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CBG SATELLITES
The ADD Blog by Alan David Doane
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Ordinary Victories Life is a struggle. It may not be as "solitary, poor, nasty,
brutish, and short" as Hobbes described it, but it can be long,
lingering, and deteriorating; or subtly demoralizing; or chaotically
random with violence and pain. Life is a struggle, and we have to
enjoy our simple pleasures and our "Ordinary Victories", the phrase
that serves so aptly as a title for this brilliant graphic novel by
French comic artist Manu Larcenet. The story follows a French photographer named Marco across a few
years of his life. He suffers from depression and panic attacks of
unexplained origin. As the story begins he has stopped his work
taking photographs in various "hot" locations in the third world
("pictures of exotic corpses or of people in the process of becoming
ones") and quits his psychoanalysis. He lives in a drafty old house
out in the country, where he takes walks in the woods and clashes
with a violent neighbor and meets a kindly old man. Marco tries to find peace and sense in a chaotic world of greys.
New problems, violence, and moral ambiguities, as well as his panic
attacks, arrive with the passing of time. He takes photographs to try
to capture an organized moment in his disorganized world, but he
struggles with the place and purpose of his art in the larger
community (though thankfully, this does not take up an excessive
amount of the narrative). All is not negative in Marco's life. He meets a nice young
veterinarian named Emily. He takes pleasure in his photographs, and
spending time in the country, walking and swimming. He spends time
with his brother playing video games and smoking "big fat joints".
Despite his many travails, Marco finds solace in his art, nature, and
the company of others. The book has no conventional plotline; rather, it tracks Marco and
his experience of the world. Originally published as two albums (the
traditional 50-some page French books), it has an episodic structure
that fits the long term, everyday aspect of the book. The episodes
are occasionally punctuated by one page interludes narrated by Marco
(the rest of the book is unnarrated). The interludes consist of eight
equal panels drawn in a sketchy, realistic style (that look like
something out of a sketchbook) and a brownish olive palette that
contrasts markedly with the book's normal style. These pages provide
some direct access to the thoughts of Marco, adding context and
meaning to some of his actions. (The image here is from one of the
later interludes that consist of portraits. Based on the face and the
accompanying text, I am convinced this is an image of Marcel Duchamp.)
The book's predominant style is reminiscent of that paragon of
bande dessinee, Hergé. In most instances both characters and
background are drawn with a similar thin line, though Larcenet's line
has a much sketchier quality than Hergé (similar in a way to
Larcenet's contemporaries Christophe Blaine and Joann Sfar)--pen
strokes don't always connect, shapes are open at the corners. The
characters have a caricatural appearance, small in stature with
exaggerated features (Marco's nose is almost as big as his feet),
four fingers, and dots for eyes. The backgrounds take on different styles whether they are
interiors or exteriors (See the two examples here). Larcenet's
interiors are simple and precise, lacking much detail beyond basic
shape delineation. His exteriors, on the other hand, are sketchy and
scribbly, with the appearance of coming straight from a life-drawing
sketch. The outdoor drawings have a much more realistic appearance
than the characters and the interiors, though upon closer examination
they are made of many scribbles. The outside world is chaotic at
heart but often coherent and structured from a distance. Colors are flat and representational in most cases. The occasional
panel breaks from this color scheme to charge an image with emotional
effect. When Marco has his panic attacks or some other emotionally
violent episode (learning of his father's Alzheimer's) the world
becomes red. Flat colors used as background in panels are also often
used for expressive effect. Larcenet sticks to the traditional European four tier layout,
varying the width of the panels as necessary for space or timing. He
only breaks from the four tiers on four occasions, all using half
page panels to stress isolation (Marco's house, the old man's house,
Marco having a panic attack, Marco trying to drown his pain in a club
amongst large, distorted dancing bodies). While the comic does not at first glance stand out as particularly
unusual or novel in its visual aspects, on repeated readings, it
becomes clear how skillfully Larcenet uses the material of comics to
tell his story in a subtle, almost transparent way. In one scene,
when Marco visits his parents, his mother talks so much that her word
balloon progressively, from panel to panel, actually covers up Marco.
In another scene, Marco's brother tells a story and the word balloon
connects across two panels with tails to the two images of the
brother at opposite ends of the larger balloon. Ordinary Victories impressed and moved me from
the first reading for its bluntly honest portrayal of the struggle of
life tempered by the pleasures and joys of companionship, art, and
nature. While an often sad and depressing story, I think it gains
hope on rereading. Larcenet has created an excellent example of a
graphic novel that not only represents the world in an honest way but
also pays on repeated readings.
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