European Graphic Novels+

A theft 17 centuries in the making!

Well, this is in fact Albert Uderzo's fun tribute to the famous painting from 1632, from the series Astérix, specifically tome 19, Asterix and the Soothsayer (1972), made during the classic period when René Goscinny was still alive and plotting the series. I seem to recall that there's a couple more direct tribute pieces like this across the series.

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Oh... right, The Raft of the Medusa one certainly comes to mind:

Barbe Rouge, in his shock, is punning on the name of the famous painting, exclaiming "I'm stunned!"

This one seems to echo November's local weather. The character is Freddy Lombard, sort of a perpetually-scowling, vagabond version of Tintin. I believe the panel is from La comète de Carthage (1986), arguably the best of the five "Freddy" albums.

Yves Chaland was highly prolific, and there's much to say about his work, and many more samples to share. Unfortunately, like the late Hubert Boulard, he was one of BD's geniuses who suffered a tragic, early death, dying in a car accident at only 33yo.

For now, here's his Lambiek entry.

Inspired by the master :-)

This atmospheric upper panel from a page in book 2 deserves to stand on it's own, I think.

Set in 11th century Europe, the series concerns the efforts of the wandering noble Sir Aymar de Bois-Maury to reclaim his ancestral home. Less focused on action than the other series of Hermann (like Jeremiah), Les Tours de Bois-Maury deals more with human thoughts and considerations. --WP

So far my personal impression is that the series is a pretty candid look at medieval life, what with its superstitions, ignorance and brutality. Not exactly a 'joy to read,' but nonetheless rather fascinating.

EDIT: Here's a hi-res version with a different color scheme, below.

Trying out cross posting from my mobile :-)

This first one could almost be a "wimmelbilder" piece, i.e. a variation on Where's Waldo? (hmm, could be a good theme for a future post)

In any case, Stella's a freelance artist & cartoonist I recently discovered. By her own admission she's still growing as an artist, for example in handling lighting, but I'm liking what I'm seeing already:

Here's her ArtStation and Tumbler.

Oh, rabbits. This community is coming up on four months now, and if I may say so, we've been a solid community so far, non?

Somehow though, we're *still* not archived via Google. (flip! and double-flip!)

Ah well. Instead of meckern und stöhnen, let's try to do something positive, then. So-- starting with "Lucky Luke," I'll try to convert our Twitter-style links on the sidebar in to useable, clickable search items.

Eh, I guess that's okay for now, but honestly I'm not totally happy about that, since it inherently adds server load to our instance. Hmm, or... is it not, our host @[email protected]?

This is one of those classic BD's that I didn't have much access to as a kid, which is too bad because it seems to speak to the kid in all of us. So then, I'll let Lambiek do most of the talking:

André Franquin's first experiences with gag strips led to the creation of his iconic Gaston Lagaffe character. Drawn like an American beatnik, the character initially created havoc in the magazine's editorial sections. In Spirou #985, 1957, Gaston simply appeared in the pages without any title or explanation. After a few weeks of puzzling readers, Spirou and Fantasio finally noticed the lanky weirdo with his trademark green pullover sweater and casually dangling cigarette. When Spirou finally asked him who he was, Gaston only mumbled that he was sent there to work, but didn't know by whom or why.

XD

"That? It's a pedal bin with a completely new design."

"Oh right, I remember now it has one last design flaw, what was it again?"

Is it vandalism or an improvement? :D

Although the strip ran for over 30 years, Gaston's superiors never managed to get him to do his job-- sorting the mail! Instead of just doing that, Gaston spends most of his time sleeping behind his desk.

(study for a toy figurine)

But at least when asleep he's harmless. When awake, Gaston uses his energy on culinary experiments, amateur chemistry, and crafting mad inventions, of which the extraordinary "Gaffophone" is the most notorious. Whenever the atrocious instrument is touched, windows crack and walls come down. Most of Gaston's other experiments also end in unexpected accidents, explosions or bodily harm.

Setting: the drivers above are all rightfully furious about the massive traffic jam.

"Wow, I can't believe you caused all that."

"Oh, it's just wood, cardboard, and three flashlights. It's for a store display advertisement with the theme 'red lights are costly.' Anyway, I gotta go take it back. See ya!"

