“BD” refers to Franco-Belgian comics, but let's open things up to include ALL Euro comics and GN's. Euro-style work from around the world is also welcome!
* BD = "Bandes dessinées"
* BDT = Bedetheque
* GN = graphic novel
* LBK = Lambiek
* LC = "Ligne claire"
Please DO: 1) follow good 'netiquette' and 2) the four simple rules of lemm.ee (this instance) when posting and commenting. As for extracts, they're fine, but don't link to pirated downloads.
MODERATION: If you happen to make a mistake upon the above, then please don't worry about it. We'll likely just laugh it off and let you know. OTOH, obvious bad-faith and hostile efforts will not be tolerated here.
For posting tips, including how to handle NSFW and personal content, see the FAQ below.
The designated language here is English, with a traditional bias towards French. When posting foreign-language content, please DO include helpful context for English-speakers.
---> Here's the community F.A.Q, and our resource page <---
RELATED COMMUNITIES:
SEARCHES:
# #Tintin #Asterix #LuckyLuke #Spirou #Gaston #CortoMaltese #Thorgal #Sillage(Wake) #Smurfs #Trondheim #Moebius #Jodorowsky
Another recent find from Fluide Glacial magazine, this is a 'police lineup' cut from the book cover of Impostures, tome 1.
The book itself is a collection of screamingly funny tribute / parodies of famous BD characters. I'll maybe post a story or two in future, after I'm done bumbling through the French.
I also loved the inside cover!
For the last 10-15 years I've been trying to branch out my BD and Euro comics reading, yet I regularly seem to be reminded (to the point of bafflement) how much *more* excellent content there always is to discover.
Take the cover pic above from the premier album of Carmen Cru, by Jean-Marc Lelong. I randomly bumped in to it looking through a defunct, BD tumbler acct, and immediately thought it absolutely delicious, and even kind of Halloween (or orc?)-themed. The series first appeared in Fluide glacial magazine in 1981, and later came out in album form (8 total).
Altho I'm just getting in to this series, I already love the excellent ink-work. Even better, the title character is just hilarious, and the stories, highly amusing. Here's the very first two pages published, from the short story The Scammers:
In which Carmen wants to make a bank deposit, tries to strong-arm her way to the front of the line, and is told she must start at the back (like everyone else).
So she duly heads to the back... then goes right back to the front of the line, this time on the other side! Assured again that she must wait her turn, she walks over to the bank manager's office and interrupts things, once again asking to make a deposit(!)
Told that she needs to see the teller for that, she complains that she already tried but was refused service, and even insulted. Hearing that, the bank manager reluctantly begins to appease her. [the story concludes with Carmen winding up making a fool and petty servant of the manager, incidentally ruining the client's morning]
To give a little background on her, Carmen is essentially a deranged, misanthropic old recluse who's also a master of bending people to her will. I sense that she's also designed to be a certain commentary upon French provincials from an earlier age. This isn't the first time I've seen this sort of formula at work, but I'm really impressed so far with the skill which in which Lelong carries it all off.
The French WP page gives further background in amusing style, and is translated here.
Classic Astérix illustrator Albert Uderzo passed away in early 2020 at the ripe old age of 92, and many artists did lovely, touching tribute art to Uderzo at the time, including the one above by Polish-American artist Bill Sienkiewicz.
Sienkiewicz has been working in both the fine art & comics fields for many decades, and his stuff tends to be rather breathtaking and wildly imaginative, quite unlike the usual comic art fare. In the case of Astérix he made the interesting decision to base his tribute on a Frank Frazetta piece, below.
Frazetta was yet another iconic artist in the vein of Boris Vallejo, with a touch of Richard Corben, often painting lush swords & sorcery pieces. [samples] My personal favorite work of Frazetta's was his collaboration with Ralph Bakshi on Fire & Ice, an animated film using the painstaking rotoscope process, in which the individual cells were drawn over live action reference material.
Some clips and full movie videos below. Check out the fluid movement of the figures, and remember-- this is a film from 1983!
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fire+and+ice+film
I appreciate how much kinetic energy this picture has, one can almost feel the inertia of the humanoid propelling out of the water. The perfectly chosen colour palette, it´s balanced composition and of course the clear lines, show off the skills of a master.
Im using the knowledge I have, and impression. maybe there are some in betweens and other artists I don’t know.
Today I would like to introduce you to Small Lebowsky, an austrian artist who became a living legend with a cult following on german speaking reddit communities. Especially the biggest german meme community r/ich_iel loves him for posting a new frog drawing every wednesday, always titled "Es ist Mittwoch meine Kerle" - "It's Wednesday my dudes", which he kept up for several years if I'm correct. Some time ago he stopped the traditional Wednesday frog posts on reddit and took a break, to soon after resurface on lemmy/mastodon.
His style is characterized by clear lines and is strongly influenced by manga, anime and Japanese pop-culture, as well as western fantasy and science fiction. His drawings are usually stuffed with -more or less insider- references and easter eggs for the viewer to find.
Check out his work here:
https://lemmy.world/u/smalllebowsky@troet.cafe
https://www.instagram.com/smalllebowsky/
https://www.deviantart.com/smalllebowsky
https://www.behance.net/gallery/107789645/Drawings-and-Illustrations-2020/modules/617837871
cross-posted from: https://troet.cafe/users/smalllebowsky/statuses/111214826371996392
Es ist Mittwoch 🍝meine Lieben
@dach
I know he is Argentinian (he is relative to me), One of the most prolific contemporary Argentinian cartoonist. But he is based in France and his major work development happened there.
