Yragaël ou la fin des temps

Yragaël #1

by Philippe Druillet (Illustrator), Michel Demuth

Philippe Druillet (born 1944) is a French comics artist and creator, and an innovator in visual design. Druillet was born in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France but spent his youth in Spain, returning to France in 1952 after the death of his father. A science fiction and comics fan, he worked as a photographer after graduating from high school, drawing for his own pleasure. His first book appeared in 1966, entitled Le Mystère des abîmes (The Mystery of the Abyss).] It introduced his recurring hero Lone Sloane and played on science-fiction themes partially inspired by his favorite writers, Lovecraft and A.E. van Vogt. Later he created book covers for republications of Lovecraft's work, as well as numerous movie posters. After becoming a regular contributor to the comics magazine Pilote in 1970, his Lone Sloane saga grew steadily more flamboyant, as he pursued innovations including bold page designs and computer-generated images. His backdrops of gigantic structures inspired by Art Nouveau, Indian temples and Gothic cathedrals earned him the nickname of "space architect". Six tales about Sloane's exploits were collected in Les six voyages de Lone Sloane in 1972, hailed by many as his masterpiece, and Sloane was again the hero of the graphic novel Délirius , written by Jacques Lob. In 1973, he produced Moorcock's Elric-inspired Yragaël for Pilote, and Vuzz for the magazine Phénix In 1975 he joined Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Bernard Farkas and Moebius to form the publishing house Les Humanoïdes Associés, and the magazine Métal Hurlant.This was a vehicle for his finest stories, and showcased a steadily evolution in his skills. His series Lone Sloane and Vuzz continued, and other stories of this period include La Nuit, and Nosferatu. In 1980 he produced Salammbô, a comic-book trilogy based upon Flaubert's proto-heroic fantasy novel Salammbô.Outside his work as a cartoonist , he has also been active in architecture, rock opera, painting, sculpture and digital art

Genres: Bande Dessinée, Comics, Fantasy

62 pages, Board book

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

see https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp...

Reviews

[Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης]

"Read" might be a bit of a stretch, since "reading" this album (as well as Urm Le Fou, its sequel) is more of an exercise in decoding a storyboard. There are not many words and those are hand drawn in Druillet's unique style, so it takes real effort to read and then, they do not say much that is cohesive. The whole endeavor lies somewhere in the hypothetical of Moorcock and Lovecraft having a narrative baby, drawn by pens and brushes drowned in LSD.

There is a reason for that: a great many of the depictions and material come from the once unlicensed Elric le Necromancien, a 1970s adaptation of Moorcock's Elric by Druillet, which led to a badly documented legal struggle. So basically, the "story" seems to have been hastily remade by Michel Demuth, cutting out all the clearly Elric-related material.

The result is sort of a story before the beginning of human-time, lost in Antediluvian eons, when unnameable and inexplicable gods held court with whatever mortal race preceded us.

More than anything, it is a Lovecraft / Moorcock completionist's fulfilled wish, as well as a great visual depiction / inspiration of the "undescribable," terrible and majestic locales imagined by H.P. Lovecraft.

[Luke Stevens]

I like that on the cover his mouth is all like 😦

[gormapong]

Cool to look at but hard to understand (partly bc it's in French and partly bc the lettering is kind of designy and small) somewhat unsure of actual story, I think he had relations w a woman who was also a city. hmm. if I find the 2nd volume will read further probably idk

[Artur Coelho]

Estaria a mentir se escrevesse que compreendi este livro. A narrativa é psicadélica e parece andar às voltas com um catastrófico fim do mundo num reino ante-diluviano pré-proto-histórico. Mas este não é um livro que se leia pela história, mas sim pelo seu carácter marcante na história da banda desenhada francófona. Yragaël é uma da obras primas de Philippe Druillet, mestre do traço surrealista psicadélico que esteve em voga nos anos 70. Vive de um traço intricado e filigranado, desenhos hieráticos com conjugações gritantes de cores, numa opressão visual que sobre-estimula os centros visuais cerebrais. Este álbum é uma viagem psicadélica visual, e que se dane a sua incompreensibilidade. O olho fica perdido e encantado nas linhas barrocas da ilustração, despertando fantasias visuais que a mente consciente não consegue agarrar.