Before any comments, here are the albums which were in the running for the Imaginales prize for comics:
Aristophania T. 2, Progredientes – By Xavier Dorison and Joël Parnotte (Éd. Dargaud)
Dracula – By Georges Bess (Ed. Glénat)
Danthrakon – By Christophe Arleston and Olivier Boiscommun (Éd. Drakoo)
The Wanderer of the Stars – By Riff Reb’s (Sun Edition)
Skin of a thousand beasts – By Stéphane Fert (Ed. Delcourt)
- Poster of the 19th edition of the Imaginales d’Épinal by Armel Gaulme. An edition titled “Frontier (s)” with a focus on Russia.
- © Armel Gaulme / Imaginales d’Épinal – The Festival of Imaginary Worlds
For this somewhat special edition, the jury chaired by Jacques Grasser and composed ofÉlisa Amblard (Izneo), Frédéric Bosser (DBD, Drawn Arts, The Unmissable), Hubert Prolongeau (Telerama), Olivier Souillé (Daniel Maghen Gallery), Laurent Vissière (Historia BD) and Stéphane Wieser (director of Imaginales) allowed himself a slight prank, awarding, in addition to the usual price, a special price.
The winner of the Imaginales prize for comics 2020 is therefore Stéphane Fert, rewarded for his first solo album: Skin of a thousand beasts. The one we know for his collaborations with Wilfrid Lupano, on the album When the circus came in the collection of Spoiled Children, and Simon Kansara for the flamboyant Morgan (Éd. Delcourt) whose color work we welcome therefore sees his hard work rewarded.
- © Delcourt
In Skin of a thousand beasts, the author continues his modern storytelling business started with his re-reading of the Arthurian myth of Morgan by adapting the famous tale of the brothers Grimm : Allerleirauh ((All-Fur, or Thousand-beastskin). A coherent scripting work, colors and painting effects of a rare accuracy, all sprinkled with a slight updating of the subject. A comic strip that therefore had nothing to be ashamed of in front of its competitors, justly rewarded within a qualitative selection.
The second prize mentioned above is one of the occasional liberties taken by certain juries when a work deserves a reward, even if it means breaking the rules. This is the case of Georges Bess and his adaptation of the famous Dracula of Bram Store, probably one of the most declined fictional characters with Sherlock Holmes. In selection for the Fauve d’or d’Angoulême 2020, Paul Chopelin wrote about it in ActuaBD.com: “This album is already established as a classic, which we take pleasure in returning to savor the drawings of Georges Bess and soak up their mysterious atmosphere.“
- © Glénat
What to remember from this list of achievements? Two prizes, with an adaptation of a tale by the Grimm brothers and another from the flagship work of the Gothic novel. In addition, a selection including the adaptation of the Vagabond of the stars of Jack london by Riff Reb’s who, with this album, continues his business of graphic transcription of the corpus of the American novelist; without counting a series, Aristophania, by Xavier Dorison which is certainly an original script, but whose author has also distinguished himself in recent months by the transposition into BD format of another classic imaginary: The Animal Farm of George Orwell, giving rise to the excellent The Castle of animals, drawn by Félix Delep, we can say that the literature considerably innervates the contemporary production of comics, giving in a way reason to the forum recently published in our pages by Yves Frémion on the imaginary crisis in the 9th Art ..
If this orientation of the authors of imaginary stories to turn to the texts of their predecessors is not new, it seems however to increase in recent years. This observation can also be extended to other cultural sectors such as cinema or video games, both fond of remakes and remasterings. As long as these adaptations are vectors of quality albums, complaining about them would be counterproductive. Endogamy is however a risky practice: a self-feeding genre, operating in a closed circuit ends up hampering its own renewal. Fortunately, excellent original scenarios continue to be produced, ensuring that a fragile balance is maintained.
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