses depression. But, whatever the level of reading, the proposal is an ode to freedom. The only downside is that the comic is too short and can be read in one go, leaving us a little unsatisfied. We would have taken more.
Ismaël Houdassine
Cry Wolf Girl
★★★
Ariel Ries, translated by Romain Galand, Éditions Kinaye, Paris, 2024, 50 pages
Understanding the ills affecting our planet
For those who still doubt it, the comic can also address the issue of climate change seriously and in depth. The proof with this proposal full of intelligence (and warnings), the fruit of the chance meeting between the engineer Jean-Marc Jancovici and the illustrator Christophe Blain. The first is a highly publicized expert, inventor of the famous “carbon balance”, recognized in energy issues and their impacts on the environment, while the second is a famous comic book author to whom we owe the formidable Quai d’Orsay. The French tandem handles content and form with skill, irony and above all with pedagogy explaining, sometimes with humor despite the seriousness of the themes addressed, complex processes using small, well-organized drawing bubbles. A big success in bookstores in France with almost 1 million copies already sold, the fascinating scientific album popularizes several major ecological issues, all without ever boring us.
Ismaël Houdassine
The endless world
★★★★
Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain, Dargaud, Paris, 2024, 196 pages