European Graphic Novels+

Since the thread got upvotes by the majority but only comments from a few party poopers who were obviously not appreciating me sharing this great find with you all, I decided to lock it. I just don´t have the nerve for that kind of shit today.

Hej hej, fellow comic art enthusiasts! I am quite excited to show to you what I just found. While searching for a good digital copy of Jodorowsky´s legendary Dune script, I stumbled upon this incredible analysis of the script, made by the fine people of www.duneinfo.com. It seems to contain the full or at least a big part of the script (in varying image quality) and does a great job at summarizing Jodo´s version of the story en détail. The article presents an insight into this mystical project, which I and probably many of you, have never had before, enjoy! www.duneinfo.com/unseen/jodorowskys-dune-uncovered

I will keep posting selected images from the script, in the future. Here´s an example:

Now how would that convo have gone?
Credit to @darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Anyway, if I understand correctly, this is from the V&L album, The City of Shifting Waters.

(and I told you and TOLD you to get the hell out of Mos Eisley!!)

Nice use of historical design elements imo, they also both look like hippies, lol. I wonder why he made Gurney so short though. As far as I remember he was never called short in the books, right?

I had no idea this otherwise-classic painter did so many of these oddball portraits, and so had to share! Note: these aren't really the best quality, but you can find higher-res versions with a bit of searching.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527 - 1593), was an Italian Renaissance painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books, i.e. grotesques. --WP

Vertumnus (1590) & Water (1566)

These works form a distinct category from his other productions. He was a conventional court painter of portraits for three Holy Roman Emperors in Vienna and Prague; also producing religious subjects and, among other things, a series of coloured drawings of exotic animals in the imperial menagerie.

The Waiter (1574) & The Librarian (1566)

The still life portraits were clearly partly intended as curiosities to amuse the court, but critics have speculated as to how seriously they engaged with Renaissance Neo-Platonism or other intellectual currents of the day.

Winter (1563) & Spring (1563)

Much more on his life:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo

While I love legit, informational, open-minded arguments in general, there were a couple hate-speech attacks against a recent, Belgian/Jewish-themed post here that immediately smashed our #1 rule here ("Netiquette") to bits.

Those came from two individuals in particular (same instance), and disgusted both myself and my co-mod.

I want to remind everyone here-- for anyone new to this community, it's both common-sense and classic Netiquette to suggest that if one wants to argue hard, it's best to start with some politeness where possible.

The two banned can appeal, if they like. I'm not opposed to talking things out, assuming good-faith is involved.

I also want to clarify that the original comic by no means attempted to 'pick international sides.' It was in fact an attempt to depict internal strife between people within a small community. That, and nothing more.

EDIT: I've made some major revisions in my message above, seeking for better clarity. Thank you for re-reading.

Michel Kichka is a cartoonist borne in Belgium with Jewish roots, who became intrigued with Israel, and decided to do a permanent move, marrying and raising a family there with his French wife.

* "Aliyah" is a somewhat complicated word as I grasp it, but from what I understand at the basic level, refers to going back to one's roots / homeland.

-----> https://imgur.com/a/kjMohrs <-----

The way the sequence above concluded really shocked me, and even brought a tear to my eye, honestly. Me, I'm not remotely used to dealing with people like that, and yet I guess that's how it works in certain parts of the world? (gadzooks, mistress goose)

In terms of the comic itself, I found this sequence rather current & relevant to the USA, and a pretty excellent, interesting survey of the artist's life and Israeli culture. At the same time, it established little to no emotional connection with the characters, which is usually how we do these things, but... oh well?

https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-23699-BD-Kichka-Michel.html

EDIT: As we've clarified multiple times here, this story snippet has to do with neighborhood relations in an Israeli city. It is by no means addressing anything on a national basis, including Israeli relations with other peoples or nations. Attempts to highjack the thread in that direction directly breaks our #1 rule here (practice netiquette) and will be dealt with accordingly. Thank you for your cooperation.

