BATEM

BATEM MARSUPILAMI White magic (T.19), Marsu Productions 2006 Original plate no. 11. Signed. India ink on paper 36 × 46.5 cm (14.17 × 18.31 in.) Now that's a plate that took me an insane amount of time! It doesn't look like it, but this panel, with the caiman whirling through the air, may have been a lot of fun, but it really wasn't easy to draw! Quite simply, I should keep it! Batem This sequence from Magie blanche is scripted by Stéphan Colman, himself an excellent cartoonist admired by Franquin. You can recognize his "patte", which allows Batem's drawing to display its graphic genius. The scene is taken directly from Franquin's canonical Nid des Marsupilamis, but Colman adds two things: firstly, a closet for sensitive souls who don't like to see animals mistreated, a rather funny ironic counterpoint; and secondly, a truly cinematic dynamism conveyed by the whirlwind in the middle of the page. Batem's inking is powerful and impeccable. Didier Pasamonik