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From a Galaxy (Where Credit is) Far, Far Away: The Unsung Work of Jean-Claude Mézières
Brandon Graham ("King City", "Prophet") recently tweeted this video (featuring some nice panels by Mézières): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK8B10_oY5g The similarities between some drawings by Mézières and some designs for Star Wars are pretty obvious.
The efforts to translate and publish this amazing work into the english language have been met with failure time after time since the early 80's. Just recently (in 2004) and thanks to Cinebook (UK) has the english-speaking public been finally introduced to what is arguably the greatest science-fiction graphic novel ever produced.
Jodorowsky's Incal is another masterpiece that just recently got published, unfortunately the original was completely reworked and censored to cater to american tastes and prejudices.
Sadly, 90% of european comics have yet to receive such attention... It's like having this map to a buried treasure filled with countless riches and no one will sell you a damn shovel.
And like this wasn't all depressing enough, remember that it's because of this ignorance of an european tradition of comic book production aimed at an adult audience, that we today, still have this preconception of comics being juvenile empty things, filled with super-heroes, teenage themes and ridiculous action plots. Thanks a lot Marvel!
Imagine a world where you're one of the few people that ever read Tolkien's work, and having to discuss Fantasy Literature with people that only ever read Harry Potter.... Now add to that personal hell the knowledge that because so many people never heard of LotR you'll never get to watch Peter Jackson's dream on screen, while having to endure all the fangirling hype around JK "Dan-Brown-Does-Merlin" Rowling. Yeah, that's how i feel every time i see another X-man or Spiderman movie come out.
tl;dr: sorry about that...
How does an English speaker like myself get into untranslated Euro comics? Is there a community for them?
https://www.amazon.com/Valerian-Trilogy-Frontiers-Weapons-Circles/dp/1596878347It's been translated into English:
It's been translated into English: https://www.amazon.com/Valerian-Trilogy-Frontiers-Weapons-Circles/dp/1596878347