Ten years of “Vieux Fourneaux”, the comic book for refractory seniors

Refractory but not reactionary, the characters of the comic book series “The Old Furnaces” are celebrating their tenth anniversary, having won over a readership of all ages despite their wrinkles and joint pain.

Volume 8, “Thug Seeds”appears according to the usual schedule a month and a half before Christmas, just to underline the family nature of the franchise.

The heroes of Wilfrid Lupano, screenwriter, and Paul Cauuet, designer, are a trio of septuagenarians or octogenarians: the ex-unionist Antoine, the anarchist Pierrot, and the ex-rugby player and businessman Mimile.

Pierrot acts up in this volume 8, when he gets angry at having to order a coffee via his cell phone and a QR code. The story will end in front of a criminal court.

“It’s inspired by a café at Montparnasse station where they set up this system. You can’t order coffee from the waiter. I didn’t react like Pierrot, but it’s absurd”explains the screenwriter to AFP.

The two authors have their habits in this Parisian station, a rallying point for them arriving from their South-West, one from Toulouse, the other from Pau.

“Old age is scary”

“It’s truly a Southwestern comic. It speaks a lot about the culture of this region: rugby, hunting, gastronomy, etc. »selon Lupano.

And as in this great South-West, far from the center of power, in “The Old Furnaces” the characters appear very resistant to various forms of authority. They take charge of themselves.

This remains the screenwriter’s way of working, who does not wait for an editor to approve a project before getting started. It offers complete scenarios. So he approached publishers with volume 1, “Those who remain”already designed in detail.

“We had two publishers who were interested in the project. The second was also convinced, but more skeptical about how to sell the project. Because old age is scary. It’s a bit of an adage. This other editor was more willing to change the title”remembers the screenwriter.

No hesitation, however, from Dargaud editions. “They liked the script, they liked the name. So we didn’t ask ourselves any questions”according to Lupano.

Seven volumes later, sales are 2.5 million copies in 12 languages. The fictional town of Montcœur, located perhaps in Lot-et-Garonne, perhaps in Gers, is the setting for « The Old Geezers » (in English), “Old men” (in Norwegian) or “Prdonje status” (in Croatian), and the comic strip was entitled to two film adaptations, in 2018 and 2022, with Pierre Richard, Eddy Mitchell and Roland Giraud.

“I recognized my parents”

Paul Cauuet has no reason to regret the work initially put into designing these characters, starting from their senior appearance, before making them younger.

“It’s the opposite of what we generally do. What do they call it in the cinema? From Benjamin Button. It’s easy to add wrinkles. But doing the opposite, putting tension back into a face, into the folds, trying to plump it all up, imagine…”he explains.

Volume 8 brings members of their family to Montcœur, with a blatant resemblance in one case, less so in the other. Family which is the recurring theme of the series, alongside friendship.

“What we hear most often is: I recognized my parents, my grandfather, my friends, my colleague…”reports Lupano. “So we have the impression that all these people exist for real, in plenty of copies”.