Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretécher by Claire Bretécher National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretécher by Claire Bretécher. Looking on Amazon it seems pretty hard to find any English language collections of French cartoonist Claire Bretecher's work but by looking at her entries on Wikipedia and Lambiek Comiclopedia it is clear that she is pretty revered in her country, and indeed amongst most comics aficionados . But at the time she started getting recognised (70's) she was sadly one of the few women making it big in the European comics scene. She got her big break doing some illustration work for Rene Goscinny and in 1972 she founded the comics magazine L'Echo des savanes with Gotlib and Mandryka . So having heard her name floating around I picked up a second hand copy of a collection of her cartoons put out by the American humour magazine National Lampoon. Despite the fact that the large majority of her strips focus on gender issues and feature mainly female protagonists, they are portrayed fairly neutrally, as Bretecher herself explains in the books introduction: 'Women in comic strips are usually portrayed either as shrews or movie stars. But in real life, women, like men, are neither of these extremes, so I portray women and men alike, except that the women have two little round things on their chest' This comes as a refreshing antidote to the reinforcement of female stereotypes in comics of that period especially the newspaper strip Cathy by Cathy Guisewite which has been parodied to death over the years. Stylistically and thematically Bretecher reminds me slightly of Jules Feiffer in her dealings with the pretensions of the intellectual and bohemian elite. Whether mocking parents new found obsession with Freud, lampooning film critics, or poking holes in the commitment of the anti-consumerist crowd Bretecher's humour is as relevant now as it was back then. The sign of a true feminist in my eyes is someone who champions equality not superiority and I can safely say Bretecher follows this blueprint to the tee, not being afraid to make a mockery of the feminists as well as shooting down the chauvinists with her razor sharp wit. Most of the strips carry a subtle slightly absurdist message reminding us never to take ourselves too seriously, but from some of the strips its easy to see where her sympathies lie (a strip about abortion managing to make a poignant joke about women's choice in the matter). Overall this is a nice introduction to Bretecher's work and I for one would like to see more of it made available , especially her colour work and her teenage character Agrippine . National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretécher by Claire Bretécher. Above: Claire Bretécher at work in 1979. Photo by Jean Luce Huré. One of the first female cartoonists to break into France's male-dominated comic culture, Claire Bretécher, "a satirical, fearless and lacerating French comic artist" died on February 10 in Paris. She was 79. The announcement was made by her publisher, Darguad, which provided no further details. "Ms. Bretécher (pronounced bruh-tay-SHAY) became a celebrated cartoonist in the 1970s, and her comic strips were a fixture in French newspapers and magazines for decades. Her work also appeared around the world; in the United States she was published in Ms. magazine, Esquire and National Lampoon. "She brought a mordant wit to gender issues and was so incisive about the human condition that in 1976 the philosopher Roland Barthes called her the 'best sociologist of the year.'" Above: a 1974 self-portrait drawn for the magazine Schtroumpf. Claire Bretécher was the first satirist who "meticulously and subtly captured the behavior and conversations of both the adult and adolescent female in her two signature series 'Les Frustrés' (1973-1981) and 'Agrippine' (1988-2009), all in her trademark loose and sketchy trait." (Lambiek) From Claire Bretécher’s popular strip La Page des Frustés (The Frustrated) which appeared weekly from 1974 to the mid-1980s in France, and reprinted in the US in National Lampoon. The above page is from the 1978 paperback collection National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretécher. Image from the Slings and Arrows site. A couple of one-page strips about the teenage girl Agrippina ( Agrippine in France). The long-running series was the subject of four collections, originally self-published by Bretécher, as well as an animated series. Hat tip to Slings and Arrows once again for the scan. Here is the first episode of the Agrippine Canal+ TV series from 2001. A 1977 interview with Claire Bretécher answering questions while drawing: The Daily Cartoonist has an excellent appreciation of her life and many good links. National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretecher by Bretecher Claire: Books. National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretecher. Bretecher, Claire w/trans. by Valerie Marchant (editor) Published by Bretecher, Claire w/trans. by Valerie Marchant (editor)., pub. by National Lampoon, nd, c1978,, 1978. Used - Softcover. Bretecher, Claire (illustrator). illus. soft cover, vg, unpaginated, B & W illllus., 4to, "A Savage Hilarious