Part of Series
Bon, revenons au donjon. Cette fois, Herbert et Marvin ont mis la main sur une lampe magique. Marrant : il suffit de faire un vœu, et hop ! Dedans, comme de juste, il y a un génie. Celui-ci s'appelle le génie aux mille vœux. L'ennui, c'est qu'il ne lui en reste plus qu'un seul à réaliser. Alors, Herbert et Marvin demandent conseil au gardien. Lequel les somme d'aller trouver le sage Mattathias, dans le duché de Clérembard : lui saura les conseiller et leur indiquer le vœu le plus approprié. Seulement voilà : le sage n'est pas en grande forme. D'ailleurs, il est tellement à l'agonie qu'il passe le peu de temps qui lui reste à raconter des histoires rigolotes pour se bidonner le plus possible. Alors, les lampes à vœux, hein, c'est le cadet de ses soucis. S'ensuit une série de scènes aussi bidonnantes que délirantes où il est question, pêle-mêle, d'allers-retours temporels, de concours de pets et d'une certaine Hildegarde de Tubingen. Bref, comme toujours avec les personnages du Donjon, le lecteur est assuré de plonger dans un univers cohérent quoique parfaitement loufoque (ou l'inverse). Avec, au passage, quelques considérations de nature quasi-philosophique. À propos du bonheur perdu de l'enfance, par exemple. C'est beau, tout ça. Larcenet (dessinateur, entre autres, de Bill Baroud, Les Cosmonautes du futur et beaucoup autres œuvres impérissables) s'attaque à ce deuxième Donjon Parade avec la même jubilation. Sfar et Trondheim, eux, ne se lassent pas de repousser encore plus loin les limites de cette série à l'architecture vertigineuse et inépuisable. Où s'arrêteront-ils ? Apparemment, ils n'en savent rien. Tant mieux pour le lecteur. Et tant pis pour les rayonnages de sa bibliothèque, appelés à devoir engranger toujours plus de volumes de Donjon... —Philippe Actère
Authors
Joann Sfar (born August 28, 1971 in Nice) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, and film director. Sfar is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu and six other artists. He also worked together with many of the new movement's main artists, e.g. David B. and Lewis Trondheim. The Donjon series which he created with Trondheim has a cult following in many countries. Some of his comics are inspired by his Jewish heritage as the son of Jewish parents (an Ashkenazi mother and a Sephardic father). He himself says that there is Ashkenazi humor in his Professeur Bell series (loosely based on Joseph Bell), whereas Le chat du rabbin is clearly inspired by his Sephardic side. Les olives noires is a series about a Jewish child in Israel at the time of Jesus. Like Le chat du rabbin, the series contains a lot of historical and theological information. His main influences are Fred and André Franquin as well as Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, Will Eisner, Hugo Pratt and John Buscema. From 2009 to 2010, Sfar wrote and directed 'Serge Gainsbourgh: Une Vie Heroique', a biopic of the notorious French songwriter, of whom Sfar is a self-confessed fanatic. The film, which draws substantially on Sfar's abilities as a comic book artist through its extensive use of fantasy artwork, animation and puppetry, was released in 2010 to general critical acclaim.
The phenomenal Lewis Trondheim is never where you next expect him. As an artist and writer, Trondheim has earned an international following as one of the most inventive, versatile, and prolific graphic authors. From autobiography to adventure, from bestselling fantasy and children's books to visual essays, Trondheim's unique, seminal imagination consistently dazzles. His work has won numerous awards, including the Angoulême prize for best series with McConey and he also co-created the titanic fantasy epic Dungeon with Joann Sfar. He is one of the founding members of the alternative publishing house L'Association, a proving ground for many of the greatest talents in European comics working today. He is also the editorial director of a new imprint called Shampooing, dedicated to comics for all ages. Lewis lives in the South of France with his wife, Brigitte Findakly, and two children.
