panellogy 265 - druillet #7 - salammbo & the night

[@joechip8666]

I am a native french reader so i own all of Druillet's work in it's original french version . However, everything you said in this video about the coloring, the lettering or the format of the various editions available in foreign languages proves one thing: you sir are a true comic book enthusiast and the world needs more youtube channels like this one. Thank you for sharing your passion with us.

[@earlgrey862]

you're welcome, thank you

[@okcomics1635]

I think I read somewhere (please don't ask for sources) that La Nuit is a symbolic representation of Druillet's wife's battle with cancer, with the different factions representing the rapidly spreading cancerous cells and the healthy cells, weakened by radiation and chemicals, and ending in complete annihilation because she passed away. I don't know if it makes more or less sense when seen like that.

[@earlgrey862]

that's very interesting... I only read the abridged version: that the comic mirrored Druillet's desperation after the passing of his wife

[@GHOSTFACE1001]

Druillet ist so wahnsinnig...schade das der Avant-Verlag bisher nicht mehr Comics von ihm rausgebracht hat.

[@49558201]

I can dig it man....

[@CogginsBrian]

It's ok. I'm from Canada so I unfortunately have to be familiar with metric and Imperial. Thank you btw. Your the reason I got into these book

[@skrimshander]

Slap that ruler on Titan for shrinking Druillet’s artwork! How dare they! Your videos are also great for what to avoid ‘ buying into’

[@earlgrey862]

I still hope that they have not shrunk it down & hope for some comment to say so

[@gwang3103]

I like that part of Yragael/Urm where a fat woman runs towards Urm saying, "The lovely child! I want him! I want him!" :D Some publisher really should release a Druillet DVD that gives you high-definition digitized reproductions of his work. Now that would be really cooool.

[@Xredator]

Man what a timing, I just received Salammbo a few days back and just finished reading after three days... Just as it indended, listening to Wagner and Verdi in the background :) Blame my ignorance, I have not read Flaubert's original thus I was a bit challenged to absorb the story. Somehow I felt as you also mentioned in the yragael review - these scriptures somewhat break the immersion, maybe too high level english for me, also mostly descriptions citing new names and events till the very end... Anyway, for 2nd reading, as usual with Druillet, I will focus more on the way the story is told not the story itself. That's just astonishing. As I see, the way he tells his story, more likely, he communicates what's going on in his mind is through the images. Maybe it just suits them more if the reader just meditates over the images and link them following his imagination...

[@OdysseyMichele]

As I said I bought Salammbo from Titan and I'm pretty much satisfied with that edition. The only flaw is the lettering, but the book is amazing. Lone Sloane is my favourite of Druillet and Salammbo comes next, that's sure after re-reading it again. I love the pompousness of the text and the fact that you have a block of text synergizes with the art and the kind of big scale story that Druillet depicts. Well, I said something similiar in Yragael video too, but as you said The Night is elementary and it is so because he wants to depict the void and nothingness of death, a live with no meaning that will vanish inevitably. He changed again in Nosferatu, bringing up a really wonderful depressed and philosopher character. To be short, I believe Druillet always used the best kind of text and storytelling for his stories and I cared for them as much as for the drawings. Well, not as much but it had an impact while reading. Btw you loved My Favourite thing is Monsters, which has way more blocks, even though the text is elementary compared to Salammbo. Even the so acclaimed Fun Home, which I really can't stand since Bechdel just wants to show how acculturated she is, is full of blocks. It's not like I'm right or wrong but Fun Home blocks aren't more useful than Druillet's in terms of story advancing. Anyway, thank you again for showing the differences in Yragael, though you brought me a bad new: my Yragael is exactly like Titan's edition. No, seriously, there should be a new and digital restored version which italian and Titan books considered as their reference. That really annoys me, the original version is far better. To show the 15x21 cm size you could have picked up one of your Dylan Dog fumetti, it should be 16x21. Well, I'm looking forward the Night video to see if I should change this one too. I really appreciated the music connection and I agree with you, though I would say that if it wasn't a desert but sea then Eloy's Ocean was perfect, but right now Tarkus from ELP is even more fitting. While, I'll add, Lone Sloane is totally teutonic, I would say sometimes it can be Kosmische Musik and sometimes the dark baroque and pompous music from Amon Duul II, which also fits Yragael. You know them?

[@earlgrey862]

I don't have any general dislike against blocks of texts, but I do have a certain dislike towards the pathos driven tone of Flaubert's text ... which fits the expressive art perfectly I have to admit, but rather in a complementary than an always essential way. It's more like the inscription of a tombstone. One thing is sure: to appreciate Salammbo one should say goodbye to all preconceptions how storytelling in comics should or could work ... maybe I haven't done this enough & very probably I'll come up with a different assessment after reading it a second time. the size of Dylan Dog, yes, you're probably right .... urgh! and as to Yragael/Urm: I have another edition of Urm which I could have shown. Since it's in French (from a publisher called Albin Michel) it bears the original lettering from Druillet. And that one too has better repros than the Titan one! yes, ELP would be a good reference as well. And of course I do know all the cosmic Krautstuff and Amon Düül II in particular. "Yeti" is one of my favourite albums ever ... I respect Eloy for some of their compositions but usually their splendid fantasy covers promised more that their music (the vocals :/ ) could deliver. You're italian, right? there were some similar bands in Italy as well, I'm certain... but embarassingly I can't name one, I'm obviously too focused on "our" krautrock... can you help me? sorry for giving not enough credits to comments (not only from you) that were in parts the foundations of this video ... I forget very quick who wrote what.

