Between 2002 and 2008, the publication of the five volumes of the romantic saga
Le Clan des Otori
caused a small earthquake in the world of children's literature.
The success is overwhelming.
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Chaplin prince of Hollywood
or the fabulous destiny of Charlot in comic strip
Imagined by the British novelist Lian Hearn (pseudonym of Gillian Rubinstein), this flamboyant fresco set in imaginary 16th century feudal Japan, features a young peasant, Takeo, plunged into the heart of conflicts between three provinces at loggerheads, the Tohan , the Seishu and the Otori.
This imaginary universe nourished by secret alliances, wars, clans, exacerbated honor, impossible loves, desire and courage, has touched a very large number of readers around the world.
While Universal is working on the film adaptation of this “young adult” saga, the tandem Stéphane Melchior and Benjamin Bachelier have just adapted the first part of this epic tale,
The Silence of the Nightingale,
into a comic strip
.
A fantasized medieval Japan
“It's a novel that I read and loved when I was a teenager,”
recalls designer Benjamin Bachelier.
I had been very marked by the grandiose side of this very realistic universe of medieval Japan, yet totally fantasized. My mother being a painter, at home, I had access to a few books on the Noh theater or on
Kurosawa's
films
. The desire to one day adapt this work had stuck in my head. We often discussed it with screenwriter Stéphane Melchior, with whom I signed several books including an adaptation of
the Magnificent Gatsby.
When Gallimard gave us the opportunity to do so three years ago, it was a great joy.
"
According to the author of
Taïpi
, this transposition was above all
"an enormous graphic challenge
"
.
“
My biggest fear was the risk of falling into the pastiche, making false
Hokusai,” he
explains.
I tried to keep my authenticity.
Basically, I didn't want to make fake Japanese prints ... or fall into pseudo-manga.
I wanted to take ownership of this universe.
It was a pretty narrow ridge line, a little inner graphic path to find to keep my personality.
"
Find in comics the epic breath of the novel
After all, Briton Lian Hearn was not Japanese.
So Stéphane Melchior and Banjamin Bachelier approached this saga in the same way she did.
"Our desire was above all to transpose into comics this epic Kurosawa style that is found in
Le Clan des Otori", admits Bachelier.
Mission accomplished...
THE BD BOX:
Benjamin Bachelier: “
In the middle of a village massacre, while the fire is burning around him, Lord Tohan Iida Sadamu is thrown off by a simple peasant.
It's total humiliation ... "
© Lian Hearn, 2002 © Gallimard, Stéphane Melchior and Benjamin Bachelier, 2021, Le Clan des Otori T1 - Le silence du rossignol
On this board 13 of the
Clan des Otori,
the scriptwriting and graphic stakes are rather high.
"It was about staging the fall of
"
Darth Vader "from the saga of Lian Hearn,
smiles the designer.
This absolute villain is presented in the previous pages as a sort of relentless warlord.
In the middle of the village massacre, while the fire burns around him, Lord Tohan Iida Sadamu is thrown off by a simple peasant.
It's total humiliation ... "
"I chose the" waffle iron technique "
Benjamin Bachelier could have chosen a thousand and one techniques to graphically represent this strong sequence.
“I chose the 'waffle iron technique'
, he assumes.
This staging from the Franco-Belgian tradition has the advantage of being extremely simple and readable. I didn't want an unstructured page, where we would have introduced key information in a small triangle-shaped box in the corner of the page. What's more, the "waffle iron" allows you to rhythm without artifice. No need to add more. Ideally, as a reader, this narrative structure captures the action in eight boxes. Stéphane Melchior and I could have diluted this sequence in 16 pages. But that would have broken the inner rhythm of the album.
"
The other way to energize this board was for Benjamin Bachelier to create camera movements, front tracking, rear tracking.
© Lian Hearn, 2002 © Gallimard, Stéphane Melchior and Benjamin Bachelier, 2021, Le Clan des Otori T1 - The silence of the nightingale
The other way to energize this board consisted for Benjamin Bachelier in creating camera movements, front tracking, rear tracking, all within the stage itself.
"I created a back and forth of the eye of the reader
," he analyzes.
At the start of the action, we can distinguish the hero with his embers in his hand, who avoids the rider and his saber blow.
We are getting closer.
The little peasant rests the piece of burning wood on the horse's coat ...
"
Benjamin Bachelier: “I draw a close-up on the horse's red eye.
The pain of the animal is noticeable in the image.
»© Lian Hearn, 2002 © Gallimard, Stéphane Melchior and Benjamin Bachelier, 2021, Le Clan des Otori T1 - The silence of the nightingale
Thus, the reader's eye gets closer to the heart of the action.
And Benjamin Bachelier continued:
“So I draw a close-up on the horse's red eye.
The pain of the animal is noticeable.
Hop!
Moving away.
The mount panics and rears.
The child passes under the horse in a flash.
"
Benjamin Bachelier: “
The imbalance is everywhere in the lines of flight.
Lord Tohan rocks.
The fall is shown in slow motion.
At the Kurosawa.
»© Lian Hearn, 2002 © Gallimard, Stéphane Melchior and Benjamin Bachelier, 2021, Le Clan des Otori T1 - The silence of the nightingale
And the designer to specify: “
The imbalance is everywhere in the lines of flight.
Lord Tohan rocks.
The fall is shown in slow motion.
At the Kurosawa.
This totally dominant protagonist can now be compared to a disjointed puppet.
We have just desecrated the big bad of the saga in four boxes.
In the next square, we move further away.
The time to see Takeo take flight in the middle of fumaroles and charred dwellings.
This action will influence the rest of the story.
"
On the use of colors, I had in mind the very innovative work of Morris on the Lucky Luke albums.
Benjamin Bachelier
This board also has a reduced range of colors which owes nothing to chance.
“The work of colors was very important on this board,
recognizes the designer.
These are so-called narrative colors.
They are as important as the framing of the images.
They are very strong, very brutal.
There are yellow and red.
On the use of colors, I had in mind the very innovative work of Morris on the Lucky Luke albums.
Sometimes this brilliant designer used bursts of color that were totally improbable, but which marked the spirits.
"
Benjamin Bachelier moves away from the appeased, stripped line, the clear line to use a bold, energetic, charcoal and dark line.
© Lian Hearn, 2002 © Gallimard, Stéphane Melchior and Benjamin Bachelier, 2021, Le Clan des Otori T1 - The silence of the nightingale
Likewise, as far as the line itself is concerned, Benjamin Bachelier moves away from the appeased, stripped-down line, from the light line to use a bold, energetic, smoky and dark line which suggests dramatic action.
“I work with Indian ink and brushes,”
concludes the designer.
At the start of the project, I asked myself the question: what technique will I use for this adaptation?
I had the choice to opt for a digital drawing on a tablet.
But I chose to take the bull by the horns.
The fact of drawing on paper quickly became essential.
I use large grape formats, 53 x 38 cm.
These pages are quite large.
I chose this for the pure pleasure of the drawing.
The gesture is wider.
It's like the difference between ping-pong and tennis.
In tennis, you have to know how to let go of your shots! ”
Le Clan des Otori - Le Silence du rossignol
, volume 1, adapted from the novels of Lian Hearn, by Stéphane Melchior, and Benjamin Bachelier, 96 p., Published by Gallimard BD.
€ 17.80.
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