Archives : Chaland

In revisiting the Freddy Lombard series, “Les archives Freddy Lombard” provides new and revealing insights into Yves Chaland’s character and aspirations. Every “Freddy Lombard” album displays the author’s desire to fully explore the many worlds of “his” bande dessinée. “Le testament de Godefroid de Bouillon” flirts with Peyo’s “Johan et Pirlouit.” “Le cimetière des éléphants” savours once again the African adventures of “Spirou et Fantasio” – “la corne du rhinocéros” and “le gorille à bonne mine.” “La cométe de Carthage” appears to follow in the path of Jacobs’ “S.O.S. Météores”, only to explore more personal territory. “Vacances à Budapest” and, especially, “F.52” are further explorations of a fascinating universe. “Les archives Freddy Lombard”, a richly detailed edition that would appeal to any collector, is conceived as a “making of” that tracks the series back to its beginnings. It contains photographs, field sketches, outline drawings for plates and illustrations and modified plates (as Chaland re-drew many frames, even entire plates, between their initial appearance in “Métal Hurlant” and the album that followed). Studded with anecdotes, the text by José-Louis Bocquet (author of “Les Années Métal”, another book on Chaland published by Champaka) is of great historical interest. It benefits from Eric Verhoest’s interviews with many of Chaland’s close friends: François Avril, Isabelle Beaumenay-Joannet, Serge Clerc, Luc Cornillon, Floc’h, Jean-Luc Fromental, Yann Le Pennetier et Didier Pasamonik.