JohnnyEnzyme

She's a Chinese-born emigrant with the rare gift of absorbing and reflecting world-art & culture. A big part of the reasons for the very founding of this sub/community.

Hope you enjoy:
https://www.yuumeiart.com/

The Blake and Mortimer series was created by Edgar Pierre "E.P." Jacobs, with a significant style & spirit flowing directly from his work for Hergé from ~1944-1947. [more] B&M is in fact Jacobs' signature series, representing by far most of his overall BD work.

Like Tintin, the B&M stories were meticulously researched and plotted, altho Jacobs tended not to go in for the amount of slapstick and humor that Hergé did, instead aiming for more serious, tense and spellbinding plotting, heavier on exposition & dialogue.

To attempt a total overview of Jacobs would be way more than I'm capable of at this time, but here're some of my favorite 'B&M in Egypt' imagery that I've randomly collected.

I believe the above two come from the 2-part Mystery of the Great Pyramid books from 1954-55.

LEFT: B&M was first published in Le Journal de Tintin, and rightly commanded several of its covers as one of the early, significant series in the magazine.

RIGHT: This is a parody / tribute cover, perhaps by an artist named "Helkarman," altho I wasn't able to dig up anything on it. Note how Hergé is paid back for depicting Jacobs as a mummy on the cover of Tintin's Cigars of the Pharaoh, this time by depicting Tintin and little Snowy as swaddled mummys!

RIGHT: The Last Pharaoh (2019), with art by Durieux and Francois Schuiten.

Jacobs wrote and drew 11 individual volumes from 1950 - 1977, passing away in 1987. Fortunately, Bob de Moor (another famous Hergé assistant) finished off the second volume of the unfinished two-parter, Professor Satō's Three Formulae. This helped open the door to a variety of writers and artists picking up the series and carrying it forward right to today, something which notably did not happen with the Tintin BD series.

Well... there it is.
And note WP's nice overview of the series:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_and_Mortimer

Another recent discovery.
He's got loads more nice pieces online...

SingulArt:
https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/yaroslav-kurbanov-10023

Oh, the embarrassment.

Note: I did have to look up the word "braguette." At first I thought it meant a long sandwich roll with bragging rights (lol). Also interesting is that the word is somehow feminine in gender. Ah, française... you continue to confound me with all your weird grammar.

Anyway, Martin's a great artist whose works we haven't gotten to here yet. A bit more info on him:

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/matrix.htm

Altho legendary artist Giger is Swiss and Rivera is Latino, this is in fact one of my occasional posts showing off mainly American content. Please apply to the customer service desk if not satisfied.

Elvis, sad Marilyn, and Captain Jack.

These 16 pieces are a combination of eight that I found in Heavy Metal magazine #263 from 2013, plus eight more I found online and upscaled. The eight from HM appear just below:

LEFT: Clint, Rod, Biggy, and Ron.
RIGHT: Mike, Danny, Steven, and Frank.

In the magazine, this text appeared:

Rafael Rivera (aka "DARAF") has been creating art since he was able to hold a pencil. Born April 23, 1973 in NYC, he also began to study boxing at age 7, eventually winning five Golden Gloves and two national titles, stopping all opposition 49 to 0, with 36 first round knock outs, before hanging up his gloves to focus on art. For the last 15 years (now 26 I guess), his versatility as an artist has allowed him to work on a variety of graphic and fine art projects as well as concept art for film and video games. Rafael is also a professional tattooist. His many art styles come as a result of being influenced by everything from graffiti, to anime, to comics, sci-fi and horror movies.

Larger versions of the four pieces in the lead-in image are here: H.R. Giger, Billy Idol, Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, and Bruce Lee.

“Saruman rose to his feet and stared at Frodo. There was a strange look in his eyes of mingled wonder, respect and hatred. 'You have grown, Halfling,' he said. 'Yes, you have grown very much. You are wise, and cruel. You have robbed my revenge of sweetness, and now I must go hence in bitterness, in debt to your mercy. I hate it and you! Well, I go, and will trouble you no more. But do not expect me to wish you health and long life. You will have neither. But that is not my doing. I merely foretell.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

For more of Rafael Rivera's work, see his ArtStation:
https://daraf.artstation.com/

And here're some prints for sale:
https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/daraf/

Cormac McCarthy's classic The Road is set for an English-language release in September, and the question was asked on r/bandedessinee about what our favorite literary adaptations were. Here's five of my favorites:

A Woman's Voice, adapted by Aude Mermilliod - a brilliant, moving, humanistic look at a woman with a sexual birth defect, along with the long-sundered doctor who originally delivered her. There's a good amount of pain and existential angst to work through, but the payoff is spectacular. (handkerchief alert) --Johnny

