For saggy cheeks

Switzerland, if desired, can be called the birthplace of European comics - it is the native of Geneva Rodolf Tepfer that is often considered the father and theoretician of the new genre of drawn stories ( b ande dessinée , or just BD , as they are called in the francular part of Europe). The author of “The History of Mr. Zhabo” (1833) considered his pracomics “literature in the Estamps” ( LA Litt é Rature En Estampes ). A prize established in 1997 and awarded to the Commissors, working in Geneva at least two years, was named in honor of the Topfer. There are many comicists, and among them there are real record holders - for example, the Geneva artist Zep (Philip Shapui) since 1992 has been releasing a series of humorous comics Titeuf ( Titeuf ) , which has dispersed millions of circulations.

In Switzerland, there are large - and not similar to each other - international comics festivals. One of the largest in Europe, Sismics festival , carried out since 1984 in the canton of Val, is more traditional and is commercial. Fumetto , first spent in 1992 in Lucerne, on the contrary, emphasizes its innovation and interest in creative experiments. And, of course, in Switzerland there are independent publishers, thanks to which the most non -standard comics may be born. One of them, Christian Yumber-zo, created in Geneva the publishing house D Rozophile and publishes the same magazine with a circulation of 600 copies (the name ironically beats the surname DRU). Christian Yumber-Dron and Yana Yakubek, art director of the Fumetto comic book festival, became guests of the international festival of drawn stories Boampest , held in St. Petersburg from September 14 to October 10, 2013.

Christian Yumber-la

My tastes may seem outdated in some ways, and I do not see fundamental differences between drawn stories in Switzerland and other European countries. But, as before, among them you can find work, graphically very dissimilar. The approach to stories has changed - now preference is given not to adventures that make it dream, but to politics and our daily problems. More attention is paid to the graphics, the authors are not afraid to turn to engraving, collage, and grantage . The Drozophile magazine is also involved in this, experimenting and using the possibilities that the silkography technique offers.

Why do I prefer silkography technique? Silkography is my craft, I own the workshop in Geneva, where local drawers often visit. Well, add to this my personal interest in this technique.

The first number Drozophile , No. 0, was born in October 1996. At first, we and I simply wanted to release the album from drawings made in two to three days. But the drawings were very good - so the "album" turned into a magazine.

The theme of one of the numbers of the magazine that will be presented at Boomfest was freedom from a female point of view. In this case, it was very important to find artists from different countries to present a global vision of the topic.

Among the Swiss authors, I always admired the work of Nadia Raviskioni, Helge Royman, EXEM , Xavier Robel, Aloys , Isabelle Pranolon, as well as Joel Iz, Laura Yurt, Anna Zommer and Pusssen. Of course, already from the second output on the pages of Drozophile, the work of foreign comixists appeared - for example, Blanc and Oliv, Silven Viktor, Baudouin.

Choice Drozophile : 10 modern Swiss comixists

The artist lies in bed in an embrace with her lover, in Polm tells him the Japanese parable - and now their bed swaying on the waves of the ocean, travelers, stumbling, wandering in the snow, one scene replaces the other; Comical creatures, similar to revived beans, roam the amusement park and look at the sunset from the rocky shore. This is only one of the worlds of Nadia Raviskeoni ( Nadia Raviscioni ) - album "Fresh wind, morning wind" ( "Vent Frais Vent du Matin" , 2010). Behind the semi -children's, deliberately simple pattern and funny images, serious allegories and not funny stories are hidden. With Drozophile , Raviskononi, the holder of the Tepfer Award, collaborates from the very beginning - the first book released by the Publishing House of DRO, was her Odette and Water ( Odette et l'Eau , 1997).

Libelic images inhabiting pages of comics Helge Royman ( Helge Reumann ), bright, ingenuous and cruel, they have a lot of life, satires and destructive energy. Machines here look much prettier than people, and fights occur at every step-for example, from a fat man they can knock out a freshly purchased hot dog from their hands, give it under the ass and tear out for saggy cheeks.

Xavier Robel ( Xavier Robel ) Together with Helga Royman, he created a huge comic picture " Elvis ROAD ” , a kind of scroll (or rather a brand book), filled with many small details that can be examined for hours. His huge and colorful world was chosen by the characters in the spirit of Royman comics: crazy police, armed maniacs, rampant crowds, hordes of shopaholics and so on.

For some comixists There are no genre borders at all - this is the case of Isabelle Man Pralong ), which, like Royman, Robel and Raviskioni, belongs to the “new wave” of independent comixists working in Geneva. From primitivist comics, she easily goes to poetic parables, drawings spontaneously grown from the grain of aphorism - not a comic book, and not illustrations, but a new form of visual history.

Self -taught and master of all hands Poussin ( Poussin ) - his two animated shortages even showed in 1971 in Cannes - extremely cheerful and Zhovylen in their paintings and comics, for which he is able to find the most unexpected plots. For example, his attention was attracted by unusual names of birds - and Poussen painted a series of puns, playing the nicknames obtained by his heroes, and at the same time, as usual, choosing the brightest colors.

A subtle parody of such a “sacred cow” of the European comic book, as the famous Erzhe series about Tintin’s adventures (Tentena), offers EXEM ( Emmanuel Excophy ) - a native of Geneva, also a talented self -taught artist who is well versed in the history and culture of BD and knows how to parody her cliches. Exem came up with Tintin Gemini Zinzin (Zenzen) - to put it mildly, by no means so positive.

The stylistics of avant-garde posters and the carnival of the 1980s are found in the original comics of Aloys -a combination of two or three bright, pure colors, broken lines, unthinkable plastic characters that are bent so that their figures turn into letters.

Before leaving for Cuba for several months, keep a diary in the comics, bringing all his anxiety, doubts, joy, success and failure there - why not? That is how one of her albums in Zhael Forteous ISOZ ), which not only illustrates books and draws comics, but also creates installations using animation.

Drawings of Laura Yurt ( Laura Jurt ) are very decorative, the most interesting thing is it that it manifests itself in unusual comic book versions-for example, in a miniature rally book , inside which new chains of images are built, from an accordion to a series of gesturing hands.

Soft tones, cheerful eroticism, addiction to applications and collages are inherent in Anna Zommer comics ( Anna Sommer ), an independent artist from Zurich. In the world of Anna Zommer, people and animals can easily change places: and now a feathered coquette in a dress chirping with their chosen one under a portrait of an venerable ancestor (boiled eggs of soft), monkeys stare at a young man who is sad in the aviary, and a dull cavalier-bird offers the girl a gold cage.