FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS – @fantagraphics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
CARTOONISTS: Olivier Schrauwen and Ruppert & Mulot
TRANSLATION: Jenna Allen
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
ISBN: 978-1-68396-289-2; 8.75 x 11 – trim size (April 2020)
188pp, Color, $29.99 U.S.
Portrait d'un buveur is a French graphic novel created by Belgian comics creator, Olivier Schrauwen, and the French comics duo of Ruppert and Mulot (Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot). It was published in France by Dupuis in 2019. Fantagraphics Books recently published an English-language edition of Portrait d'un buveur as a hardcover graphic novel entitled Portrait of a Drunk, which is the subject of this review.
Portrait of a Drunk is the story of an 18th century guy named Guy Fleming. A sailor, he is no master mariner. A drunk, he manages to pass himself off as a carpenter aboard sailing vessels. It would be just fine if he were an ordinary member of a sailing crew, but he is lazy, a liar, a coward, a thief, a drunkard, and, on special occasions, a killer. He is not a swashbuckler, but he will unbuckle his pants to urinate wherever he can, including on bar counters and on people. His story could be a grand tale of the sea with great battles, treasure-hunting adventures, and some gallows humor, but this is simply the portrait of a drunk.
The editor of the American edition of Portrait of a Drunk recommended the book to me, which under normal circumstances could be considered a conflict of interest. But Portrait of a Drunk is such a joy to read and to experience. It's fucking great, and you gotta say that shit like “Tony the Tiger,” growling and letting that growl roll over the word “great.”
First, I have to say that some have referred to the pairing of Olivier Schrauwen and the French duo of Ruppert and Mulot as a “supergroup.” The term is often associated with rock music. A supergroup comes together when members of two or more established rock bands unite to form an all-star band. One of the earliest and most famous supergroups was “Cream,” which featured the pairing of Eric Clapton (formerly of The Yardbirds) with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (formerly of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers). I grew up on such 1980s supergroups as “Asia,” “The Firm,” “The Power Station,” and “Traveling Wilburys.”
I cannot say that the union of Olivier Schrauwen and Ruppert and Mulot is a comic book supergroup based on their past work, of which I am not familiar. However, I am willing to call them a union made in comic book heaven after reading this one fantastic graphic novel, Portrait of a Drunk.
I did not read Portrait of a Drunk as a narrative told in two allegorical parts, “The Blowout” and “The Hangover,” which is apparently what it is. Of course, it is obvious that multiple artists and storytellers worked on Portrait of a Drunk. That can be seen simply in the mixture of color, black and white, and two-color art. If there are two story lines or two parallel narrative threads, then, one of them is a stream of conscious-like, drunken adventure in which the reader tags along with Guy. The other is like a side-story set in surreal shadow land or afterlife dimension where Guy's victims, accidental and otherwise, gather to observe him and also to plot against him.
Portrait of a Drunk is a great high-seas adventure. It might seem dark, but quite the opposite. It is a black comedy that takes many of the familiar literary elements and Hollywood ingredients of the high-seas adventure and strips away the glamour. What is left is a bumbling, rough-and-tumble, violent, piss-laden adventure with someone who is such a drunkard that he needs professional help, the kind of which I assume did not exist in the 18th century.
Often in this graphical narrative, Schrauwen and Ruppert and Mulot don't even bother with panels. They draw Guy bumbling from one side of the page to the other – row by row until he gets to the next page and starts all over again. While Guy might be a drunk and a killer, but he is a comic book star, no less so that Spider-Man and Batman. His adventure here is so... well, adventurous. Colorful and exotic, we follow Guy from one port town to another, with stops at vibrant locales and in alien lands.
There is something so alluring in Olivier Schrauwen and Ruppert and Mulot fantastic bandes dessinées. Perhaps, it is that they experiment with the medium and with comics and push past the boundaries of the expected. Yes, Fantagraphics Books publishes comics for thinking readers, but it is just fine that high-falutin' comics, like Portrait of a Drunk, are as fun to read as say... Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
I can say with confidence that in this awful year of 2020, Olivier Schrauwen and Ruppert and Mulot's Portrait of a Drunk is one of the few truly magnificent graphic novels I have have come across. And it is a fun summer read for me today, just as a Marvel comic book was for me decades ago.
10 out of 10
https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics
https://www.youtube.com/user/fantagraphics
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
---------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment