VIDEO. Luz talks about her resilience since Charlie Hebdo, and Vernon Subutex

“If I hadn’t had the woman of my life next to me, I don’t think I would have made it. But I didn’t necessarily realize it because I was in my head. And she took it all on herself. I was the victim of an attack, but she had become a victim by ricochet.” Luz has just published the second volume of Vernon Subutex, the comic strip adaptation of the novel by Virginie Despentes. On this occasion, he looks back on his resilience after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, where he was a cartoonist.

After the attacks, Luz no longer thought she would be able to draw one day. “There were those from the newspaper who remained there, who were still alive or who were not injured in the hospital, we got together to see what we could do. After saying ‘OK, I’m taking part, but I don’t know if I can do anything’, the same evening, I started drawing. And finally, I was the first to draw. And finally, I made the cover. And finally I continued”, recalls the designer.

“So, at the same time, I had succeeded in rediscovering my drawing, that is to say, in reuniting in drawing. But to recount these reunions, suddenly, I wrote a book called Catharsis. This is where I realized that to move forward, you had to write books”, explains Luz. “My hands are always stained with ink. Because I’d rather have them stained with ink than stained with blood, that’s for sure. And that he, the drawing, he was always there for me.”