Such a long absence. It took seven years for American comics author Emil Ferris to publish the long-awaited second volume of what I like are monsters (Mr. Toussaint Louverture, 416 pages, 34.90 euros). In 2017, the launch in the United States of the first volume of the adventures of young Karen Reyes was a dazzling success. Praised by him New York Timesnicknamed by Art Spiegelman, the creator of Maus (Flammarion, 1987-1992), the artist received three Eisner awards for his first publication, the most prestigious awards of the genre on the other side of the Atlantic. The same reception in France, where the album has already sold 150,000 copies (a colossal figure for its small publishing house) and earned it the Fauve d’or at the Angoulême Festival in 2019.
“I still don’t believe what’s happening to me.confesses the artist during an interview with World by videoconference, in mid-November, from his apartment in Milwaukee (Wisconsin). What moves me even more is the response I receive from the readers, to whom my book is addressed. » A horror story, a police investigation, a coming-of-age novel, an epic of emotions, an examination of the powers of imagination, the double album is all this and much more.
The French public, for its part, asked for the publication of the second part, but also for the 62-year-old American to attend the Utopiales, the Nantes international science fiction festival of which she was a guest of honor and whose poster she herself created, which is happily inspired by the psychedelia of the 70s. The cancellation of his trip due to the health problems of his companion extinguished the hopes of his admirers, who. They will be able to console themselves with the exhibition dedicated to him at the Martel gallery, in Paris, until January 11, 2025.
In every sense, the story of Emil Ferris is a story of hardship and resilience. His childhood in Chicago (Michigan) was marked by significant delays in mobility due to scoliosis from birth – “I learned to draw before I could walk!” » –, to which is added a sexual assault of which he was a victim. This traumatic episode, which took place while she was watching a cartoon on television, “ [l’]has been profoundly transformed at the same time as it has changed lastingly [sa] relationship with comics »testify.
Intensive reading of horror magazines offers you healthy breaths of fresh air. An important influence found in what I like are monsters. The work is designed as the diary of Karen Reyes, an intrepid 10-year-old werewolf who sets out to investigate the death of her neighbor Anka Silverberg, a Holocaust survivor murdered under shady circumstances. “Most people call me Emil Ferris, but some say my real name is Karen Reyes…” The author slides with a mysterious air with her hands loaded with large rings of bright colors, one of which “Navajo beetle ring”. In addition to the depiction of various terrifying creatures, pencil reproductions of horror magazine covers regularly punctuate the narrative in both volumes.
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