View of Modern Life", $7.50. National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretecher. Claire Bretecher. Published by National lampoon magazine : [distributed by Two Continents Pub. Group], 1978. Used - Softcover Condition: Good. Softcover. Condition: Good. Boards are very bowed. Book. National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretecher. Bretecher, Claire; Marchant, Valerie, Ed. And Trans. Published by National Lampoon, 1978. Used - Softcover. Paperback. First American ition edition. Good/Wraps (37400) . No page numbers. Trade paperback, good condition, w. lightly tanned, ltly rubbed wraps--sme lt marks. Sme lt soil, lt wrinkles on fr. Sme lt wear at sp edges. Smwht bumped and bent fr corners, lt edgwr, sm tear on fr wrap fr edge.Ltly bumped r. corners, lt nick on p. bottoms. Smwht tanned p. edges, sme lt soil foxing. Ltly tanned ins wraps w. sme lt foxing spots. Ltly tanned pp. O/w cln, tight, unmarked. 0. National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretecher. Bretecher, Claire. Published by Simon & Schuster, 1978. Used - Softcover Condition: Good. Paperback. Condition: Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972. Used books may not include companion materials, some shelf wear, may contain highlighting/notes, may not include cdrom or access codes. Customer service is our top priority!. National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretecher. Bretecher, Claire. Published by pub. by National Lampoon Magazine, nd, c1978,, 1978. Used - Softcover. illus. soft cover, fine, unpaginated, B & W cartoon illus. by the author, 4to, 'A Savage Hilarious View of Modern Life'. National Lampoon Presents CLAIRE BRETECHER. Bretecher, Claire. (Translated by Valerie Marchant.) Published by National Lampoon., New York, NY, USA., 1978. Used - Softcover Condition: GOOD, Decent Reading Copy. Soft Cover. Condition: GOOD, Decent Reading Copy. Claire Bretecher - Cartoons Cover & Interior Art. (illustrator). PBO (Paperback Original) True First Ed. CARTOON HUMOR & PARODY Comics Graphic Novel " Bretecher's comics touch on everything from sex to psychology to feminism to shopping for a new swimsuit."; >>> " a Savage Hilarious View of Modern LIfe" >> Large 9"x12" Size; >>>( Book Weight = 450 Grams ); >>> Minor wear on top/bottom of spine. Creasing to Covers; Minor surface sractches to back cover; Minor staining to back cover; Size: 4to - over 9�" - 12" tall. Trade Paperback. National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretécher by Claire Bretécher. Claire Bretécher’s hugely popular strip La Page des Frustés (The Frustrated) which appeared weekly from 1974 to the mid-1980s in France, quickly made its way around the world, translated into many languages. In the UK it was a full page every week in the Sunday Times Magazine , where it was called Frustration . In the USA it was picked up by Ms. magazine, and by the humour monthly The National Lampoon which translated not only the Frustés material but also ‘ Salades de Saison’ , a similar series Bretécher created for French weekly Pilote. The strips chosen for this book collection are all from Frustés. The translation and re-lettering of the original French strips for the USA was done completely separately from the work occurring at the same time in Britain. These versions were translated by Valerie Marchant, and Bretécher’s handwritten captions and text were duplicated by John Workman, then art director at Heavy Metal (and now known for his long association with Walt Simonson on Thor , among other titles). Not many people would be that interested in those technical details or find them significant except that these simultaneous translations gave English readers an opportunity to compare approaches to the texts side-by-side, and the changes are fascinating. Apart from the localising of shops, train stations, food and similar daily details, there are different ideas on how to turn French politics and idioms into English. Sometimes the results are so far apart they result in totally disparate strips, as in the famously mangled translation ‘Taking the Mickey’, shown here in the sample page. In the original strip a father sees his daughter reading a copy of the first Tintin book, Tintin au Pays des Soviets , which French readers mostly remember for its super-rare collectors’ item status and its virulent anti-Communist propaganda. The left-wing dad gets distracted from his disgust about Hergé’s politics when he realises his daughter’s flea-market find could be worth a fortune, but it turns out to be a reprint. In the version that appears here in The National Lampoon Presents Claire Bretécher, Tintin turns into Mickey Mouse and the joke about capitalist greed overcoming socialist principles is lost altogether. You can compare it to the more faithful translation that appears in More Frustration, noting all the other little speech quirks that made it across (or not). This book is out of print. Since it contains the same material seen in Frustration and More Frustration in the UK, it’s not usually found in British bookshops but can be picked up online and in the USA relatively cheaply. It does feature one thing none of the UK books have: an introduction by Bretécher herself. Claire