[@OdysseyMichele]

@@earlgrey862 oh, don't worry about giving credits, I think we are here because we love the medium. Yes, there were italian prog bands, but I prefer kraut scene by far and in some cases even to english ones. My favourite band is King Crimson, by the way. Eloy wasn't that great, true, more or less like Triumvirat. Italian prog bands: Banco del mutuo soccorso, Area, Premiata Forneria Marconi, New Trolls, Quella Vecchia Locanda, Le Orme, Osanna, rings any bell?

[@earlgrey862]

no bell is ringing here, but "new trolls" sounds funny

[@earlgrey862]

and King Crimson is great (even though I know only "in the court of...") ... my fav krautband is Can with ADII close behind, but there were countless interesting freakheads at the time

[@OdysseyMichele]

@@earlgrey862 Tangerine Dream and Schulze for me, but they are more Cosmic. Otherwise Amon Dull and Faust.

[@retro7924]

A crying shame that Titan didn't pay more attention to the printing quality.

[@49558201]

great, thank you.....

[@ES_Glenn]

Cant wait for my wife to go to sleep so I can watch this lol

[@earlgrey862]

some comics are just for one half of mankind I'm afraid :/

[@krhom70]

Great vid

[@grandmaster959]

Very nice video!

[@ericb3514]

Are there any good places on the internet to find the earlier better printings of Druillet's work? I can only seem to find the 1991 6 voyages and 1973 delirius. I've bought all the Titan comics hardcovers for the translations but after watching your videos I got a taste for a level of quality that makes me wish I was born earlier so they wouldn't be so hard to come by!

[@earlgrey862]

sorry, just the usual amazon and ebay... and some occasional used book ramp - but nothing that would really add up to a surefire recommendation

[@earlgrey862]

here's an offer, found on german ebay but he says, that he ships worldwide: www.ebay.de/itm/1939-LA-NUIT-1-EO-1976-DRUILLET-EN-TBE/153740900572?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160727114228%26meid%3D3d530db7d07849ba854e978a8ed980b0%26pid%3D100290%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D153740900572%26itm%3D153740900572%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2060778&_trksid=p2060778.c100290.m3507

[@Xredator]

Did you check Druillet's Chaos? For me, it was a totally awesome and cathartic closing of the lone sloane saga. I would be highyl interested in your review!

[@earlgrey862]

I haven't found an English version of that one

[@Xredator]

@@earlgrey862 It was released in the US by Heavy Metal in the 2000s, used book shops may keep some if you are lucky. I can't recommend highly enough - I feel in concludes both the story sloane & druillet himself. Finally, the confrontation with Shaan arrives... (but no spoilers :) I am chasing Delirius 2, seems like the titan release is postponed?

[@Xbale]

Great that it is finally put out in decent american editions though... making it easily accessible for everyone.

[@earlgrey862]

absolutely!!!

[@russworks2882]

The letterer on the Dragon's Dream edition is Dom, who also lettered the French books. You have to admire them making the effort to get him in there. I have one volume of the Dargaud Salaambo and the later Albin Michel "Integrale" edition with all three books. The latter has much better production. Amazon USA also lists the new edition of The Night as pretty small, about 6x8 inches, smaller than a comic book. Druillet's originals tended to be gigantic, so this is a real shame, though the Dargaud edition is a bit smaller than their other Druillet books, so maybe it's not as bad as it seems... No, it's as bad as it seems.

[@earlgrey862]

yeah, nothing but plain bad ... just imagine the one double page that I've shown with all these details shrunken to that size. I wonder if Druillet had agreed on this or if he even could do anything against it... he always struck me as one artist who cares very much about the way his work is represented in its publications. I have the Albin Michel "Urm"-volume. that one is decent as well & has the Druillet lettering.

[@drawnswordgraphix]

I'v been waiting for the English edition of The Night, o man that size is a massive turn off, might have to settle for the old French version. So stoked i got the original English version of Yragael the narrative font and colours are far superior, though good the new versions size is greater, but odd that The Night is maybe going smaller? Will have to look into these other books. Cheers!

[@earlgrey862]

yeah and please tell us about the size when you get it.

[@drawnswordgraphix]

@@earlgrey862 I'm hoping Amazon has the size dimensions listed wrong on the pre-order, and will be corrected to a much larger size upon release. Otherwise i ain't getting that version.

[@petercooper9791]

Titan sort of gave away their lack of fontability by using ye olde Helvetica for the covers. If anyone requires more oomph with lettering, it's Druillet.