Jean is a medical student who’s about to start her final residency rotation in gynecology. But she’d much rather practice surgery than listen to simpering women moan about their problems all day. Plus, this department is headed by the notorious Dr. Karma, renowned throughout the hospital for his stubborn mindset and unorthodox practices. However, in her first week, Jean begins to realize that Dr. Karma’s reputation isn’t fully accurate, and, perhaps, the complexities of women’s stories are worth listening to and respecting. A modern classic of a revolution in women’s medical care, adapted from the bestselling novel by Martin Winckler. --EC

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Adios Muchachos, adapted by Bacilieri & Matz - a wild, savage ride involving complex relationships between a street-scamming gal and the corporate scammers she runs in to. --Johnny

Alicia is a pretty drawing student from Havana, very independent and very free of morals, who sometimes lets herself be seduced by men she meets in town while traveling by bike. As she is poor, she feels free to accept gifts, but categorically refuses to be paid for fear of being confused with a prostitute.

As it happens, this facade is completely artificial. Alicia is in reality a jinetera (a “rider”), one of the many Cuban women who occasionally prostitute themselves to Western tourists in the hope of being kept or even married. With the full complicity of her mother Margarita, she strives to ward off the chronic poverty that plagues Cuba.

When this story begins, Alicia has just seduced the handsome Juanito, a Canadian on a long-term assignment for a large Dutch company in the tourism sector. Big house, big money and desperate fascination for Alicia's very... palpable arguments: the jinetera and her mother immediately feel that they have hooked the big fish. They don't imagine for a moment that Juanito's pedigree is also very different from what it shows... --Amazon

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Babylon Berlin, adapted by Arne Jysch - set in the 1920's, this is a tremendously absorbing story of a police detective assigned to a new area, who comes up against the fact that one of his (big) bosses is in fact thoroughly corrupt... which he proceeds to deal with in rather precarious fashion. I liked that there was a noir style and sensibility that was different than the American and French versions I've seen in the past. --Johnny

Following an unfortunate incident of manslaughter and at a moment of radical change in Germany, Detective Inspector Gereon Roth moves from his old position in Cologne to a new appointment in Berlin. He stumbles into an ever-expanding criminal investigation into a pornographic sex ring, discovering that he can trust no one, not even the police. Set at the birth of the Weimar Republic amid great economic and political difficulties, this is a tale of corruption, trafficking, and scandal. --Amazon

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Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet Extraordinaire, adapted by Mathieu Burniat - here's a thoroughly fascinating and hilarious look in to the life of a local culinary genius and his right-hand chef, who unusually happens to be a local village girl. The story is surprisingly touching, and from out of nowhere I was absolutely awed by my impressions of the culinary techniques, end-results, and the amusing, moving reactions of the lucky few who sampled the dishes. Wrapped around these gastronomic pleasures is a simmering plot involving our hero's rival, the regional prince who fancies himself a better chef, and later attempts to abduct Dodin-Bouffant's irreplaceable cook. This is quite frankly one of the most unexpectedly wonderful BD's I've ever read. --Johnny

Dodin-Bouffant is a total food enthusiast. He lives for excellence and spends his time surrounded by a small circle of hand-picked gastronomes. When his beloved cook, Eugénie, dies, it turns Bouffant’s world upside down. After a long, hard search he finally finds what he is looking for in Adèle. Not without some complications, Adèle and Dodin-Bouffant form a strong bond and share many a delicious meal. This novel by Marcel Rouff (1887-1936) is a tribute to the famous French gastronome Brillat-Savarin, on whom the character Dodin-Bouffant is loosely based. --EC

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Tom's Midnight Garden, adapted by Edith - an all-ages classic which leans upon a bit of magical realism to weave a truly lovely tale, beautifully adapted here. --Johnny

When Tom’s brother gets sick, Tom’s shipped off to spend what he’s sure will be a boring summer with his aunt and uncle in the country. But then Tom hears the old grandfather clock in the hall chime thirteen times, and he’s transported back to an old garden where he meets a mysterious girl named Hatty. Tom returns to the garden every night to have adventures with Hatty, who grows a little older with each visit. As the summer comes to an end, Tom realizes he wants to stay in the midnight garden with Hatty forever.

Winner of the Carnegie Medal, Tom’s Midnight Garden is a classic of children’s literature and a deeply satisfying time-travel mystery. This stunning graphic novel adaptation from award-winning French artist Edith transforms Philippa Pearce’s story into an engaging visual adventure. -Amazon

"Every worthwhile artist has their Moebius phase," according to a theory.