Bretécher, Satirical French Cartoonist, Dies at 79. Claire Bretécher, a satirical , fearless and lacerating French comic artist who was one of the first women to break into France’s male-dominated cartoon industry, died on Feb. 10 in Paris. She was 79. Her death was announced by her publisher, Dargaud, which provided no other details. Ms. Bretécher (pronounced bruh-tay-SHAY) became a celebrated cartoonist in the 1970s, and her comic strips were a fixture in French newspapers and magazines for decades. Her work also appeared around the world; in the United States she was published in Ms. magazine, Esquire and National Lampoon. She brought a mordant wit to gender issues and was so incisive about the human condition that in 1976 the philosopher Roland Barthes called her the “best sociologist of the year.” She specialized in holding up to scrutiny the affluent urban female in all her angst, melodrama and hypocrisy. Ms. Bretécher embodied many of her characters’ traits, and she readily lampooned them. “She was the first satirist who meticulously and subtly captured the behavior and conversations of both the adult and adolescent female,” Lambiek Comiclopedia, a compendium of comic artists around the world, said, citing her two signature series, “Les Frustrés” (1973-81) and “Agrippine” (1988-2009). She invented a gallery of sparsely styled misfits, most famously a morose young woman named Agrippine (Agrippina in English), whom she followed through teenage crises and existential quandaries. “Agrippine” was turned into a 26-episode series on French television in 2001; much of Ms. Bretécher’s work was adapted for animation, stage and radio. Her stable of characters also included Fernand, an opportunistic and self-pitying orphan, and Robin les Foies, a lazy detective. One of her longest- running was Cellulite, an emancipated princess who was tired of waiting for her Prince Charming and who became one of the first female antiheroines of French comics. Ms. Bretécher’s humor, Comiclopedia said, “lies in the spot-on satire of the language and mannerisms of the bourgeois intellectual, while the drawings reveal the bored-out snobbism and decadence with subtle nuances.” She became best known for her popular comic strip “Les Frustrés” (“The Frustrated Ones”), which ran in the leftist weekly Le Nouvel Observateur, now known as L’Obs. “Les Frustrés” had no recurring characters but showed women dealing with everyday concerns like loneliness and anxiety, as well as issues specific to them, including, as Comiclopedia put it, “menstruation, the pill, weight concerns, raising children, dealing with men who just don’t seem to understand, rivalry with other women and aging.” Ms. Bretécher was among the first female cartoonists with a regular spot in several classic comic magazines in France. In her cartoon universe, men were often nouveau riche posers. Women were sometimes vain and silly but more often zealous feminists, downtrodden housewives or unfulfilled career girls. “I’m from a family where women are strong and men are weak,” she told The New York Times in 1977. “I was raised to think it’s better not to marry than to marry a jerk.” She added that she had resolved her own problems long ago: “Now I live with someone who understands that I’m not doing the housework, that my dough is mine and his is his, and that I don’t want kids.” Nonetheless, she had a son, Martin Bretécher, who survives her. She was married twice. Her first husband was a photographer. Her second, Guy Carcassonne, a noted professor of constitutional law in Paris, died of a cerebral hemorrhage while he and she were traveling in Russia in 2013. Claire Bretécher was born on April 17, 1940, in Nantes, in western France. Her father, a jurist, was a violent man, according to Comiclopedia, and her mother, a homemaker, urged her to become resourceful and independent. She was educated in a convent. She started drawing comics as a child but abandoned the practice while studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nantes. She left for Paris in the late 1950s. She scraped together a living by drawing illustrations for women’s magazines and advertisements. She told The Times she was so timid that she would throw up before each appointment over an assignment. She worked from a small, disheveled Montmartre atelier. An inveterate procrastinator, she panicked when confronted by a deadline. “If I haven’t started by 2, I go to bed,” she told The Times. “Once I rolled around till 4 thinking, ‘Nobody loves me, I’m stupid, I’m ugly, etc., etc.’ And that was my strip for the week.” Her influences included the comic strips “Peanuts,” by Charles M. Schulz, and “The Wizard of Id,” by Brant Parker and Johnny Hart, as well as the socio-satirical work of Jules Feiffer, the longtime cartoonist for The Village Voice, and James Thurber of The New Yorker. While her work was overtly feminist, Ms. Bretécher resisted that label for herself. She said her comics were not meant to deliver a feminist message, only to reflect the fact that she understood women better than she understood men. Still, she acknowledged to The Times in 1977 that men often thought she hated women. “Ugh, men,” she groaned. “They’re such dopes. Frankly, I’m fed up explaining things to them.”