Android Blues is a 10-year comics passion-project by Stahlberg, a Swedish artist settled in Australia. So far, I find the art very interesting in that it ranges from rigid LC, to a looser style, all the way up to near photo-realistic work. (you sure don't see that very often)

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https://i.imgur.com/b2nBUUJ.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/R8kEAdW.jpeg

In terms of storytelling and concept, I thought those aspects pretty solid. Where I struggled was in accepting the dynamics of the various relationships, which mostly seemed like something from a lonely male otaku's dream. Seriously, there's a strong 'salaryman manga' vibe going on here, for better or ze wurst.

That said, I found the dialogue fairly witty, even if like Futurama, they seem a bit obsessed with talking about civilisation from long before. (if you know what I mean) Still, it's meant to amuse us moderns, and I guess it does just that.

https://i.imgur.com/H2bv8V1.jpeg

Speaking of Futurama-- Good news, everyone! You can read the entire, 450pp, finished comic below, courtesy of herr Stahlberg: https://androidblues.thecomicseries.com/comics/1/

Now traditionally, I've been extremely mindful of our host's 'no porn' rule, but I feel like I kind of over-corrected for that, across time. Here then are some BD nudes I found tasteful and worth sharing:

https://imgur.com/a/XY1XHUp

I also want to point out that this SubLemmy (community) is open to all tasteful nudes, including male-nudes. In fact I'd rather not we go in the 'nudes' direction in general, but fairplay is fairplay.

Oh, daggit... links! Links! Links to the artist!

https://www.artstation.com/stahlberg
http://stahlberg.cgsociety.org/
https://www.patreon.com/Stahlberg
https://www.androidblues.com/sample-page/

I had a little fun with the panel above from Epileptic. (you can see the original one below) For some reason I never read this classic before, but I'm doing so now.

It's the story of David's early childhood and adolescence, focusing on his relationship with his older brother and younger sister. His brother develops severe and intractable epilepsy, causing the family to seek a variety of solutions from alternative medicine, most dramatically by moving to a commune based on macrobiotic principles.

https://i.imgur.com/C5nYvq9.jpeg

As the epileptic brother loses control of his own life, the artist develops solitary obsessions with cartoons, mythology and war. The book's graphic style becomes increasingly elaborate as the children's fantasy life takes over, with their dreams and fears (including epilepsy itself) appearing as living creatures. In brief interludes, the children appear as adults when the artist begins the process of writing the story. --WP

https://i.imgur.com/uT0YyGJ.jpeg

To be clear, the disease / trauma of his older brother's sends young David in to a world of coping mechanisms, a general process perhaps familiar to most of us.

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

So far I'm seeing a number of parallels to the equally-classic L'Arabe du futur ("The Arab of the Future), by Riad Sattouf. They're both anecdotal, imaginative looks at these authors' respective childhoods... works in which you can see events and principles which shaped the personality of the future adults. Also of interest is that they bring uniquely Arabic perspectives to the BD-sphere.

LBK on David B:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/b_david.htm

This comes from a rather ambitious, five-tome series called Le jour des Magiciens ("Day of the Magicians"), by an Italian duo, Michelangelo La Neve & Marco Nizzoli. I found it much in the style of Alejandro Jodorowsky, full of fanciful ideas and powerful sequences that sometimes hit the mark, and sometimes seemed a bit nonsensical.

The plot involves "Lancaster," a renegade, modern-day magician, who's disgusted by the stagnation of his order, who has the idea to father an offspring to become a sort of new magi-messiah. This doesn't sit well with his old order, who keep trying to kidnap his son and assassinate the father. The mother of the boy is in fact "Ash" (the lead assassin's) sister, so the bad blood only builds, as you can see:

---> https://imgur.com/gallery/movie-esque-sequence-from-day-of-magicians-by-la-neve-nizzoli-bFiAH7N <---

(I thought it was a neat, movie-like juxtaposition, having the main action run concurrent with a children's story)

To be clear, the sequence above is fairly atypical, as this is mostly a plot and narrative-driven work, but with some intense moments as above. Here and there it can sag a bit under the weight of exposition, but otherwise moves forward with good storytelling, and of course delightful art.

