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Le fils du roi @ Martel

27 January 2013

One of our quickies for this week in Paris… Appeared last October on the always great independent Belgian comic house FRMK (or Frémok), “Le fils du roi”, Éric Lambé’s latest comic did not only got a warm critic welcome but it now even has its own exhibition @ Galerie Martel.

Le fils du Roi - bic bleu et noire sur carton (image via Galerie Martel)
Le fils du Roi – bic bleu et noire sur carton (image via Galerie Martel)

10 years in the making “the King’s son” is a black&blue-ballpen on white card piece of art, conceived more as a book of images than a comic. A “world book” as described by the author himself which brings us into Éric’s own universe and unconscious state of mind, a world that took many years to come to life as he couldn’t find the appropriate medium nor the tools to give that depth of light and freedom of expression he was after.

LE FILS DU ROI - à la galerie Martel (Vernissage - photo via FREMOK FB)
LE FILS DU ROI – à la galerie Martel (Vernissage – photo via FREMOK FB)

The exhibition will run until February 23d, and it’s a great occasion to discover the works of this Belgian master whose works can be seen on FRMK’s website. A must-visit, and as an extra down below, the first part of a French interview from his past exhibition @  Brüsel.

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Jim Curious

25 December 2012

There’s a growing trend in the interactive comic playground that will hopefully expand over the coming years to keep the industry alive. From last year’s SVK by Berg to the latest project from Éditions 2024 “Jim Curious”, comic needs on top of great stories, new attractive elements.

Jim Curious still (all images via Matthias Picard)
Jim Curious still (all images via Matthias Picard)

Nominated for next year’s Angouleme Festival youth section “Jim Curious” proposes a “3D immersive” experience for parents & kids willing to discover the deep blue sea with all those fish, monsters and many other bizarre creatures. Jim will dive into the ocean rediscovering some forgotten WWII wrecks, the remains of a galleon … and a long list of primitive creatures.

Matthias Picard signs this amazing book (halfway between a comic book & an illustration book) which will be presented tomorrow @ the Strasbourg Soif de Lire coffee-bookshop and obviously early next year during the Festival d’Angouleme. More info & images on Edition 2024’s website.

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Angouleme 2013 competitors unveiled

27 November 2012

Every year around November we get to know the few lucky (although “few” is usually a generous “few”) selected works who shall be competing for the next edition of the Angouleme festival. For 2013 they’ve been less generous though… only 32 books have been selected to fight in the official category for one of the 4 coveted cats (aka “Fauves”, Best album, Jury prize, revelation and series).

I am a hero (c) Kengo Hanazawa (page)
I am a hero (c) Kengo Hanazawa (page)
Laurent Maffre - Demain, Demain (Image via Actes Sud)
Laurent Maffre – Demain, Demain (Image via Actes Sud)

From Kengo Hanazawa’s horror-manga series “I am a hero” and the self-imagined self-survival mode his depressive main character constantly lives in, to Laurent Maffre’s “Demain Demain” and his half-fiction half-documentary graphic novel, or Charles Burns’ La Ruche (aka The Hive) which follows his already successful X’ed Out, and the other 29 novels (some of which we’ve already covered here like Paolo Pinocchio or Hereux qui comme), there’s too many good works to choose from.

La Ruche- Charles Burns (Image via Cornelius ed.)
La Ruche (aka The Hive) – Charles Burns (Image via Cornelius ed.)

So who will it be? Well… just 2,5 months and you’ll know. The rest of the selected works can be seen here, and in case you understand French (or simply like the accent) they’ve also just released the detail of next year’s program.

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Heureux qui comme

23 November 2012

Blue for occidental people, pale for women, dark for men…. orange for Africans and their environment, alcohol is presented in greenish tones much like those interior African scenes where there seems to be an impossible coolness for such heavy atmosphere.

Nicolas Presl - HQC extract
Nicolas Presl – HQC extract (all images via Atrabile)

A display of a solid color-code for Nicolas Presl’s latest work who happens to be his first comic happening in the present… and asking ourselves again for all those little things that nourish our human history.

HQC extract2 - Nicolas Presl cover
HQC extract2 – Nicolas Presl cover

2 stories whose paths will inevitably cross at some point, much like the destiny of occident and Africa whose agitated relationships could fill many more graphic novels. 2 unadapted beings… On one side we have the typical business man working for an industrial occidental firm and his not-so-ethical businesses, on the other, a genuinely naive young woman who will find a reality she wasn’t prepared for.

HQC extract3 - Nicolas Presl cover
HQC extract3 – Nicolas Presl cover

Highly recommended, “Hereux qui comme” was released last week under Swiss ed. house Atrabile and which you can get here. More info and stills via BDgest.

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Les petites anecdotes

16 November 2012

New little personal comic-blog from French illustrator Kim Roselier who on top of illustrating or animating ads for local opticians or French publishers finds the time to give us enjoyable illustrated projects like this one.

L'aureole de vomis
L’aureole de vomis

If a couple of years ago we saw him unmasking that gay “lascard” called momosexuel Kim is opening this time a much more personal but just as funny diary about his peculiar adventures (anecdotes) and those of his mates… reinforcing our idea that Frenchies are amongst the craziest beings on earth.

The whole lot in French but many of the strips are understandable without reading the text, more this way.

Poutrelle
Poutrelle
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Dublinés wins the Spanish national comic award

23 October 2012

Alfonso Zapico, a skinny, shy and socialdemocrat (as he describes himself) Spanish northener from the lands of Asturias has just been awarded with the Spanish national comic award for his “Dublinés”.

