Frank Pé: A Legacy Forged in Respect and Realism
Frank Pé, now 69, built his celebrated career on a foundation of deep artistic respect and a commitment to matching style to substance. His groundbreaking collaboration with Philippe Bonifay on the series Zoo exemplifies this approach, born from a chance meeting at a comic festival in maubeuge around 1987-1988. The initial connection blossomed into frequent festival encounters, shared studio visits, and ultimately, the ambitious project of Zoo. Pé was particularly drawn to the literary and poetic qualities of Bonifay’s earlier work, The Chariot of Thespis, believing Bonifay possessed a unique talent for character psychology, while Pé felt he could best realize the story’s narrative potential.
The visual world of Zoo is richly layered with artistic influence. The character of Buggy, a central figure in the series, draws inspiration from both animal sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti - brother of automobile manufacturer hector Bugatti – and the early-dying German painter Egon Schiele. Pé incorporated numerous sculptures by Rembrandt Bugatti, including depictions of a mandrill and a stretched panther, directly into the artwork. Both Bugatti and Schiele, who tragically died by suicide at the age of thirty-two, resonated with Pé as figures marked by early loss. The architecture of the Antwerp Zoo served as a key visual reference for the Norman zoo depicted in Zoo.
Originally conceived as a diptych of 110 pages intended for quick release alongside Free Flight, Zoo‘s trajectory shifted as Bonifay observed audience engagement. He expanded the narrative, introducing the storyline of Célestin’s decision to dedicate his medical skills to humans rather than animals. Bonifay credits a visit to Antwerp Zoo with sparking the creation of the core characters – Manon, Anna, Buggy, and Célestin – a rare instance where characters emerged before a fully formed plot. Pé himself later described the zoo itself as a fifth character in the story.The emotional impact of the series is evident in Pé’s admission of tears shed upon reading Bonifay’s screenplay, specifically the passage detailing Célestin’s death at the front lines in the third part – a planned narrative beat that Bonifay approached with relative ease.
Crucially, Pé consciously chose a realistic drawing style for Zoo, a deliberate departure from his more cartoonish work like Ragebol. He felt the gravity of the story – a tale of a woman grappling with profound loss – demanded a more sensitive and nuanced visual approach.He specifically avoided the exaggerated features characteristic of the work of André Franquin, a cartoonist he deeply admired.Pé held Franquin in the highest regard, stating in a 2016 interview: “Ther is a kind of warmth in his universe, a generosity, a bliss, but also a perfection that you don’t see anywhere else. It is difficult to describe, but when you read a Franquin, you instantly feel that there is so much more behind those drawings. Now I know that this is simply the person of Franquin himself. He was really unique. (…) Franquin is my drawing father.” This admiration, notably, was reciprocated by Franquin himself, a testament to Pé’s talent and artistic integrity.