I found the first pic in a blog, and the rest of the story in Heavy Metal magazine #267, from January 2014. Here she be:

https://imgur.com/gallery/koo2fku

I'd never heard of this Italian artist before, but am loving his art (and yes, he has his own style as well). There's a bit more info on him over at Lambiek.

I recently read the second book of this unfinished series, which was Toppi's version of Arabian Nights. ("Sharaz'de" = "Shahrazad")

Initially, I didn't think this series was going to work for me, seemingly being a bit too... abstract, or self-indulgent, I don't know. On the contrary, I found that the slow-moving narrative works beautifully with the incredible imagery, creating a suspension of belief that helped thrust me, child-like, in to these ancient tales.

But yeah... I've rarely seen anything like Toppi's page layouts and art design before. To me he's highly experimental with his design work (I love the way he intertwines his colored inks with watercolors), yet somehow it's all perfectly down to earth and unpretentious.

More on this great Milanese artist-writer:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/toppi_sergio.htm

Lehmann is a character artist from São Paulo, Brazil. He has so many cool fantasy pieces across a variety of styles that my head would asplode trying to put a sampler of his work together. So then...

His ArtStation:
https://www.artstation.com/thiagolehmann

And Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thiago.lehmann/?hl=en

The title seems to mean "The Sibyl of Behavior," with perhaps a double-meaning upon the English word "conduit," meaning "channel for transmission" or similar.

So... yeah, whispering is the way.

Saintclair is an ink artist who specialises in erotic art, who also goes by "Front-Crazy-1007" on the net. This work is posted by permission.

EDIT: Shoot, I forgot to add that I first found this at our sister sub, r/bandedessinee.

Jérôme Moucherot ("Jerome Katzmeier" in English editions) is a middle-aged, unremarkable-looking insurance salesman. Unremarkable, except for the fact that he's almost dwarf-life in stature, wears a leopard-skin suit, and has a nose-piercing with a fountain pen stuck through it. Nominally he's sort of a throwback-50's family man with a patient, frumpy wife and three homely little boys. In fact, Jerome is essentially author / artist François Boucq's whimsical, fertile soil of an overlooked everyman, one who appears in a series of satirical, absurdist stories. Typically he rises (or sometimes retreats) to the occasion in surreal, amusing ways that classic heroes would never dream of doing.

Me, I'm familiar with the short stories as seen in Heavy Metal, and I'm currently reading The Walls Have Teeth, one of the full-length books that clocks in at 80pp. It appears that there are ~5 books in total, I take it some being collections and some extended adventures.

Ah yes, and in terms of personal peeves? I'd say the banter, while generally amusing, can sometimes weight down the natural pace of the comic. Also, the absurdist stories can be a bit hit or miss, altho TBF that's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect here. On the whole, though, this is a classic series my fellow silly gooses would do well to check out.

"This man is a beast. With his leopard-print suit, his noble bearing and piercing gaze, his agile yet powerful walk… and his pen stuck up his nose, he is as alluring as he is frightening. His name is Katzmeier, Jerome Katzmeier. His mission: to destroy the fear of tomorrow, allowing everyone to board the train of progress as it departs from the dock of the hassles of everyday life. In other words, Jerome Katzmeier is an insurance agent. But one not quite like the rest…" --Mediatoon

“He's an insurer-explorer in a leopard costume who goes in search of himself in the jungle of existence” --WP FR

So then, as a prize for lasting so long, below is one of my favorite "Jerome" short stories. Interestingly, the author happens to be a master kendo swordsman (5th-dan rank). One wonders if he interjected some of that 'kendo spirit' in to the panels:

https://imgur.com/gallery/gNdXxjG

Note: Did anyone else catch a bit of a Roger Rabbit tribute near the beginning?

Boucq of course is the same bloke who gave us the one-armed Old West lawman "Bouncer," as well as the hilarious adventures of Death and his porcine companion, Lao-Tsu. He's quite a versatile artist & writer, and for whatever reasons, visually he seems to like playing up the physical homeliness of his characters, not unlike his fellow creator Hermann (so far covered here briefly via his art).

More on François Boucq below, and if you do click, make sure you scroll to the bottom to see his hysterical poster tribute to other famous characters:

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/boucq.htm

Argentina's Oscar Chichoni has been a massive re-discovery of mine, as I remember some of his work from ~30yrs ago, but didn't know his name at the time.

I'll put together a little intro to him one of these days, but for now just wanted to share the process of this here cover. Cheers!