Jonathan 3: Pieds nus sous les rhododendrons
Blootsvoets onder de rododendrons/Das Geheimnis des fremden Mädchens
1976/77; album 1978 
First hand documentation
In 1976, Cosey and his (future) wife
travel to Asia for the first time: Ladakh, an Indian protectorate of Tibetan ethnic and
culture. The result can be seen in this third Jonathan album. From this album onwards,
Cosey strives for a higher realism in his comics. Even scenes describing ordinary daily
life get their place in his albums...
'I love that in a comic. That is just
what I love about Gil Jourdan [a comic by Maurice Tillieux], where daily life is very
present.

Impressed and inspired by his first
journey to Tibet (Ladakh), the environment in which Jonathan lives becomes more realistic.
From more or less 'abstract' mountains in the first two albums, we now see more detailed
landscapes, vegetation and farms, as well as more details in clothing, jewelry and simple
kitchen utensils.
The journey also has its consequences for
Cosey's stories: 'The fact that I had visited a Tibetan region for the first time has
given me the liberty to make things that I wouldn't have dared if I hadn't been there. One
discovers that everything is possible.' |