Author Riad Sattouf, who has had huge success with his comic book series The Arab of the future, announces a spin-off story, centered on the story of his younger brother Fadi, kidnapped by their father
Successful cartoonist Riad Sattouf announced on Sunday the launch of a series of comics derived from “The Arab of the Future”, in which he will tell the story of his brother.
This series will be titled Me, Fadi, the stolen brotherRiad Sattouf said on Instagram.
The first volume, to be published on October 8, will cover the period from 1986 to 1994.
Fadi is Riad’s younger brother, who appears in the autobiographical saga The Arab of the FutureAt the end of the fourth of the six volumes, Riad reveals that the father, now deceased, leaves his French wife without warning, and leaves permanently for his country, Syria, taking his third son with him.
The two brothers meet again in the sixth and final volume of The Arab of the Futurewith a Fadi who has forgotten his mother’s language and left behind his memories of France.
An “incredible” childhood
“This comic strip that I have been preparing for more than 10 years, written and drawn based on interviews conducted with my brother in 2011 and 2012, finally gives Fadi a voice,” explained the Franco-Syrian cartoonist.
“He talks about his incredible childhood with my father and sheds a completely different light on it,” he added.
The Arab of the Future is one of the biggest comic book successes of the 21st century, with 3.5 million copies sold worldwide and translations into 23 languages.
If this series was published in its entirety by Allary editions, Me, Fadi will be published by the publishing house founded by Riad Sattouf, Les Livres du futur. The author won the Grand Prix d’Angoulême in 2023, the highest award in the 9th Art.