THE ANGOULÊME INTERNATIONAL Le Fauve © Lewis Trondheim / 9eArt+/ Trondheim Lewis © Fauve Le COMICS FESTIVAL From January 29th to February 1st 2015 p.1 EDITORIAL 42nd International Comics Festival Thank you Mister Watterson! In accepting to create a It is also the affirmation of the Festival’s international in- comic strip for the Angoulême Festival’s new poster, you fluence, which can, with this gesture, legitimately con- have made a very far-reaching gesture. sider itself to be the leading cultural comic book event in the world. Coming from one of the main creators in comic book history, this cannot just be a “simple strip”. Such an ac- It is, finally, a wonderful encouragement for all of those tion is highly symbolic (someone like you does not start who have contributed, often times in difficult conditions, drawing again by chance after a twenty year break). to the organization of this major event in the French cul- tural landscape. In drawing this strip for this Festival that It is first and foremost a work of tribute to your own we put together every year in the hope of sharing it with artistic universe. It is also a gift to all comic book lovers as many people as possible, you have reminded us of and a nod to your peers who were numerous in nomi- the fundamental reason of our commitment: the coming nating you for the Grand Prix award. together of authors and their works with the public. Franck Bondoux General delegate p.2 EXHIBITIONS 42nd International Comics Festival Le Fauve © Lewis Trondheim / 9eArt+ / Trondheim Lewis © Fauve Le EXHIBITIONS p.3 EXHIBITIONS 42nd International Comics Festival Calvin and Hobbes © Bill Watterson. Distribue par Universal UClick- Universal par Distribue Watterson. Bill © WINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX AWARD IN JANUARY OF 2014, THE AMERICAN BILL WATTERSON WILL BE THE SUBJECT OF AN EXHIBITION, THAT WILL TAKE A LOOK IN GREAT DETAIL, AT HIS UNIVERSALLY KNOWN SERIES, CALVIN AND HOBBES, AND THAT WILL SALUTE THE WORK OF THIS MAESTRO OF CONTEMPORARY COMIC STRIPS. In January 2015 the Festival will be paying Bill Watterson is a writer of rare intransi- George Herriman’s Krazy Kat...) Calvin tribute to an author as exceptional as he is gence: he has always refused any idea of and Hobbes thus appears as a series secret. Nearly 20 years ago, in late adaptation or itemization and by-products which has its place within the long history 1995, Bill Watterson chose to put down of Calvin and Hobbes, and he succeeded of comics published in the press. The rep- his pencil and end his cult series, Calvin in recovering the publication rights of his resentation of time and seasons in his work and Hobbes, explaining that despite a characters very earl y on (a rarity in the is also very special, and corresponds to mind-blowing success he no longer felt the United States). He also managed to publish Ohio’s strong seasonal variations, state capability to keep up with the pace of his work just as he intended to, without al- where Bill Watterson grew up and where daily publication in the press. lowing any cuts or recompositions, which he still lives: winter is snowy white, fall or- is very frequent in the American press. Bill ange and brown, whilst spring and summer Born in 1958, Bill Watterson created this Watterson also refuses to appear in public, are represented with shades of blue, green, strip featuring the adventures of a little gives very few interviews and rarely pres- yellow... A variety of colors matching the blond six-year-old boy, Calvin, and his ents unpublished images. variety of feelings which animate Calvin faithful playmate, Hobbes, in 1985. From and Hobbes, and make up the wealth of the start, the series was based on a prin- In 2014, however, he accepted to illustrate his unique work, praise that touches on ciple as simple as it is brilliant: although the cover of Dave Kellett’s documentary imagination, disruption and intelligence Hobbes is nothing but a simple stuffed an- Stripped, to collaborate on a few strips of imal in the human’s eye, he comes to life, Stephan Pastis’ series Pearls Before Swine, grows and becomes a real tiger when in and to create the official poster for the Fes- the presence of Calvin, playing games tival’s 42nd edition, making a superb pass- and sharing his thoughts with this unruly ing tribute to the "Sunday Pages", the color Collection Hors Hobbes-Editions et Calvin © Integrale an d endearing child. During its ten years pages traditionally published in Sunday of existence, the series was a growing newspapers. The Festival’s exhibition that and international success, and was pub- is dedicated to Bill Watterson was con- lished in very numerous newspapers: 350 ceived in the spring of 2014 by the Billy papers at the end of 1986 (in