Btw, if you've already read this series and seen the sci-fi movie Zardoz, did you happen to make this connection?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwq5RYrm5kE

It's always the other kids, daggit!

Like... the ones who can yank the string to make the top spin best, to skip the stone across the lake until it reaches the other side, and... I think that's enough time to keep placing & dating myself. (whoops)

Alright alright, here's some small updates:

• You won't see a "new post" pop up, but I went back to Borderline and edited in about 3x new content & conclusions. Make of that how you will.

• Over the past few weeks, I've had an idea to select from my ~200 favorite browser games in order to condense a tight '20-30' best, sharing it here as an online arcade, just for fun. A sort of community recreational-project, if you will.

So, question-- got any super-favorite browser-games worth mentioning, mateys? <3

• Me, I continue to just... take a break from this sub whenever I need it. It might be two days; it might be 4-5-6. Whatever. Trying to post almost 1x per day turned out to be a disaster for me, and that's part of why I say the sub belongs to everyone, now.

• Oh, and yes!... I'm utterly fascinated by this thought (again courtesy of Kerzgesagt, from the lead image) about how massive black-holes might operate, in fact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71eUes30gwc

This is from Borderline (Point du rupture), a grim, violent, Skynet-esque, dystopian, post-apoc work he did with fellow countryman Carlos Trillo.

I'm re-reading it now, and frankly, I don't remember how well I liked it before. That's usually not a tremendously encouraging sign, but... let's see how things shake out this time. For others of the post-apoc genre, I still maintain my master list at the evil empire, for those curious.

Anyway, I love Risso's art. More here:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/r/risso_eduardo.htm

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/image/r/risso_eduardo/risso_100bullets2.jpg

EDIT:

Just finished the four-tome series (link added above).
Now I don't think there's any question that this one's patterned after Miller's Sin City, altho yes, the setting is quite different. I'd say what immediately stands out is the difference in focus.

For example, while Miller was a bit 'loosy-goosy' in following various characters across his nightmarish version of 'Vegas,' he chose to dedicate long story-arcs to each chapter & book. Meanwhile, Trillo & Risso focused their entire time on a specific, local clash between ruling factions and their minions, parsed in to short stories. (and yes, they were often part of an arc)

TBH-- altho I'm not nearly a fan of Frank Miller as I used to be (in his own words, he loves to aim 'way over the top,' while I'm more 'ordinary people' inclined), I don't think there's any question that Sin City has the better focus, dramatics, and storyline.

Now this is maybe foolish, or maybe appropriate to our reality, but one thing I really appreciate is when there's something of a background, or at least basic research, in to the relevant science of a story. Instead, it seems to me that the logic and science in Borderline are mostly there just to serve the story. That's completely common of course, but...

OTOH, the art really is phenomenal, the core ideas are out of classic pulp-SF, and my impression of American audiences is that they won't mind the violence too much. In short, I suspect this is perhaps one of those series which sort of stylistically divides The Americas from Europe, if I may make so bold a statement, hehe.

NOTE: Bedetheque has plenty of page-samples, linked early above, and here's what google's got:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22borderline%22+%22risso%22+%22trillo%22&udm=2

I found La vengeance du Comte Skarbek to be a nifty story by Belgian Yves Sente, with painterly art by Polishman Grzegorz Rosinski. They're both major players in BD of course, with Sente working on titles like Blake & Mortimer, XIII, and Thorgal, and Rosinski working on Buddy Longway, Ballad of the Lost Moors, Chninkel, and... Thorgal.

A Parisian street scene.

