Exactly 47 years apart, the great Philippe Druillet signed the same cover for the second issue of the magazine
Métal Hurlant
.
You can call it a symbol.
What if it was providence...
Read alsoThe mad return of the BD magazine
Métal Hurlant
in 2021
In this brand new number 2, it is clear that the return to the sources is assumed without the slightest complex.
The greatest masters of comics from the 70s are present, Enki Bilal, Jean-Claude Mézières, Philippe Caza, Jean-Michel Nicollet, Luc and François Schuiten, Serge Clerc, Denis Sire, Paul Gillon, Robert Crumb, Jacques Lob, Ted Benoit, and many more...
The first issues of
Métal Hurlant
, in 1975. © Métal Hurlant / Les Humanoïde Associés
The new editor is called Jerry Frissen.
For the resurrection of
Métal Hurlant
, he decided to alternate “Best-of” numbers and thematic numbers (the next one will deal with the theme of the planet Mars).
In his pharaonic task, he is accompanied by a "tutelary angel" named Jean-Pierre Dionnet.
The full complement of Humanoids associated... © Métal Hurlant / Les Humanoïdes Associés
You had to have that to move without stumbling through the creative maze of
Métal Hurlant
, a crazy and innovative magazine that revolutionized anticipatory comics in the heart of the 70s and 80s.
Thanks to the invaluable help of Dionnet, co-founder of the Humanoids Associates, the 287 pages of this magazine bring together the greatest science fiction stories published between 1975 and 1984. In other words, a challenge.
Read alsoJean-Pierre Dionnet: “Philippe Druillet is finally recognized as a master in the United States”
From the outset, Jean-Pierre Dionnet is amused by the fact that we have once again called on him.
“By agreeing to associate myself with the reappearance of
Métal Hurlant, he smiles,
I was afraid to return to the scene of the crime, and not to feel good there.
Actually not at all!
To paraphrase my favorite philosopher Heraclitus who wrote
“
We never bathe in the same river
”
, I had the impression of bathing for the first time in the river Metal.
It's like I just batted my eyelashes and woke up.
I found that the explosive charge of this magazine remained intact!
»
The young designer Denis Sire imagines retro and sensual science fiction, very 1950s. © Métal Hurlant / Les Humanoïde Associés
When asked the question of the modernity of
Métal Hurlant
in 2022, Dionnet does not hesitate:
“What amazed me was to see that the quality of the authors was always incredible,
he replies
.
Me, at the time, as editor-in-chief, I was in total unconsciousness.
I would even go so far as to say that I was content to welcome into my chaos all those who presented themselves...»
The poster of the animated film "Métal Hurlant" subtitled "The Dream Machine" released in 1981, on French screens.
© Métal Hurlant / Associated Humanoids
It doesn't seem to be the case with Jerry Frissen, the new editor-in-chief of
Metal
.
"I explained that I agreed to be Jerry's guardian angel
," confides Dionnet.
A bit like Clarence, the character in Frank Capra's film
“Life is Beautiful”
.
I got over his shoulder and played Gimini Cricket.
One of my mantras was that the new
Métal Hurlant
should not be a modern clone of the old.
I told him:
“If you find the new Moebius, I'm not interested”
.
I don't think we should do
'
Back to the past
'
.
No!
What I want is
Back to the Future!”
True living memory of the
Metal
years , Dionnet believes:
“In recent years, computers have done a lot of harm to designers.
On the screen, the backlighting of the pages flatters the eye.
With today's palettes and all the software, drafters can now hide their drawing weaknesses.
Jerry Frissen wants to return to true drawing quality.
There are some that will fall from extremely high soon.
»
I feel like I pressed a button that woke up the dream machine monster!
Jean-Pierre Dionet
Visionary and bubbling with ideas, Jean-Pierre Dionnet sets the course for the long term:
"For me, the idea is to make free science fiction comics, as expensive as an American blockbuster at 300 million dollars. dollars, but without the financial constraints.
This is also where we will be able to find something that we have lost in comics: the astonishing side of a new drawing that is giving birth before our eyes.
For me, this issue of
Metal
highlights the extraordinary freedom of a mythical magazine, with this all-out creation, an imagination in power knowing how to take advantage of constraints and censorship, without forgetting the discovery of
graphic
“
terra incognita
” .
»
Dionnet has great ambitions for the revival of
Métal Hurlant
.
“With Jerry Frissen,
he says,
I dream of creating the conditions for the return of a collective of authors where everyone pushes everyone else.
Suddenly, we feel an emulation and they all become good!
Finally, I feel like I pressed a button that woke up the dream machine monster!
»
The comic box
The first plate of Agorn, with his traveling before, is cut into three vertical strips to accentuate the dramatic and tragic aspect of the action.
© Métal Hurlant / Associated Humanoids
Philippe Druillet is very proud to be present in this
new generation
Métal Hurlant .
“This number 2 is a chemically pure precipitate of what the
Metal spirit is
!
Recently, I heard director Denis Villeneuve respond to an interview.
Asked what school he was from,
Dun
's director said something only Canadians can say:
'
Like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, George Miller or Peter Jackson, I'm a child of
Howling Metal
!
“
That's nice to hear.
»
The plate chosen comes from a story entitled
Agorn
, published in the 1st issue of
Métal Hurlant
, in January 1975.
“The era was crazy
, remembers the designer.
I conceived this story while listening to music.
This story which depicts a dead character, condemned to damnation, and whom the gods awaken, one could compare it to the song of the Doors The End.
Jim Morrison in the lyrics of the song kills his father and his mother.
Agorn does the same…
”
Agorn, cursed hero, sitting on a rocky outcrop, damned for eternity.
© Métal Hurlant / Associated Humanoids
The first plate shows a skeleton seated on an iron throne at the top of a mountain, swept away by the storm and the storm which threatens it with these lightnings.
“It's the myth of the cursed hero and misunderstanding,
recognizes Druillet.
This story emerged as a series of flashes.
It is linked to a time in my life when I was not recovering from the death of my first wife.
I built a ruthless character who settles accounts.
Attention, Agorn is not a testament, it is a clarification.
I was then in a precursory melancholy.
I was inspired by Elric the Necromancer, landscapes by Caspar David Friedrich.
There's Wagner too... I settled accounts with my family, I killed my father and my mother who were fascists.
VS'
Philippe Druillet: “Agorn is a bit like Sisyphus who pushes his rock ad vitam aeternam
”.
© Métal Hurlant / Associated Humanoids
With his heroic fantasy sword à la Conan the Cimmerian in his hands, this eternal death, condemned to constantly relive the misdeeds he has committed, seems to live a nightmare on repeat.
“Agorn is a bit like Sisyphus who pushes his rock ad vitam aeternam,
concludes Druillet.
He is a hero condemned to violence, to eternal return.
Around him, the elements are frenzied, nature is racing, and the powers are unleashed.
He remains a prisoner of his curse...
"
Métal Hurlant N°2: 1975-1984: The New Face of the Imagination
, collective, paperback.
287 pages, €19.95.
