:: planetoïd ::

ANGOULEME 2003 : THE NOMINEES

last week, the Angouleme festival organisation made an announcement for let us know who are the nominees for Festival’s 30th anniversary, this january. here's the skinny, and some of the artwork/artists aren't just obvious choices, which is a goooood thing, i think : isn't "Tintin" or "Asterix" time is over ? aren't we in 2002 ? soon, 2003 ? so, yes, this year choices are definitely some good things for the comic world, and which (hopefully) will help massive audience to look forward to some nearly indy artworks...

BEST COMIC :
- "Le Chat du rabbin" Joann Sfar (Dargaud)
- "5 est le numéro parfait" Igort (Casterman)
- "David Boring" Daniel Clowes (Cornélius)
- "676 apparitions de Killoffer" Killoffer (L’Association)
- "Jimmy Corrigan" Chris Ware (Delcourt)
- "McCay T. 2" Smolderen and Bramanti (Delcourt)

BEST FIRST COMIC :
- "Supermurgeman joue et gagne" Mathpas (Les requins marteaux)
- "Banquise" Ricard and Gaultier (Soleil)
- "Chhhht" Jason (Atrabile)
- "Phenomenum" Kaminka and Vedrines (Glénat)
- "L’âge de raison" Matthieu Bonhomme (Carabas)
- "Sainte famille" Mussat (Ego comme X)

BEST SCENARIO :
- "Quartiers lointains" Taniguchi (Casterman)
- "Torso" Bendis and Andreyko (Semic)
- "Max Fridman" Giardino (Glénat)
- "Le Pouvoir des innocents" Hirn and Brunschwig (Delcourt)
- "Garduno" Squarzoni (les requins marteaux)
- "Monster" Urasawa (Kana)

BEST DIALOG : (yeah, talk' about strange award, uh....) (next one : best outside cover...)
- "Quelques mois à l’Amélie" Jean-Claude Denis (Dupuis)
- "De capes et de crocs" Ayroles and Masbou (Delcourt)
- "La Nurse aux mains sanglantes" Sokal (Casterman)
- "Les Losers sont des perdants" Pichelin and Herse (Fluide glacial)
- "Lincoln" Jouvray (Paquet)
- "Powers" Bendis and Oeming (Semic)

BEST ART :
- "Vitesse moderne" Blutch (Dupuis)
- "Le Dérisoire" Supiot and Omond (Glénat)
- "Hellboy : le ver conquérant" Mignola (Delcourt)
- "Oscar et Monsieur O." Moynot (Glénat)
- "Manhattan beach 1957" Hermann and Yves H. (Le Lombard)
- "Docteur Jekyll et Monsieur Hyde" Mattotti and Kramsky (Casterman)

that's not all, folks ! some more stuff will be awardizzzzed, too.
COMICSHOP' AWARD(the Canal BD award) :
- "Le Chat du Rabbin T.1" Sfar (Dargaud)
- "Le pouvoir des innocents T.5" Hirn and Brunschwig (Delcourt)
- "Quartier lointain T.1" Taniguchi (Casterman)
- "Ring Circus T.3" Chauvel and Formosa (Delcourt)
- "Algernon Woodcock T.1" Sorel and Dieter (Delcourt)
- "El Nino T.1" Perrissin and Pavlovic (Les Humanoïdes Associés)
- "Jimmy Corrigan" Chris Ware (Delcourt)
- "Phenomenum T.1" Kaminka and Védrines (Glénat)
- "Vitesse moderne" Blutch (Dupuis)
- "Berlin, La Cité des Pierres T.1" Jason (Le Seuil)
- "Carnets d'Orient T.6" Ferrandez (Casterman)

CRITIC' AWARD
- "Quartier lointain" Jiro Taniguchi (Casterman)
- "Le Chat du rabbin T.1 & T.2" Joann Sfar (Dargaud)
- "Jimmy Corrigan" Chris Ware (Delcourt)
- "Quelques mois à l'Amélie" Jean-Claude Denis (Dupuis)
- "Mémé d'Arménie" Boudjellal (Soleil)

wow.
Chris Ware's "Jimmy Corrigan" is overmediatised these last weeks, which is quite great if you think that a good book is never enough spotlighted.
One of my favorite french author/artist, Joann Sfar, seems to finally reach the audience he always deserve with many nominations for his brilliant serie about Jewish traditions, reality & its consciousness, talkin animals and many really huge stuff.
The biiiiig Mignola guy got something to play with if its "Conqueror Worm" win something, but i doubt it. I LOOOOVED it, but in the same category, there's such big partners to fight with : Blutch's "Vitesse moderne" is a really AWESOME book (and no, i don't talk about this unbrained muscles-comics US editor, uh), and this year i felt like everybody talked about Mattoti, too.

mmmmhh.... try... to.... concentrate... and do my best Charles Xavier impression to reach the people who'll give away awards in 1 month :
BEST COMIC : "Le Chat du rabbin" Joann Sfar (Dargaud). save 200 euros and phone me, and i'll tell you why Joann Sfar is a really really really nice guy and why his work is so huge. and why you'll have to buy his shit, too !
"David Boring" Daniel Clowes (Cornélius) is a cool story, but Clowes kicked my ass strongly with other works.
- "676 apparitions de Killoffer" Killoffer (L’Association) is definetely something BIG, but come on, if you forget me and 2 devoted fans working for BDnews, who else will vote for the disturbed mind of Killoffer, one of the strongest individuals from the BIG french editor called "l'Association", between many others works ? this guy got some real intelligent and interesting approach of the comic medium. i hope i'll be able to keep in touch with more of his shit.
- "Jimmy Corrigan" Chris Ware (Delcourt) is a nice item : the french translation is a compact book, very beautiful and all, but personnaly i feel like all these pages designed by the brilliant Ware are maybe a little bit... hard to get ?

BEST FIRST COMIC : - "L’âge de raison" Matthieu Bonhomme (Carabas). well, this is what i call a best first comic, uh...
- "Supermurgeman joue et gagne" Mathpas (Les requins marteaux) is something insane. i like it, too.
- "Chhhht" Jason (Atrabile) is something from Jason, so of course it's terrific.

BEST SCENARIO : "Quartiers lointains" Taniguchi (Casterman) or "Torso" Bendis and Andreyko (Semic).
- "Le Pouvoir des innocents" Hirn and Brunschwig (Delcourt) is something i got to read, i know that !!!

BEST DIALOG : (yeah, talk' about strange award, uh....) (next one : best outside cover...)
- "Powers" Bendis and Oeming (Semic), cause Bendis, even with a few half-well done works behind him, did something really refreshing with "Powers".
- "Quelques mois à l’Amélie" Jean-Claude Denis (Dupuis) is a nice book too.

BEST ART : - "Vitesse moderne" Blutch (Dupuis) or "Hellboy : le ver conquérant" Mignola (Delcourt). but as i wrote before, i doubt Mike Mignola will get this one. forget the little army of lovers he got here in France for years, i think he's still a little bit "underground" here, but... with a movie soon in the theaters (thanks to Guillermo Del Toro), and many authors talked about his influence as one of biggest artists of these 20 last years so... i don't know.

if everything's is fine with plans, Sandrine & me will be in Angouleme at the end of january, for the festival.
i hope i'll be glad to see Sfar, Mignola, Blutch, Killoffer, Jason, Ware and the others leave with something, even if it's not something really great for the audience they already get ; but for sure it will open some doors of many shops that are still afraid to carrying the good and "new" stuff these authors work on for years, so, if shops got'em, readers will be able to get a try on it. and that's just great.