The story itself is a clever riff on The Count of Monte Cristo, set in 1843. Here, a young Polish artist named "Skarbek" is forced to flee to Paris, where he takes on the name "Paulus," and meets a beautiful young model who becomes his muse. His paintings become known to a prominent art dealer who contracts him, and all seems well until he realises he's been entrapped by the duo. Things take a turn when the model falls in love with him, followed by Paulus becoming outraged when he discovers that the art dealer's been sexually and mentally abusing her. They fight, a bystander gets accidentally killed, and unfortunately Paulus looks for all the world like the guilty party.

As is often the case, I'm a sucker for tall ship shots.

And so he flees by ship! Which, wouldn't you know it, gets attacked by "Alexander," the pirate master. Alexander's lieutenant "Violette" notices that he's an artist, and persuades the pirate-master to spare him. From there, he's installed as a prisoner and resident painter at Alexander's island retreat.

And there was a trial.

Paulus eventually returns to Paris, looking for his revenge, and persuades two prominent, aggrieved patrons of the art dealer to sue him. What follows is a sprawling, highly entertaining courtroom trial, which features much of the island and pirate backstory, helping to explain why these panels cut back and forth.

Those red sails against the harbor colors really send me(!)

Note: Rosinski is one of those who seems to tailor his style to each particular work. In this two-tome series, I guess he's using gouache (opaque watercolor) to simulate oil painting (which he does in some other series), in this case using a loose, but effective style as I found it.

More island shots.

I've given you the broad strokes of the storyline, but what really makes this story work is a triple plot-twist that works beautifully with the trial setting and dramatic story ending. Besides the clear Dumas reference, this story has also been cited as being distinctly Hugo-esque. Other than the seeming absurdity of a prominent pirate operating in the Mediterranean in the mid-1800's, I found this quite satisfying historical fiction.

More:
https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-8289-BD-Vengeance-du-Comte-Skarbek.html

Now, the above might seem kind of fawning and patriarchal on the face of things, but I found it pretty-much the opposite. (work with me here?)

In short-- these three gals come from a range of backgrounds & scholarly ability, and are all vying to self-torture themselves through graduate school, essentially. For example, the advisor to Helen (the redhead below) is especially an enormous asshole, toying with her dissertation and future job-prospects unnecessarily, altho I suppose that's also par for the course when it comes to the academic grant-process, no? *sigh*

Oh, right-- what's happening here is that the school year is finally over, and they're spending a few days in the country at Helen's family's place. Fresh air, mountains, hiking, et cet.

Now, all three of them had pretty-consistently been dealing with shit from their BF's or love interests (and vice-versa) for the whole semester, so it was just nice for them to chill out, just girls, and symbolically as kids once again, with Helen's family.

Those are the lines that really killed me-- the idea that gifted academics can suffer such thoughts. Uh... "Imposter Syndrome," or something like that? So, meanwhile alongside their own accomplishments, they can be almost in a state of awe upon expert craftsman and people who make things happen with their hands, see?

If the pics don't show up correctly, try the page:
https://imgur.com/gallery/little-sequence-from-fascinating-slice-of-life-work-glory-days-i-e-le-bel-ge-by-merwan-2012-AVlBEKe

Merwan is just wonderful to me:
https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-9301-BD-Merwan.html

Intro by Rolando: I recently compared Jim Woodring to @pmjv@lemmy.sdf.org's work on !unix_surrealism@lemmy.sdf.org, and @JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee suggested I post something here about it, since pmjv's European. So here is a cross-post of one of pmjv's more accessible pieces. For more info about what's going on, see: https://analognowhere.com/log/2022-04-30/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/21198712

So... I was just re-reading Woodring's One Beautiful Spring Day, which was a grand attempt to tie together his major classics Congress of the Animals & Fran, and then another one, Poochytown.

Now, if you haven't read the first two? Then I strongly advise you to start screaming at the top of your lungs, running around like a headless chicken, and making your way over to the nearest comics shop tout de suite, even were that to involve a grueling dogsled race across the vast, desert wastes of Siberia. That's how amazing those two titles are, in mine humble bumble.

