Among all the news about the new Minnie-album, we might easily oversee the publication by Niffle publishers of the black and white edition of ‘À la recherche de Peter Pan’. The project for this album was originally announced for 2018, with a different cover image. For several marketing related reasons the project was put on hold, but finally, it is there.
Niffle is a publisher that specialises in black and white editions of classic comic albums, like Blake & Mortimer, Thorgal and others. This ‘À la recherche de Peter Pan’ album is not the first black & white edition: Raspoutine was first with a luxurious album, but this Niffle edition is much more affordable.
Even if I admire this edition, I have mixed feelings about black & white editions of albums that were meant to be coloured. It is an adventure to look through the album and compare it to the coloured album, and you will discover details that went unnoticed in the coloured edition… but still: after reading this edition, you realise even more how beautiful the colours of Cosey are.
Also, comparing this edition to Calypso shows how different the approach to drawing is when Cosey intends to make a black & white album and when he is drawing while having colours in his mind.
Having said this, this black and white edition is beautifully executed. The drawings bring you very close to the originals you will see in expositions. It makes you see the album in a new light – which in itself is worth the purchase.