Léo Malet, the creator of Nestor Burma’s novels, had not imagined this story. The author, who died in 1996, did not have time to send the head of the Fiat Lux detective agency to all the districts of Paris as he had planned. In particular, the 20th is missing.
However, Jacques Tardi, who has the “license” for the comic book cover of Nestor Burma, lives in this district. So the idea came to the designer Adèle Blanc-Sec to create an original story of Burma around his home, both in the script and in the drawing. Thus was born Rififi in Ménilmontant! which has just been published by Casterman.
It’s a return to this series for Tardi after a twenty-four year break. After five albums from 1982 to 2000, the author transferred the drawing and the adaptation to different authors. First there was Emmanuel Moynot who, over the course of 6 volumes, got a little tired of the series. The drawing of his latest album from Burma, The Rats of Montsourisin 2020, was also entrusted to another designer, François Ravard.
Then there was Nicolas Barral who, not without humor, revitalized the series with three beautiful albums in the catalog. Tardi therefore returns to us in 2024 with this Rififi in Ménilmontant! which he assures is the last Burma he will do.
Winter 1957, things are curdling in Paris. The cobblestones are shiny, it is gray and snow can fall. Burma is dying. Will the drugs from Manchol laboratories cure him? Not sure, but they will lead him into unsavory traffic with unfriendly Santas who will end up as decorations in the trees. Nestor, who raises his elbow easily, will lock up with his new friend the aptly named “La Biture” the bars and will wander the streets of the 20th.
Because if the private detective gets lost in the neighborhood, it is with the laudable intention of understanding what led Madame Manchol of the Manchol Laboratories to shoot herself in the eye with a pistol in her office.
With Léo Malet as with Jacques Tardi, the detective’s adventures are only a pretext. That of a stroll in a Paris of the 1950s, cheeky and popular. It feels like cinema, that of black and white films. Moreover, Tardi refers to it several times. We think of Quai des Orfèvres by Clouzot (1947) or Rififi among men by Jules Dassin (1955) which also ends in the 20th arrondissement.
If Tardi immerses us with so much talent in this disappeared Paris, it is because he worked a lot there. The author researches carefully before recreating this world. With archives, photos, films and numerous locations that he carries out beforehand in the field.
He walks around this 20th arrondissement, he loves it, that’s for sure. Last year, Tardi had already rewarded us with a superb work, 20 years old in May 1871in the 25 images collection published by Martin de Halleux. A little book all in drawings, without text, which transports us to an era more Adèle Blanc-Sec than Nestor Burma, the beginning of the 20th century. A black and white story with a vibrant line. A Tardi of the best vintage. A Communard in the twilight of his life will take his revenge on Adolphe Thiers. The latter, first president of the Third Republic, had 147 federates shot. Where? Against a surrounding wall, that of the Père-Lachaise cemetery, again and again in the heart of the 20th arrondissement.
“Some rififi in Ménilmontant! Nestor Burma in the 20th arrondissement” by Tardi based on the characters of Léo Malet. Casterman Editions. 25 euros.
20 years old in May 1871 from Tardi. Editions Martin de Halleux. 20 euros.
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