Okay, let's get to it-- (lol)
So, what I really liked about the panel above was the fact that there's an optical illusion there of sorts, suggesting areas of "grey," even though the image is totally in B&W. You can see this around the pillars, and a bit around the roof of Frank's home. (might possibly help to unfocus your eyes a bit, squint, or just move closer or farther to the pic)

See what I mean..? Or no?

Another thing I love is the 'etched' quality of the sky. Just like the other areas of the image, using the thickening / thinning of the horizontal lines to suggest, well... everything!

Okay, now here-- Frank and his GF Fran have had a HUGE row (fight), and he's starting to realise that he went overboard, and that sadly, she might not be coming back. That delicate little flower of his GF, that is.

(and men can cry; it's okay)

See, and here's the concern!

WARNING, MATURE MATERIAL AHEAD!
PROCEED UPON THINE OWN RISK!
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Oh my.
So... no problem, I guess!? oO

In any case, I find American Jim Woodring a national treasure, and you can't have him, you delightful Euros, you! (lol)

Seriously though, I find Jim's line-work entrancing, precise and even delirious to the point of being an honorary LC-artist at the very least.

This comes from the S01E10 episode of the 2021 CG series, which as of this date has run three seasons and 112 eps. The English version of this ep is called UnSmurfable Smile, I believe.

There's a five-minute clip of this wild ride, below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbQZLCGj4I
(French CC's are available for students like me)

Personally I think they did a nice job on this series, altho one thing I do prefer about the 1981 English version was that the voicework tended to sound appropriate to a race of creatures "three apples high."

Sort of like the voices on Alvin's Xmas song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np2ZapISRzM

TAGS: Peyo

Mourrain doesn't show up in LBK or BDT yet, but it's clear that he does lots of illustrations for childrens' books. The style we see above seems to be his most common, but he also works in a more monotone, shade-heavy approach. More of his work can be seen here.

I don't know if this little collection appears in any particular book (I couldn't find it), but in any case it appears to involve three children visiting these famous places:

Pyramid entrance to Le Louvre.

Opéra Garnier’s grand staircase, with the Phantom of the Opera just visible under the stairs. EDIT: thanks to "troglodyte_mignon" in comments for the info!

That's The Brooklyn Bridge, of course.

And finally, Le Jardin des plantes, which I understand to be headquarters of the National Museum of Natural History, which also includes a zoo! :D

Btw, I found that statue pretty cool, both in spectacle, and due to the fact that Lamarck was an early proponent of evolution. (I'd never heard of the guy)

Layout of Le Jardin, showing its four main galleries, greenhouses (it was originally a royal garden for medicinal plants), and all the smaller buildings.

I've only been to Paris once as an adult, and certainly regret not spending time here(!)

BONUS: Maybe a theme song-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN64qgptQQA

So for me, as I stumble and bumble my way through learning French (mostly through DuoLingo, hey), I'm often thinking about this issue.

Now-- on the surface of things, Modern English is almost exclusively comprised of German & French, and almost every word in these sentences are specific examples of such in terms of direct etymology. Which is a big part of why I've typically regarded French & German as my sibling languages. It's a nice, bright thought, anyway!

Let's take the modern English word "fight"-- WP claims:

From Middle English fighten, from Old English feohtan (“to fight, combat, strive”), from Proto-West Germanic *fehtan, from Proto-Germanic *fehtaną (“to comb, tease, shear, struggle with”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear”).

My point is that there's so many ways to run with that over time... in any language whatsoever! Indeed, IIRC there was a "fisten" variation which meant an entirely different thing in earlier German.

But, "shear?" Yes, yes back in my schoolyard days, I wanted to shear my opponent like a little lost lamb, but... I don't think that's right.

So here's my point, assuming you've lasted this far. Modern German in fact split from modern English maybe around ~~800AD? And Modern French, around... perhaps slightly earlier than the Norman Conquest (1066), meaning that even though Modern English is absolutely PACKED full of French & German pronyms, we can't just assume they mean the same thing, anymore, as with the examples above.