Dublines alternative cover
Dublines alternative cover

The award is more about about the buzz than the monetary part (which isn’t bad in itself … 20.000€) and reinforces the figure of Alfonso as one of the most talented artists in the current European comic panorama. 2 years ago he won the “new artist” award category @ Barcelona’s Comic Salón and this new mention should certainly open many doors for him.

Dublinés is not the graphic adaptation of James Joyce’s Dubliners but more of an exploratory tale trying to understand how and why James got to write his works. You’ll get to dive into Joyce’s life, his conversations, adventures and moments of sadness.

Dublines extract
Dublines extract

“Not another graphic biography”…  as Alfonso is willing to portrait the author in the most intimate way underlining his influence on various vanguard movements. He had previously published Joyce’s route, a comic about his voyages around Europe when investigating on Joyce’s life and which he used as a preparatory work for “Dublinés”.

Dublines extractbis
Dublines extract 

Published in Spain under Astiberri, Anglophones will be able to enjoy it next year as O’Brien Press are planning on publishing it in Ireland, the UK and USA.

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Speak later Moebius

10 March 2012

This week hasn’t been particularly a happy one. Ralph McQuarrie dying last week and we just got to know that the big Jean Giraud (Moebius for most mortal readers) just died today at the age of 73. It looks like yesterday to me when he was presenting his biographical comic in Madrid’s Fnac and talking about all these projects he had in mind and new upcoming releases of Blueberry or his personal series.

Jean Giraud aka Moebius - Crowded Streets
Jean Giraud aka Moebius - Crowded Streets

One of the biggies of French & European comic whose latest big retrospective held @ Cartier’s foundation was not only a way of paying tribute to the French genius, but asking him for more, because we all wanted more, thinking his elongated hands would still doodle for many years.

Moebius StarWatcherII
Moebius StarWatcherII

The 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s… he dropped a jewel and a new style in every decade whether it was a comic or a film, a graphic novel … or even games! Needless to mention his 5234524 works, fruitful collaborations with Jodorowsky, Marvel and Hollywood. Sci-fi wouldn’t be the same without him, neither would be Europe.

Taken from Moebius Arzach
Taken from Moebius Arzach

So many creations that we would lose an entire week telling you about each and everyone, so we’ll just simply highlight his figure and recommend you visit not only his website, but of course, the wikipedia article that perfectly lists his  unapproachable creation. See you on the other side sir!

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SVK

8 July 2011

It’s not only the MIT Lab & all those trendy Jotta or Dentsu projects that make dream-useful news everyday, also smaller ideas  like this one by one of our favorite London design agencies… Berg, can bring some sort of innovation to already established (and decaying) media formats (ok Berg are sort of very famous too…so…).

SVK is their latest project, a collaboration with writer Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Crooked Little Vein, RED) & artist Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker (Stickleback, Lazarus Churchyard, 2000AD).

SVK in Judge Dredd Megazine (photo by Berg)

SVK has been conceived as an experimental publication, a 40-page comic which comes packaged with a UV torch… because a lot of it is printed in invisible UV ink, and therefore elements of the book can only be seen by shining the torch on the pages.

the UV torch "SVK object" essential for reading

In essence SVK uses a third ink invisible without the SVK object. The object is a UV light source which unlocks hidden layers woven throughout the comic book. Reading SVK becomes a unique and strange experience as you see the story unfold through the eyes of Thomas Woodwind.

First and foremost SVK is a modern detective story, one that Ellis describes as “Franz Kafka’s Bourne Identity”. It’s a story about cities, technology and surveillance, mixed with human themes of the power, corruption and lies that lurk in the data-smog of our near-future.

SVK comes with a foreword by William Gibson, and articles by futures expert Jamais Cascio and comics historian Paul Gravett. It seems that unfortunately for now, Berg have run out of copies, but given the success they’ll be printing new issues in the coming weeks at 10£ (+ expenses) each. More info on their dedicated page.

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Where’s Sarko?

4 July 2011

Il est partout! Us Frenchies are lucky enough to have our breakky, lunch and dinner with an omnipresent figure in our daily news…  Sarkozy! I bet only the American or maybe the Chinese presidents are slightly more hungry-media figures to rival the charming powers of Sarko…. OK, maybe Berlusconi too, but he’s about to leave the government so….

Sarko runs the NY marathon but... where is he?

He’s been the hyper-president for the past four years, way more active than Mss Merkel and probably the most recognizable figure outside Europe (and inside too, but not on a good way). Inspired by Martin Handford’s Where’s Waldo (Wally, Charlie…) Albert Algoud, Pascal Fioretto & Herlé Quinquis have decided to hide Nicolas behind similar amusing situations to those of Wally.

Sarko with the Roma, Sarko at the Monaco royal wedding; at the Vatican; on Air Sarko One… imagine a place… he’s probably been there.

by the beach

“Super-Sarko is everywhere, it’s his job after all. He’s even capable of being in several places at once” explain the authors. And now you can try & find him yourself. Published under “l’Opportun” the book can be ordered for 10€, although it’s only shipped within France (boooo).

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Momosexuel

13 June 2010

“I think I’ve got fever – What? It’s the 5th time this week”. Since he was a kid Momo already showed his preferences… although his parent didn’t quite like it. A great webcomic about a gay French from the always “hot” Parisian suburbs.

Continue reading Momosexuel

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