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Darko Macan On Just So Bart Won’t Have The Last Word…â€
posted November 3, 2008
...I would like to vote for Marquis d'Anaon as probably the best French mainstream series of the last decade, not to mention the best drawn one. The first four books just kept getting better and better so I have high expectations for the fifth one. Also, Vehlmann is just about the only French writer - now that Trondheim is doing only diaries -- that I look forward to. His "Seuls" (with Gazzotti) feels something like "Y the Last Man" for kids, his "Green Manor" (with Bodart, available in English if I'm not mistaken) is consistently excellent, I loved the first volume of "Samedi and Dimanche" (with Gwen), "Nuit de Inca" and "Cinq Conteurs" (with Duchazeau), and "Sept Psychopates" (with lacklustre Sean Phillips art). What sets Vehlmann apart from the rest of the crop is his willingness to tackle emotions -- this sometimes leads him over the edge of melodrama but more frequently gives us books that have the aroma of Michel Greg's writing (or: the best of Jean Van Hamme), instead of the prevailing school of Charlier's plot-plot-plotting heirs.
And, for what it's worth, I think Carolos Trillo is quite brilliant, too. Of course, he produces an occassional dud (Boy Vampire was ehh ...), but he balances it with excellent entertainment (Clara, Chicanos) and an occassional masterpiece (Spaghetti Brothers, although I hear that US market is getting that in a truncated version).