It sort of breaks my heart, but it's just reality, non?

The above is Procession, I think?

Me, I just love it.
Now IIRC, Maggie did that one because of a dream about spoons her kiddo had. (must be nice to have such a parent, haha)

Oh, a flier!

Maggie Vandewalle was born and raised just outside of Iowa City, Iowa, in a rural setting. As a child she divided her time between roaming fields and woods, scouring the public library for good books, and forever doodling. Out of high school she received an art scholarship to the University of Iowa, where she worked towards a BFA in printmaking. After several years she took a break from college to explore life without the constraints of school. As time went on, she determined that while school might not continue to play a part in her life, art most definitely would in the form of drawing and painting. Ever since, she has used watercolor or graphite to convey her love of the organic world and that of a really good story:

“While growing up, if I wasn’t outside I spent most of my time with my nose in books. When I look back, the pictures are as clear to me as the stories, they are intertwined in a way that creates magic for me. Because I’m not a writer but love the story, I try to create visual narratives through the use of paint.”

Midnight Revelry, i.e. “Moondance”

Now, me? I don't know if we need to battle over what's more American vs. what's more Euro? (sod that, laddies) To me this is some great stuff that rather exemplifies the heights of both, altho I do find Maggie's last name interesting in that regard, in that it's evidently a classic Dutch / Flemish name.

Straight on Till Morning

In any case, I find her stuff rather wonderful, seemingly referencing England's Richard Adams' Watership Down, the great Polish-American Maurice Sendak, and whatever else, creating her own utterly unique, delightful style in the end.

http://www.maggievandewalle.com/

These are by classic Spanish scenarist Ángel Segura Moreno & artist José Ortiz, about an ultra-cynical survivor attempting to get by in a brutal, post-apoc world:

----> https://imgur.com/a/4u3F2AL <----

EDIT4: Below is page four, which got not-uploaded due to filters, or I-don't-know-what: https://i.imgur.com/nBg2TrI.jpeg

Pardon the short-form, here. I'm dealing with something at the moment, and will get back to y'all.

EDIT: There should be 12 pages in all. Please let me know if anything seems to be missing, so I can re-upload it. I did have to censor one page a little to get by the Imgur filter. Hopefully it worked.

EDIT2: More notes about the series in comments.

This Moebius tarot deck is by "QuirkyMagic," a pen-name for Englishman Clive Austin. The deck was evidently a handmade, one-off creation for a friend. The rest of the deck can be seen here.

Speaking of which, he also 'Kickstarted' a hand-crafted collection of cards called The Unremarkable Oracle. The idea I believe is similar to the way Runestones, The I Ching, and The Tarot work, i.e. they're all tools with a randomising quality to help one regain momentum in one's life, and perhaps some personal insights.

I find the cards and the concept intriguing, altho unfortunately his "QuirkyMagic.com" site now seems to be down, which is where the deck and a guidebook could once be had for £25. Bugger. Still, for anyone curious, it seems the cards (front and back) and booklet have been somewhat preserved across the Instagram link above, as well as at his general Pinterest site.

(wow, I sure do love to embed dem links, huh?)

Jansson of course was the Swedish-Finnish genius who created the Moomin series for kids, as well as for all-ages audiences. I want to say it drew upon American Charles Schulz' work on Peanuts, in which novel character-types were introduced in a fairly LC-style, exploring just what it is to be a thinking, emotional being, bumping up against others of different variety.

