European Graphic Novels++

The above image jumped out to me on Pinterest of all places, in which I was simply enjoying the pleasant "LC" style. (for anyone unsure about the meaning of "LC," please see sidebar)

But dad-gum it, looking a little closer, this seemed to be from the age-old The Spirit franchise. I mean, I thought that one had concluded long before creator Will Eisner's death, with it's classic run being from ~1940 to the early 50's, or so.

But, no... turns out that unlike some properties (such as Tintin), the Eisner estate evidently allowed The Spirit to be continued on in to modern times, with DC comics being the publisher behind this particular issue:

https://i.imgur.com/PRLjU4O.jpeg

What's interesting here is that our lead image is like an LC-styled version of the official cover, with significant little differences everywhere you look, and yet it *still* seems to be by the same artist, "Moritat," i.e. American Justin Norman clocking in with a Euro-style pen-name.

But let's backtrack a bit when it comes to my assertion that Europe 'loved' The Spirit. Like... why would that be, man? For example, from Lambiek:

In Europe, Eisner gained followers in the U.K. (Alan Moore, NG), The Netherlands (Stefan de Groot, Gleever, Erik Kriek, Minck Oosterveer, Peter Pontiac, Joost Swarte, Typex, Piet Wijn), Belgium (Steven De Rie), Germany (Flix), Switzerland (Zep) and Spain (Belatz, Julio Ribera).

Personally, I also have a folder of Spirit-style tributes from various BD authors, which I'd never quite thought to post before or put more thought in to, yet today's finding explains a lot to me, I think.

https://i.imgur.com/KVXfeSZ.jpeg

Now, the above is totally, classically Spirit to me, lol. That is-- physically, he's a big, strong, two-fisted action-hero, with a good, thinking mind, but Eisner was a downright genius at depicting what a miserable failure all that could add up to as an 'urban hero,' of sorts.

And that is perhaps part of the key, I suspect. I.e. the Europe of the 40's and 50's had no use for 'American superheroes' of the day, which I suppose would be totally invincible-types such as Captain Marvel and Superman, et al. I would guess (and I could be totally wrong), but fantasy heroics was relatively useless to Euro audiences, which cemented perhaps a kind of shift towards the 'amusing everyman,' such as Tintin, Spirou, and countless others who essentially had to navigate their way mainly via resourcefulness, cleverness, and so forth.

TBH, this is kind of a shitty post, in which I'm trying to cover two main topics, and neither of them very well. So for one thing, I'd say just go here for more on the genius of Eisner, and how he evolved comics storytelling in the overall sense:

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/e/eisner.htm

But here's one last little comment upon DC handling the Spirit franchise:

https://i.imgur.com/4yrp3mY.jpeg

Dang, I love that colorful, bright lettering! Oof... and I actually *did* read through the entire 20pp comic book, and found it some of the most miserable fare, ever. I.e., a two-fisted anachronism socking out dozens of gun-carrying gang-members, inspired by the rescue of 'the princess.'

Eh, que ridícula. Show me the money, Lebowski!

Very good book, published by Fantagraphics.

https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/daughters-of-snow-and-cinders

This translates to "Dry Cleaning," and was published by Rue de Sèvres in 2022, a publisher I don't remember hearing about before.

https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-78913-BD-Nettoyage-a-sec.html

(zoom or right-click-open to expand these images)

Mertens is Flemish-Belgian, born in 1968, and seemingly worked in film most of his career, only turning to BD novels in 2019, doing this one and Béatrice so far, both as artist and writer.

As for the story, it's a classic slice-of-life look at François, an aging middle-aged man whose main ambition is to win the lottery, which would enable him to give his younger female friend and daughter the kind of life he feels they deserve. Meanwhile, he works a rather uncertain job as a delivery driver for a local dry cleaner. All in all, his is not *quite* a pathetic existence, but one can feel it inevitably slipping in that direction.

Perhaps the main theme here is actually "rain," and that's conveyed almost ceaselessly across almost every page. François is perpetually forgetting to bring his umbrella along, and therefore walks around across the entire story not unlike a drowned rat. Indeed, things take a turn for the tragic (amidst bitter irony) when it comes to his relationship with water.

But about the art-- I don't think I've ever seen rain in a city-scape portrayed with such lushness and power. Mertens very definitely takes some liberties with shading, lighting and coloring, and I'm pleased to say that he produces some of the most stunning BD art I've ever seen. Truly, this work can be thoroughly enjoyed in either the Dutch or French versions without needing to understand a single word. It really is that kind of wonderful.

