The comic selection by François Lemay and Ismaël Houdassine
Hands down
In 1956, West Germany decided to make military service compulsory again. However, the country’s Basic Law put in place after World War II gave anyone the possibility of refusing conscription for reasons of conscience. But in the 1970s, mentalities became more warlike, advocating the remilitarization of the nation in the face of the growing threat from the Soviet Union. Pacifists, like the tenacious Hermann Brinkmann who refuses to bear arms, are considered subversive by the Bundeswehr (the German armed forces). His experience under the flag in 1974 led him to commit suicide at the age of 19 while in full military service. Cartoonist Hannah Brinkmann retraces the terrible fate of this uncle whom she never knew, but whose tragic death will push the authorities to review their interrogation methods. The author’s hypnotic drawings are full of details, highlighting the numerous pressures and humiliations that the young man undergoes. A total success.
Ismaël Houdassine
Against my conscience
★★★★1/2
Hannah Brinkmann, translated by Jean-Baptiste Coursaud, Très lune editions, Paris, 2024, 232 pages
Abyssal machinery
The Italian Vincenzo Balzano (Adlivun) is a real magician of atmosphere with his nebulous illustrations in steel colors. Here he signs a dreamlike opus of captivating poetic beauty, imagined by screenwriters Benjamin Legrand and Quebecer Pascal Chind. The story of this album, first intended for cinema, balances between waking nightmare and ethereal dream. It propels us into a mysterious universe, the starting point of which is the disappearance of a woman in the depths of the ocean. His companion, a young golden boy with a sad look, has been inconsolable since the death of his beloved. He tries to kill himself by diving into the waters, but when he wakes up, he discovers a strange retrofuturistic industrial city frozen in a 19th centurye century straight out of Jules Verne’s imagination. In this grotesque world populated by extravagant and endearing characters, however, reigns an implacable madness. Faced with dangers, our hero will have to find a way to free himself. A pleasure for the eyes and the mind.
Ismaël Houdassine
Bunkerville
★★★1/2
Benjamin Legrand, Vincenzo Balzano and Pascal Chind, Ankama editions, Paris, 2024, 168 pages
War, war, no reason to get hurt!
Passionate about horses, ranches and American history, French cartoonist Steve Cuzor finds himself on familiar ground here with an adaptation of the American naturalist masterpiece The Red Badge of Courageby Stephen Crane, originally published in 1895. In Henry Fleming’s fight, as in the original text, we follow in the footsteps of a young farmer who enlisted in the Northern army during the American Civil War and who, after waiting to finally be able to fight the enemy, finds himself caught in a situation where the reality of war forces him to wonder if he would not have been better off deserting. Based on the idea that we never know how we would react in a given situation until we face it, this story, skillfully translated into a comic, forces us to take a stand and examine our own courage in the face of adversity. In addition, everything is magnificently illustrated, carried by a drawing which is reminiscent of the first photographic essays dating from the same period. Epic and sensitive!
François Lemay
Henry Fleming’s fight
★★★1/2
Steve Cuzor, Aire Libre, Paris, 2024, 152 pages
Cultivate the line
Originally an illustrator and graphic designer, Dominique Trudeau was only one panel away from crossing into comics, which he does with this first album, The work, produced with his two sons, Félix (texts) and Loïc (computer images). It is about, in this story which takes the form of a cosmic tale, a botanist whose mission is to catalog and preserve space flora, sometimes despite the wishes of certain people who do not like that we meddles in their affairs, even when they are wrong. It can be read in one go, and we easily get lost in this almost endless line and these drawings with juvenile features which lead us to question our relationship to what surrounds us and, above all, our way of observing the real. Honestly, it feels like hot chocolate after a good walk in the rain, looking at the trees…
François Lemay
The work
★★★1/2
Dominique, Félix and Loïc Trudeau, General mechanics, Montreal, 160 pages