Archives : Chaland

Yves Chaland is unique in the world of bande dessinée. He fashions from the Golden Age of Franco-Belgian bande dessinée a basis for his own creations, taking much of his inspiration from Tillieux, Franquin and Jijé. The stories he creates, by his own hand or in collaboration with Yann, are completely believable. In 1982, when it was necessary to find a replacement for Fournier in order to continue the adventures of Spirou and Fantasio, many attempts were made. Chaland occupied himself by doing a half-page black-and-white strip for a weekly newspaper, inspired in large part by the spirit and style of Jijé, who was the second interpreter of Spirou and the creator of Fantasio.

This story, with its wonderfully retro feel, set the two characters in an Africa that has the same bizarre quality that Jijé conveyed in “Le Nègre blanc” and that Franquin depicted in his stories of the island of Lilipangus and Lilipangués. Every clichéd aspect of 1950s Europe found its way, in marvellously twisted form, into the mercilessly observant “Coeurs d’Acier.”

In it one learns, casually, that Fantasio was born on April 3rd, 1920 in Marcinelle, followed some years later by Spirou in Brussels, in 1924. We meet an irritable robot that bears some resemblance to Radar, the robot of Professor Samovar. Incidentally, this robot has a metal whistle; not one for sounding a “tûûût”, but because it’s a boy robot whose name, as it happens, is Samson.

Chaland’s drawing style is immediately recognisable. It comes through no matter what the setting, whether in the adventures of Freddy Lombard, with his irrepressible blond locks, with the “modern” heroic figure of Adolphus Claar, Bob Fish and with jeune Albert, characters who are rooted in a Belgian setting which is as fantastical as the Africa of “Coeurs d’Acier.”

The second volume of this story is yet another knowing wink to the initiated. Unlike the first tome, this volume does not take the form of a bande dessinée in dichromic format, but as a story written by Yann, a spirited iconoclast if ever there was one. The drawings by Chaland that illustrate the story are here in a loose-leaf format similar to that of Artis albums.

So much for the work and its renowned author.

Consider the presentation, as it too is significant. The two albums, printed on cream-coloured paper of superb quality and finish, are bound in hardcover, with cloth-backed spines, in Italian format: the two books are presented in a presentation case. The edition is published as a limited print-run of 1,000 signed and numbered sets. It is, without doubt, a remarkably handsome and very special edition… and not cheap, at approximately 2,500 Belgian francs.


Robert Rouyet, writing in “Le Soir ” on 20 May, 1990