“It’s truly a creative work”, comic strip author Joël Polomski signs the illustrations for a new album dedicated to the history of Montauban

The comic book illustrator, Joël Polomski, has just published with his accomplice François-Henri Soulié a new album on the history of Montauban entitled “The fortune of the Sapiac”. A fascinating family saga in the heart of the South-West which traces over five centuries the founding of the city in 1144 by the Count of Toulouse Alphonse Jourdain to the establishment of a Protestant city. “This album is a new proposal from the municipality of Montauban (following the album released in 2021 “Montauban 1621, a rebel city facing the king”) to make an opus which dates back to the creation of the city. The novelist François- Henri Soulié, whom I know well – with whom I made “The Winter of the Elephant” – came from an old local family, the Sapiacs, in fact a neighborhood with that name still exists in Montauban. He romanticized a little but we follow in the footsteps of this family, alongside official figures, great politicians.

For almost a year, Joël Polomski enthusiastically immersed himself in this story, directing the screenplay written by François-Henri Soulié. “It's very pleasant. It's a bit like a filmmaker with choice of angles. It's really a creative work” explains the designer who documented himself and of course went on site to put in pictures the sapiac epic. “There is work with the heritage department, particularly on details. In this type of project, we have to agree to redo certain elements, at the time a house had three floors not two, the bell tower of a church that I had drawn was not at the right height. These are precise points, especially regarding architecture.

A project on the priory of Laramière

Thanks to his digital palette with which he works wonders, the illustrator from Lot has once again created a historical comic strip, with a careful aesthetic, marked by a particular color and universe. Another project is already looming for Joël Polomski who is just taking the time of the end-of-year holidays to take a break. “In fact, I have another album which is ready on the Cosquer cave in Marseille, where a facsimile has opened. It is the adventure which continues after Pech Merle and the Chauvet cave. With prehistory, I always enjoy it.” This comic book should be published in the spring thanks to Fédora Editions, specialized in archeology works. One project may hide another with Joël Polomski, since the author is now interested in the Laramière priory. “I was contacted by the person who bought this priory and who would like a comic book about this place. For the moment we are only at the project stage…” But the Lotois does not hide his interest in this heritage, “a magical place” which houses a cave, an underground passage and even a legend around the black prince who is said to have hidden his treasure there. A plot that takes shape little by little under the ever-moving fingers of Joël Polomski. “I'm very lucky because the projects follow one another like that. Every time I do a book, another subject arises… My pencil is not heavy to carry, I did another job and I 'I always drew because I wanted to. Nearly forty years after the very first album “the Legend of Pont Valentré”, the passionate Lotois would not change a line or a feature of this creative journey which allowed him to touch the hearts of readers' imagination.

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