If there's a weakness with this one, at ~140pp I feel that it probably could have been edited down a bit to tell the story a bit more efficiently and dramatically. But it's hard to care too much when the art is this incredible, and to be fair-- it's a strong story that feels reminiscent of classic Euro film.

Please settle down, silly geese...

Just finished this one, and found it a fine album, indeed. It's by consistently-excellent artist Ana Miralles and writer Emilio Ruiz.

https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-90856-BD-Ava.html

For me, it was a pretty fascinating little 'time-capsule look' in to the life a major Hollywood star (Ava Gardner), her notably iconoclastic nature, the social norms of the 50's, an obsessive overload of fans, the shamelessly aggressive press, and of course, a brief snapshot of Rio de Janeiro, itself.

https://i.imgur.com/CYtD7t5.jpeg

The unstated joke above is that Ava's agent Dave is thoroughly in to men, which works rather perfectly in the long run, as just-about any hombre swinging a 'third leg' is trying to make a play for her, somehow, some way. XD

https://i.imgur.com/7ZJ2eTG.jpeg

Okay, Ava scared me a bit right at the end, lol.

https://i.imgur.com/2jgBOyW.jpeg

(no idea how long these images will last given Imgur's hugely flaky nature, but what the heck, let's do FULL DETAIL with these)

Whups, oh yeah-- my main point here was actually that I LOVED how well Miralles both depicted and handled the night-life imagery of Rio in a realistic sense. I don't quite have words for it at the moment, but... I find there's a sort of 'clarity' there, if that makes sense.

For sure, it's an 'American product,' but it's also got that European-style, sly observational quality.

Oof, I suppose we could argue endlessly upon this stuff, but at the end of the day? I feel like I'm mainly correct in listing it here. Do speak up though if you feel I acted in error.

Oh, and I also cut down on a couple links that are no longer relevant, outdated, etc, upon yon sidebar. So you should only see eight total now, I believe..?

https://www.bedetheque.com/BD-Impenetrable-503154.html

This image hit me fairly early-on as I was reading what I would later realise was a super-wonderful BD. But why this particular pic? Welp, because I absolutely LOVE it when comics artists find ways to reduce image detail in order to convey a clear message.

And meanwhile, as the reader, there's really nothing to complain about! Everything makes sense, and there's really no particularly good reason to add extra detail, at least as I see it.

Eh, here's the full page, anyway, in which both the author and subject Alix Garin are livin' it up in a Berlin nightclub:

https://i.imgur.com/eBdWFql.jpeg

Anyway, BDT has this to say about the album: (with a little translation help from some idiot)

]> In a deeply intimate and moving narrative, Alix Garin tells us about her liberating journey through the meandering, baffling nature of sexual disorders. About the struggle to regain possession of one's body and sexual desire. It is in fact a highly-moving quest for healing, emancipation and love.
]> ]> Through ups and downs, failures and victories, Alix explores the depths of her own psyche, the links between the physical and the mind, and the complexity of sexuality.

Anyway, more later on this magnificent, significant work, but here's a few more 'nightlife Berlin-style' pages I thought you might like. I know I did: :D

https://imgur.com/a/alix-enjoying-berlin-nightlife-from-superb-gn-bd-imp-n-trable-2024-jOj3luS

I'm imagining the title here being "Going for a new tattoo?," based on the sign. It's by German cyberpunk artist Puia, who runs Baka Arts. As of the moment it doesn't look like he's doing any BD, but I think he'd be a great fit.

There's loads more of his cool LC-style stuff at his Instagram. Note: the entry link below doesn't need you to be logged in to see the images.

INSTAGRAM:
https://imginn.com/bakaarts/

So, I'm currently finishing up a small project to look through every migrated post here, deleting where necessary, but mostly adding 'flair,' which you should be able to see on the sidebar. When I'm done, you'll be able to hit any of those buttons and see a curated list of matching posts.

Still a few things to do before I feel like this place is 'up to speed' after the move, but it's getting closer and closer. One annoying problem is that almost every inter-community link that's been posted here which once worked, is now broken, and even as the same community runner, I can't edit them except to add flair. Perhaps this is a feature that will one day be added across the Fediverse, though?

Anyway, the biggest blow of course remains the loss of almost 1200 subscribers, meaning we're somehow right back to where we started from in needing to get this place more exposure, some how, some way. Sort of ironic I guess, in that August 1st will mark our two-year anniversary. 🥴

Thanks for reading, and have a nice weekend, everyone. ^^