[@earlgrey862]

"fontability" :) yes, you're right 100%

[@mehernoshtarapore8902]

Mad max road warrior and fury road was influenced visually by the night and druillet

[@StratoAeon]

cant wait to get my copy of the titan salammbo. there is also a PC game salammbo with artistic input from master D i believe. i treasure my dragons dream editions :D of yragael/urm and delirius.

[@earlgrey862]

tbh I would not have high hopes for that PC game... judging by the strangely mediocre computergraphics at the end of Salammbo. but our man D. never has known any borders in his range of creativity and use of different media!

[@OdysseyMichele]

Did you get The Night from Titan Comics? If so how is it?

[@earlgrey862]

nope, I still haven't got it yet

[@LukSter18998]

if you’re comics of druillet is taking up space, are you giving it away??

[@earlgrey862]

yes... over my dead body 🤣

[@LukSter18998]

@@earlgrey862 i’ll remember that

[@LukSter18998]

@@earlgrey862prost

[@earlgrey862]

@@LukSter18998

[@SandroSensei]

I just finished Salammbo. I loved the 6 voyages of Lone Sloane, Delirium is the best comic I have ever red, and Gail was difficult for me to understand what the hell was going on, but Salammbo......Salammbo is the first comic I stopped reading. I could not come though the slough of dry, stiff text. The story was not entertaining at all and I could not understand it. It was like reading some old bible texts from 100 BC. I was actually mad at the book Salammo. There are not much Lone Sloane stories so I was so mad that one of them I actually hated. It is not about Lone Sloane at all, he is in a few pannels and.......pfffff...delirium was such fun. Star Wars like. A planet with strange creatures and a cool simple story. Every page I was in awe of the drawings and I wanted to be with Sloane on that Las Vegas planet. But Salammbo.... I am actually mad that Druilliet tricked me into thinking I was buying a Lone Sloane story. I am thinking, who is this for? Not Lone Sloane fans who thought to go on a space adventure with their hero. What do you think Earlgrey?

[@earlgrey862]

I think Salammbo works much better when you take a lot (most) of the words as mere decoration to an already very ornamented and baroque story. Maybe this makes me a superficial and shallow reader... I don't know, but otherwise I perhaps would get angry like you. But you can't expect Druillet to adapt a text from Flaubert in a less pompous fashion.

[@AlucardNoir]

Druillet is an interesting artist, especially if you can get a good printing of his comics, but the actual stories associated with his art tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. What he needed was someone like Pierre Christin, Carlos Trillo or Antonio Segura. Someone who could have given his art meaning. As it stands, I often find his comics lacking. Art is ok, but if I want art I just buy an art book, when I buy a BD I also want a story.

[@earlgrey862]

... hmm... I would doubt that these writers would click with Druillet. Even though I can see Christin, Trillo or Segura doing sth interesting with a character like Nosferatu, but that's it, because these are writers who work very traditionally with certain characters. And Druillet's stuff is usually not about single characters. With the notable exception of Nosferatu or Vuzz, or it's about these "Nietzsche Übermenschen" like Lone Sloane, who kills off his complete spaceship crew right in the beginning and gets away with being the "hero"?/anti-hero?/central protagonist. Druillet's expressive yet detached storyhandling uses the plot as a whole as malleable material ... like clay to model a sculpture, therefore he's usually the best in these overview mass compositions without a central character.

[@AlucardNoir]

@@earlgrey862 I dunno. Christin is responsible for some of Enki Bilal's best work, and for Valérian and Laureline. I persoanlly loved Segura's Sarvane, and that had a similar vibe going on as some of Druillet's work. As for Trillo... you might actually be right in his case, he's more noir and comedy focused. I'm sure that if Christin was too PG for Druillet, Segura could deliver stories worth his art. And if not them, maybe Jodorowsky. Though, again, I'm sure Segura would have been more then enough. While some artists succeed in making their own things, Moebiu, Gimenez, Bilal come to mind it's hard to find a comic book artists that's also a good writer, and even if they are, they can still use some help. Druillet, is not a good author, he's a great artists, extremely creative, with a style that puts him in the same league as the likes of Moebius and Giger, but as a writer... he's... he makes Corben and his DEN look like high art.

[@earlgrey862]

hey, DEN is art, high & fine ... yeah, I agree: of the bunch I could see Segura and Jodo doing sth for D. But I guess, when it comes down to it: you may have to get rid of some preconceptions of how a comicstory should work to enjoy Druillet (see Michele Ferrara's comment)

[@AlucardNoir]

@@earlgrey862 In the words of Tim Mincin: If you open your mind too much your brain will fall out. As an artist Philippe Druillet is extremely creative, but time flows in one way and there's a reason why certain convention emerge in each medium. Philippe Druillet breaks all the comic book conventions and then goes and brakes all the general narrative ones too. There comes a moment when you break so much from convention you stop being understood. There comes a moment when art stops being art and becomes nonsense.

[@earlgrey862]

"nonsense" is definitely nothing I would asscociate with Druillet. And I don't see a breaking down of conventions necessarily as his main goal... he's just more up to different conventions or rather concepts that are maybe even more timeless, or go back to the baroque era ... or maybe to the romantic concept of a Gesamtkunstwerk (synthesis of the arts)