Jean-Marc Rochette indestructible. The comic book author known for the transperceneige, fallen into oblivion before returning to the spotlight thanks to the success of a Bong Joon-ho film in 2013, has been chaining high-flying albums for a few years. Mountain stories that seduce the press and the public and push them to improve themselves every time. So much so that his new comic strip, the last queena hymn to love and nature released in early October, “almost [le] to kill”.
“What happened,” he tells BFMTV, “is that on the last page, in the last box, when I had actually finished the drawing, I had a nosebleed.” Drops of blood fell on the blackboard. You can see them in the black and white edition. We had to call a helicopter. It is Céline who says that art is written with your blood. I took it literally!”
The author, who now lives in a village situated 1,727 meters above sea level, in the heart of the Écrins massif in the Alps, had to be rushed to Grenoble.
“They had vaguely told us how to stop a bleed, but it didn’t work. So after they saw that, they had to come get me.”
Now is better. One can’t help but notice that his body waited for the last page to drop: “Symbolically, it’s extraordinary.”
miraculous creation
Rochette has recovered all the more as the reception her latest creation has received has exceeded all her expectations. “Reception from journalists is good, but reception from the public is even better,” he smiles. In a month, the last queen got off to a better start than their previous two albums, alephroid (2018) and The wolf (2019), each sold 100,000 copies. “I created an audience. People are there now,” rejoices this author known for his harsh and universal stories.
A gripping love story between a broken face and a sculptor in France in the 1920s, this grand romance tale is reminiscent of 19th-century novels in its density. Impossible to put it down until it’s finished: “I’ve been told people read it like a movie. They can’t put it down. It’s a bit addictive.” A film adaptation project is already underway. “The producers told me there would be very few changes to the script,” he announces proudly.
The creation of the last queen it happened in a “rather miraculous” way. The designer spent eight months writing and six months drawing. “Things were falling into place in a very obvious way.” For the first time in his career, Rochette features a strong female character. A way to break the accusations of virilistic author, even misogynistic, that have accompanied him for years. And he had never told a love story before.
“Ultimately, it’s pretty rare in comics, love stories like these,” he says. “It’s quite common in literature or film, but in comics people don’t dare too much. I think that’s what affects the public as well.” In a “scene of extraordinary reverse eroticism”, the man with the broken face poses naked in front of the sculptress. “She falls in love with the man’s body and not with his intelligence”, Rochette laughs. “You never see that in the comics!”
“In comics, there often isn’t enough mystery”
Rochette injected into the last queen his obsessions, from art (Soutine, his favorite painter, makes an appearance) to the mountain, through the mystical power of animals. “I think there is a stronger humanity in animals than in us,” agrees the designer. “Humans, it’s a bit of Zombieland right now.” And as in all his albums, death stalks and mows down the characters in their youth. “I lost my father when he was 29 years old. It must be significant,” he evades.
In terms of pure drawing, Rochette always impresses, with a raw graphic style, bordering on abstraction, in perfect harmony with the story he wants to tell. “Comic book readers don’t always find their way, but movie producers were immediately hooked,” she says. Each of his frames plays with gray areas, to accentuate the tragic dimension of the story. “It’s a pretty dark time. I couldn’t go too high color keys,” she justifies.
It is also a way of distinguishing himself from traditional comics, which he considers too wise. “In comics, people tend to be too descriptive. The images are too literal. They lose a bit of atmosphere. I try to do contrast effects. You should never hesitate to hide things a bit. That’s the biggest flaw in comics.” . There’s often not enough mystery. In good books, there’s always some mystery in the style.”
For Rochette, the last queen marks the culmination of his career. He speaks of it as “Mount Everest” of him. “It took 30 years of life to get to that,” he says. Life in the mountains, away from the bustle of Paris, helped him a lot to reach this level, he insists.
“It structured me, I think. Even spiritually, and I think that comes through on the album. It’s the best thing.”
“I can’t do better”
What to do after such work? “I can’t do better,” admits the 66-year-old designer. “For now I am going to return to painting and sculpture. I am going to write books. Comics, I leave it in vain until the desire takes me back with a story that cannot be treated only in drawing. there, for the moment, I am physically incapable of relaunching myself in such an enterprise. Even in a smaller story. I don’t have the energy.”
It is to the cinema now that we will have to turn to see their stories. Waiting for the live version of the last queen, The wolfabout the friendship between the animal and a shepherd, is adapted to animated film by Marc de Pontavice, the producer of i lost my body. Rejected adaptation proposalsalephroid, an autobiographical account of his mountain childhood. “It’s a personal thing,” she argues. “I don’t see my grandmother played by an actress. It’s not possible.”
Waiting to find the strength for an album, Rochette will conclude extinctionsprequel to snow drills. The planned third volume will not be released because the previous two volumes have not sold well enough. The saga will end with a ten page story, which will be published in a compilation album of the two volumes ofextinctions. “It will continue to be a work that will have marked its time. But you have to know when to stop. Then an integral of one volume will come out, in chronological order: “It will be a dystopian bible!”
The Last Queen, Jean-Marc Rochette, Casterman, 240 pages, €30 (also available in a large black and white edition at €49.50).
Source: BFM TV