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

What I really liked about these in particular is that AFAIK, Jansson worked almost exclusively in B&W (not unlike Schulz, classically). So these full-color watercolors just kinda blew me away as a chronic Moomin fan!

https://i.imgur.com/eVbwz3k.jpeg

The story itself involves a girl searching for her lost cat, a fairly standard story-device, I suppose. But along the way she meets some wild & wonderful folks. Again a pretty classic story-device, but what makes this one stand out is the silly poetry, which I'm not sure Jansson had exactly attempted, before.

https://i.imgur.com/NycL9SR.jpeg

TBC-- all of these splash pages feature some amusing Seussian, playful poems underneath them. Here's the one for the balloon trip above:

At this point I'll quote the fadeout of this excellent little book, here:

Tove Jansson (1914-2001) is Scandinavia's best known and best loved children's author. She began publishing sketches and cartoons at the age of fifteen and in 1945 wrote the first in a series of internationally renowned Moomintroll books. The Dangerous Journey (published originally in 1977) was the final Moomin book that she wrote and illustrated, and offers a memorable last glimpse of Moomin Valley. Jansson lived in Helsinki but spent a large part of her life on an island in the Gulf of Finland.

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/j/jansson_t.htm

NO, I'm not trying to go back to posting once per day again, but I just had to share this one. Okay, then? Are we clear on that? *phew*

So, this is evidently un affiche for the 2nd International Salon of the Comic Strip, organized in Kortrijk/Courtrai, Belge, from the 13th-15th, May of 1989, during the annual Sinksenfeesten Festival.

See how many characters can you recognise, and then I'll share the answers below.

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We recognize from the left corner, top-to-bottom:

E.P. Jacobs’ Blake & Mortimer, Dupa's Cubitus, Jacques Tardi's Adèle Blanc-Sec, André Franquin's Fantasio et Spirou (whose legs stick out behind Adèle's head), Jean Giraud’s Jimmy McClure (from 'Blueberry’), Jean Roba’s Bill, Peyo’s Smurf, Willy Vandersteen’s Lambik, Gotlib’s Professeur Burp (from 'Rubrique-à-Brac’), Hergé's Tintin, Albert Uderzo’s Obelix, Morris’ Jolly Jumper, Victor Hubinon’s Barbe-Rouge, Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese, Willy Linthout’s Urbanus, JC Mézières' Shingouz (from 'Valérian et Laureline') and Albert Uderzo’s Tanguy (from 'Tanguy & Laverdure').

In the right corner we notice Franquin’s Marsupilami, with Spip the squirrel (from 'Spirou') hanging on the tip of his tail in the left upper corner. Beneath the Marsupilami's legs JC Mézières’ Laureline et un grognon from "Bluxte" (both from 'Valérian et Laureline’) can be spotted. High in the air we see the pterodactyl from Jean Giraud’s Arzach. --LBK & Johnny

Yesterday I ran in to matttt's excellent video exploring this question, i.e. "was Ballad of the Salt Sea (1967) the first GN?," altho to be clear-- it's mostly about the total comics career of legendary Italian artist / writer Hugo Pratt.

TBH, I wasn't really expecting to sit through a 17min video, but "matttt" is just such a great talent, that it wasn't hard. I only wish he covered more Euro comics specifically, but in any case, he's a terrrrific, home-grown comics historian who speaks with passion and precision. (did you like that?)

NOTES: 1) there's a built-in sponsor-ad starting just after 5min that lasts a full minute, 2) If you want to skip specifically to the Corto Maltese stuff, you can start about halfway through, in which matttt gets in to what makes the series so special:

-----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlIKSeNJrC8 <-----

As for what really was the first GN? Good question. There's an old idea that a bunch of short comics collected in to hardcover format fit this definition, but I'm not sure I buy that. Personally, I tend to think of a 'proper GN' as a long-form narrative that's not just gag-related. So the Tintin albums would fit the bill for me, but in fact there are examples going back to the 1920's, possibly even earlier.

I guess matttt's proposal of Ballad of the Salt Sea as the first GN (in which Corto was only one of several prominent characters) is based on the idea that it was the first (modern-era at least) example of comics in fusion with literature, for what that's worth.

Now, I don't think we need to make war over this stuff; moreso, I find it a fun debate-topic in which to better understand comics as a whole.

Fair?