VANCE

WILLIAM VANCE XIII The Day of the Black Sun (T.1), Dargaud 1984 Original plate no. 45, prepublished in Le journal de Spirou no. 2411 June 28, 1984. Signed. India ink on paper 35.4 × 49.4 cm (13.94 × 19.45 in.) Le Jour du Soleil noir (The Day of the Black Sun) is the inaugural adventure in the XIII series, published, exceptionally, in the journal Spirou. Vance is undoubtedly the king of atmosphere. In this sequence, which is, yes, banal, as XIII watches the last moments of the woman he has taken in on the beach, Van Hamme gives him tremendous psychological depth. Martha confides in him, on the verge of death, that she was in love with the hero with the gray temple, but that this doctor, who did not love himself to the point of losing himself in alcohol, refused to admit this love to himself. William Vance's stroke of genius is to bring this rosewater sequence to life in the pouring rain. The result is sublime, atmospheric and meaningful: the sky itself weeps for Martha, the kind-hearted savior.