France, the Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in series was published for a while in Le Col umbus, Ohio. Made up of almost Matin de Paris) and in nearly 2,500 me- 200 documents, this exhibition will dia outlets at the time the series ended. be presented to the French public in The books (published in France by Ha- a slightly enriched version, and will chette and later by Hors Collection) sold take a look back in detail at the history over 3 0 million copies in the world, and of Calvin an Hobbes, with Bill Watter- the second book from the series in son’s first works, the techniques and mate- French,“En avant, tête de thon!”, received rials he uses, but also his influences from Calvin and Hobbes Exhibition th Espace Franquin, salle Iribe, 1, boulevard Berthelot the award for best foreign album during 20 Century American comics (Charles Production: Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, 9eArt+ • the Festival’s 1992 edition. Schulz’s Peanuts, Walt Kelly’s Pogo, Curator: Jenny Robb p.4 EXHIBITIONS 42nd International Comics Festival Jack Kirby, the super-creator A LANDMARK EXHIBITION, THE JACK KIRBY RETROSPECTIVE (1917-1994) PRESENTED BY THE FESTIVAL, PAYS A WELL-DESERVED TRIBUTE TO THE "KING OF COMICS", ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CREATORS IN SUPER-HERO HISTORY. TRIBUTE TO A MASTER. Comic afficianados might know him Comics publica- publication of the Jack Kirby Anthology (Ur- very well but the general public is tions, when the ed- ban Comics), Joann Sfar remembered the not necessarily aware of the impor- itor placed him in impression that the author had made on tance Jacob Kurtzberg, aka Jack control of his own him as a child: “When you discover read- Kirby, had in the history of American series: Forever Peo- ing through Kirby’s comics, you learn how comics. Although he did not invent ple, Mister Mira- to draw the materials that make up the the superhero as such, Kirby partici- cle, New Gods, world. The codes he uses in order to ex- pated, often alongside Stan Lee, in Jimmy Olsen, all press power, electric torrents, sand, the the creation of so many characters grouped under the way he illustrates screaming characters. and mythical series - The Fantastic name of "Fourth All of this this touches a young reader be- Four, The Xmen, Fourth World, New world”. Mythical fore real things. When, later, I saw images Gods, O.M.A.C, Mis- works which were of war on television, I would say that life ter Miracle… - that with- followed by The copied Kirby’s drawings. I was convinced, out a doubt, he de- Demon, or the vi- with reason, that the forces he summoned serves the nickname of sionary Kamandi in his books was the establishing alphabet “King of Comics”. and O.M.A.C. of a world in motion.” Born in New York in 1917, he started The exhibition, that was working at the age planned out chronologically, of 18, firstly as a brings forward Jack Kirby’s finisher for cartoon fundamental esthetic, the studios, then as an magic behind his style that Jack Kirby Exhibition, assistant to comic overflows with ef fect, treasures The Super-Creator strip authors. and graphic devices of astound- Le Monde des Bulles, Hall 2 Production: 9eArt+/Urban Comics • ing efficiency. The author intro- Curators: Jean Depelley, Frédéric Manzano He went on to duced stunning meet Joe Simon, with whom he cre- perspectives, ated the Captain America character in symbolized mat- 1940 for Timely Comics (publishing house ter with what is now that was soon renamed Atlas, and then commonly called the Marvel Comics). During his long career, Kirby Krackles, a myr- Kirby worked simultaneously as a designer, iad of black dots that writer, artistic director and director of pub- could be mistaken for lications. A series of disputes over his rights ink stains, and in- and contracts against his publishers, had vented significant him changing publishing houses often, onomatopoeias, such ReservedAll Rights COMICS. DC 2012 © icensee. making for over 40 years (from the begin- as The Thing’s fa- ning of the 1940s to the mid 1980s) an mous “It’s clobberin’ impressive number of back and forths be- time!” - a mineral tween Marvel and DC Comics, and im- creature invented posing a multitude of memorable charac- by Kirby and Stan ters to both editors that would then be Lee in 1961, and carried on. Reading the Fantastic Four which he drew again, would suffice in illustrating Kirby’s with a rare mas- full creative force. During the 1960s, he tery... There is no lack of exam- introduced the characters of X-Men, The ples that illustrate the strength and extraor- Silver Surfer, The Skrulls, Submariner, Doc- dinary inventiveness of his drawings, and tor Doom, The Impossible Man, The Kirby had a considerable influence over Watcher, Galactus..