GRIFFO - Lot 118

GRIFFO MONSIEUR NOIR Volume 1, Glénat 1994 Original cover. Signed. India ink and watercolor on paper 33.1 × 42.3 cm (13.03 × 16.65 in.) To this day, Monsieur Noir, the diptych scripted by Jean Dufaux, remains one of my favorite stories. My passion for fairy tales, Charles Dickens, Walt Disney (the old Disney) and Mervyn Peake's excellent Gormenghast trilogy all found their way into this story. My childhood memories of Disney animation left an indelible mark, and helped me to imagine Monsieur Noir's world in the image of the animated sets, in constant motion. Our passion for this story has been passed on to the general public, for whom Monsieur Noir remains a classic. Griffo Along with William Vance and Marvano, Griffo is one of the best Flemish realist cartoonists. The land of Jean Ray and Michel de Ghelderode knows how to treat fantasy in a masterly way, especially when Jean Dufaux, the scriptwriter of Djinn and Complaintes des Landes Perdues, is at the helm. The cover captures the ambience of the castle and the 748 rites of Monsieur Noir, its mysterious owner who only returns every seven years. Everything in the stone is alive: from the flames escaping freely from the hearth to the gargoyle with its sardonic smile. A magnificent performance, very well composed.