---

For those interested in reading more, Lambiek has a massive article on Franquin, with a big section on Gaston here. As you'll surely notice, he also (currently) serves as the community's icon. ^^

This ligne claire piece isn't connected to any particular story I'm aware of, but does have a companion view.

More stuff on the artist's Instagram. He also goes by "D.E.C." and "Dec-Art."

While looking up work for Manfred Deix, I chanced across this guy. Funny, they seem to share a rather acid commenting style upon modern life. oO

I'm not completely sure what this last one references. Maybe the fossil fuel industry and wasteful suburbanite living, haha. Actually it reminded me of a fold-in by Lithuanian-American humorist, Al Jaffee. See cartoon #2 here.

Manfred Deix was an Austrian artist. The masterful ugliness of his pictures is unrivalled. Specialized in the depiction of not just the physical but also the mental, social and political ugliness of his surroundings, he captured austrian society in a unique way. Usually he targeted his fellow Austrians, politicians, the catholic church, conservatives and neo-nazis. Sometimes he also just did funny stuff though, like weird Donald Duck or Asterix & Obelix interpretations.

"Austria"

Old fashioned Austrian, singing a sad traditional. Unknown title

Arnold Schwarzenegger on a visit in Austria

"Horrible. In 2012, hunting accidents peaked"

"One of the greatest in the world, Donald Duck, turned 75 in June. Nowadays he lives retired in Duckburg."

Self portrait, 1996

Self portrait. Wall painting in Bleiburg, Carinthia.

unknown title

NSFW spoiler

"Beach Baby"

NSFW spoiler

Asterix sneaks up on Obelix

NSFW spoiler

"News from the Vatikan: They are going wilder than ever before"

He's a concept & video game artist, currently working at Amplitude Studios.

What particularly caught my eye is that he seems to start via traditional methods (pencil, watercolor and ink), which then gets scanned and finished off via digital tools, not unlike the pioneering work by Richard Corben on Denz about 30 years ago.

Lots more good stuff at his ArtStation and Instagram.

I noticed that this poster by André Juillard is quite popular around the internet. After a little digging, I found that it's not just a one-off piece, but corresponds directly to tome 2 of the Arno adventures, scripted by Jacques Martin and illustrated by Juillard. Following the example of the Sphinx piece above, I decided to search for more of the architectural panels from the book.

Yes, that's actually Emperor Napoleon along for the ride!

In 1984, Martin created the historical series - "Arno." Through its central character, the Venetian musician Arno Firenze, the series chronicles events occurring between the French Revolution and the end of the Napoleonic Empire. Arno gets involved with the revolutionary movement in Paris of 1789 and is eventually recruited in Napoleon Bonaparte's army. Martin once again strove for historical accuracy and tried to depict the Corsican emperor in a balanced way. Napoleon is portrayed as a brilliant politician and military strategist, but at the same time a formidable tyrant. --Lambiek

Martin was a French comic creator who worked alongside colleagues Hergé, E.P. Jacobs and Paul Cuvelier as part of the original team of Tintin magazine artists. He's best known for creating the young Ancient Roman Alix (1948- ) and the contemporary journalist Lefranc (1952- ), whose adventures are continued to this day. Over a career of six decades, Martin became one of the most influential creators of historical comics. Besides the Roman age, Martin set his stories in ancient Greece (Orion, 1990-2011), ancient Egypt (Kéos, 1991-1999), the Napoleonic era (Arno, 1984-1997) and the reign of Louis XIV (Loïs, 2003- ).

Artist André Juillard is one of the most productive and influential artists of historical comics in France. Born in Paris, Juillard attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, taking courses in comics from Jean-Claude Mézières and Jean Giraud. He began his professional career as an illustrator for the children's magazine Formule 1 in 1974.

In short, he's illustrated a landslide of series, which can be checked on Bedetheque.

As for this particular album, there's a summary on the back cover. Google and I translate it thusly:

1798 : the French Revolution is exported to the Orient. Napoleon leads a French expedition to discover what he may in the shadow of the ancient pyramids, in these hostile lands. Harassed by the Mamelukes, pursued by Admiral Nelson's fleet, Bonaparte is the plaything of all perils. However, another threat hangs over him - “Red Spade”. What is the mysterious plot against the young general which Arno Firenze, his companion from Italy, is trying to thwart? And who is the enigmatic Bedouin who follows in their footsteps? Friend or enemy, warrior or infidel..?