We owe him in particular little jewels like his An ocean of love (Delcourt), on a screenplay by Wilfrid Lupano, or his adaptations of the novels by Cyril Massarotto Someone to talk to (The Lombard), The little light d'Antonio Moresco (Delcourt) or The man in black of Giovanni di Gregorio (Delcourt). Here, with Our forgotten souls, he is tackling a major challenge by translating into drawing the autobiographical novel by Stéphane Allix, a great reporter, experienced in theaters of war, such as Afghanistan, who here reveals his fight against an autoimmune disease.
Idéfix, publishing and animation success, exhibited at the Belgian Comic Strip Center
Domestic journey
To confront this illness to which traditional medicine cannot provide satisfactory answers, Stéphane Allix will turn to psychedelic therapies, taking MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy. The beginning of an inner journey which will lead him to rediscover suffering buried deep in his psyche and gradually bring to the surface a trauma linked to attacks suffered during his childhood.
A long, eminently personal journey which will lead to a real investigation which should allow him to go back in time and find the trace of his attacker. A quest which will have to involve a confrontation with the person responsible for this injury.
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Closer
Our forgotten souls is therefore a terribly personal novel. “I was very impressed by reading this book. I wanted to experiment with it graphically but, initially, I thought I would draw inspiration from it to create an original story. Stéphane Allix, very reluctant at first for this adaptation, finally accepted on the condition that I stay as close as possible to his story and that I direct it directly. It was the first time I had to truly interpret someone else's life. Very arduous and upsetting work.”comments Grégory Panaccione.
-To meet this challenge, Panaccione will learn to sketch his “hero”. “It took me a while to grasp it. I had to be fair to him.”
Then, it was necessary to translate into images the doubts, the quest, the encounters but also his very particular “medical” experiences. To achieve this, he first opted for different ranges of colors depending on the moments experienced and then, in addition to graphics that oscillate between realism and dreaminess, he also opted for drawings that spread over two pages to better translate his dives into his psychedelic sessions. Powerful images that translate his inner journeys, his strongest emotions. Moments which are so many uppercuts for a reader already captive of this astonishing quest. Images that are permanently embedded in our imaginations.
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“It was also my way of translating the emotions perceived when reading this book. These moments, this feeling, could not be confined in boxes. I needed as much space as possible to convey these emotions”continues the designer who dives back into a theme that links all book adaptations: childhood. A stubborn red line which Someone to talk to, The little light, The man in black or Our forgotten souls take the reader back to the early years of the characters in these books. Not everything is always as disturbing as in this latest adaptation, but the weight of childhood remains the essence of all these poignant stories.
⇒ Our Forgotten Souls | Comic | Gregory Panaccione | The Lombard, 240 pp., €27.45