Another cross post of the most upvoted card :-)
Please tell if you like it, I have a whole bunch of those trading cards!
It's suddenly rather cold, dark and rainy here after an unexpected run of ~80°F days. This panel from Blake & Mortimer's La Marque Jaune (translated as The Yellow M) fits my mood pretty well.
Overall, I don't feel like Jacobs is quite on Hergé's level as a ligne claire artist, but every once in a while he charms me, as with this rainy panel that looks like it could be out of The Third Man (classic Orson Welles film from 1949, set in Vienna).
Funny, when I was looking for a higher-quality version of the original, I came across one with a much different color scheme. Hroom, now... which seems the better fit?
I'm still taking a posting break on the whole, but just wanted to add that I appreciate the group support from the other day. Clearly, a post per day was way too ambitious, but perhaps I can settle for a couple per week.
His graphic novels have been a little hard for me to get in to so far, but one thing's for sure-- at his best, Evens' watercolors are gorgeous, striking and lush.
I see him as sort of an 'anti-ligne claire' artist. One who deliberately avoids clean, straight pen lines, and enjoys experimenting with color, blank space and storytelling innovation. Maybe a little bit like if Marc Chagall had done comics?
Evens' work has won him several awards in the comics industry, including the Prix de L’Audace at the Angoulême International Comics Festival for The Wrong Place in 2011 (also nominated for an Eisner Award), and in 2019 the Special Jury Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival for Les Rigoles (translated in to English as The City of Belgium, 2021). --WP
More samples of his work HERE.
This is a delightful, Moominesque, all-ages book, published by Humanoids in 2019.
I daresay it's the kind of work that smaller kids and zen-philosophers might both enjoy. Or just a middle-aged bloke such as myself. :D
These cartoons actually date to the early 80's I believe, but remarkably, still seem fresh in a way utterly removed from 'cutting-edge' comics.
If I understand correctly, Coudray originally produced ~four volumes. Humanoids has published about three translations, each at ~100 pages.
"...They're a lot of fun and well worth a read for those looking for something lighter, humorous, and visually appealing. And, yeah, the gags are pretty timeless. Good stuff!" -- Augie De Blieck
Bigby / Barnabé is also part of a small series published under Humanoids' BIG imprint, meant for kids and all-ages readers.
Side note: if you're a beginning language learner, these books published in different languages are pretty great. By comparison, many other series, such as Astérix, Lucky Luke and Tintin, are generally too complex for beginners IMO.
It's a panel (I just made the title up) from Basura ("Garbage") by Carlos Trillo and Juan Giménez, as published in English in Heavy Metal magazine, Spring '87 edition.
The main figure is just a kind of statue, in a post-apoc world.
First of all, huge, honking credit to u/MadDroog, who I believe took these shots using books from his personal collection. The main point is to show the original American editions and then how they looked in the French magazine.
And yes, that's certainly Robert Crumb's notorious Fritz the Cat on issue 15's cover, but you can indeed catch a glimpse of Corben's story in the lower right teaser.
Evidently to cut down on costs, the magazine used a simple color scheme throughout, and in Corben's case, colored his B&W art themselves with, let's say it-- less than ideal results. :P
So we have both Crumb and Corben seemingly popular in France by at least the early 1970's. I'll see if I can find some issues to see who else might have been included from 'non-BD' countries.
In terms of Corben's work, I find it just amazing. It's full of life, and drawn with a loving tenderness you rarely see in comics. The art was usually absurdly intricate, but even when slightly-rushed, Corben saw -forms- in a way that few other comics artists did. Probably not surprising really, as he had a degree in fine arts and first started working as an animator. I'm also sad to say that he passed away recently at 80yo due to heart surgery. RIP to an utterly unique legend.
As an upcoming treat, I think in a day or two I'm going to post a 13-page chapter from his Denz saga, even though it's American-produced. The art is ridiculously, utterly unique, and here's a sample page:
When I first saw Yoshida's work, it immediately reminded me of classic watercolors from many a fine BD series.
Amazingly, these seem to be -not- watercolors, but woodblock art, in which a series of blocks are carved to impress the total number of ink colors present in a piece. Not unlike screen-printing, but far more laborious I should think. Of course the point of processes like these (and lithography) is to be able to produce a run of high-quality prints using very basic materials.
I'm still learning about Yoshida, but one thing that seems unusual about him is that he made a point of getting out of Japan and exploring as much of the world as he could. Hence, you see authentic Japanese prints of places not normally associated with the style, starting with India.
Versailles' de Pins clearly has a deep attraction to women, admittedly as with many neat-o artists throughout history.
Still, it seems to me what makes him a bit different is his ability to go beyond 'mere appreciation,' all the way to lampooning his own lust, while at the same time keeping in mind social rights.
It's a perilous line to walk, I suppose, but either way, I frankly enjoy de Pins' ability to riff on all these issues in a self-aware, comedic way. In any case, he seems to enjoy celebrating womens' rights in a pop-culture art context, FWIW.
And I think that's pretty cool.
Info on de Pins' various projects is here:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/d/de-pins_arthur.htm
It's a panel from Silas Corey, The Aquila Network, a terrific series scripted by Fabien Nury.
