Salleck Publications/Eckart Schott Verlag announces the release of the german edition of Jonathan 17 – De Weg nach Yeshe for the second half of 2022. A release date has not yet been confirmed.
As far as I know, this is only the second translation of the 17th Jonathan album, after the dutch version.
Thanks to Dinu Logoz
In the June/August issue of the magazine ‘Tintin, c’est l’aventure’ (no. 12), we can read an article about Cosey. The articel consists of an interview with Cosey and a fold-out page with drawings from ‘À l’heure où les dieux dorment encore’.
The magazine itself is dedicated to travels and most articles have a link to Tintin. In the interview by Frédéric Granier, Cosey tells about major differences between his working method and that of Hergé. But also of some of the similarities: even if Hergé’s and Cosey’s drawings are very different, both of the artists strive to great simplicity and readability.
It is a short interview, but interesting. The magazine (halfway between magazine and book) itself is beautiful and worth its price, I would say.
I finished reading ‘Cosey raconte des histoires’, written by Ralph Doumit and published by PLG. I have written a full review of the book here, but I can give you my conclusion here: it is an excellent book. Ralph succeeds in bringing to light some themes and characteristics of Cosey’s work that give insight in the peculiarities of Cosey storytelling.
Please read my review and go to your favourite bookstore!
Since last Friday, the book ‘Cosey raconte des histoires’, by Ralph Doumit, is available in your bookstore. The book is published by PLG in its collection ‘Mémoire Vive’.
Ralph call the book a ‘hommage’ to the stories Cosey has made. the book has a biographical part, Ralph’s personal lecture of Cosey’s albums and his notes going with some typical Cosey pages. The book also contains interviews or notes with or by Gilles Ciment, Jean-Pierre Grandjean and Jean-Luc Cornette.
100 pages; 15 euros.
Avaialble in all major french online bookstores.
50 Years ago, the career of Cosey took a turn for the good: only 22 years old, he was offered the opportunity to make a comic for the Lausanne newspaper ’24 Heures’. It was his first publication as a ‘complete’ comcis author: writing and drawing his own story.
In the ’24 Heures’ edition of april 9th, this 50 years jubilee was celebrated. Interesting anecdote: Cosey presented another project to the publisher Marcel Pasche. This project was about a story in… Tibet. Pasche suggested to make stories that played in the region where the newspaper was read, the region around Lausanne.
The result was the development of Paul Aroïd. Cosey made two stories that foreshadow his typical page layouts and drawings that capture the atmosphere of the Alps.
After the two Paul Aroïd stories, Cosey and ’24 Heures’ continued their cooperation. Cosey made a story with the character Séraphin Ledoux, a graphical predecessor of Jonathan. We are talking of the year 1975, the same year that the first Jonathan story was published in Journal Tintin – another decisive step in Cosey’s monumental career.
This drawing was published last saturday, in remembrance of the 50th birthday of Paul Aroïd.
Thanks to Bernard Matthey-Doret
Jonathan has become ‘godfather’ of the Chislay Tolop Khang organisation. The organisation runs a library where children can borrow books for free in Choglamsar, near Leh (India).
The main goal of the organisation is “to make Chispay Tolop Khang a place for kids to explore their land, as the whole world, through books and literature. A place of reading and knowledge”. On their website and their Facebook-page, you can get an impression of the many actvities of this sympathetic organisation.
The library was founded by Sophie Samdup, born in France but now living in India. We wish them luck with their new godfather!
I saw an announcement of the 12th issue of ‘Tintin, c’est l’aventure’, a beautiful magazine around Tintin and adveturous travels. On the cover, you can see it will include an article about Cosey. I assume it will be an article about ‘À l’heure où les dieux dorment encore’, but – who knows – it might have some extra content.
We must be patient, because this numer 12 will be published in June 2022.
Next week, the dutch translation of ‘La piste de Yéshé’ will be published by Le Lombard. Dutch title: ‘De Weg naar Yeshe’.
The album will be published in a softcover edition
At the end of 2021, ‘Rencontre au sommet’ (‘Meeting at the summit’) was published by swiss publisher Splotch. In this book (a comic), Gilles-Emmanuel Fiaux tells the story about his fascination and admiration of the works of Cosey.
This story begins when Gilles-Emmanuel discovers Jonathan at the age of 13. Soon, he also discovers that Cosey lives at a walking distance from his grandparents home. The start of several attempts to meet Cosey and trying to get Cosey’s advice on Gilles-Emmanuel’s comics and drawings, etc. … a somewhat frustrating experience.
On one of the first pages, Fiaux gives his readers a warning that he will change drawing styles throughout the book. The comic is also a report of a journey of artistic discovery. From several posts on his website, I learned that Fiaux already worked on the album in 2013.
The album is a very personal piece of fan-art, and I think that many admirers of Cosey’s work will recognise the enthusiasm of Gilles-Emmanuel.
A very peculiar experience was that I read my own name in the album… in 2013, I participated in the exposition ‘Des couleurs pour Cosey‘, for which several professional artists coloured a page of ‘Celle qui fut’ (there was also a competition). Gilles-Emmanuel Fiaux was among them, and he shows an impression of the exposition, featuring my page next to his and others’.
You can order ‘Rencontre au Sommet’ by contacting Gilles-Emmanuel Fiaux directly: go to his website and send him a message via the contact page.
Yesterday, the retrospective exposition of works by Cosey was opened at the Galerie Daniel Maghen in Paris. Jean-Christophe Defline was one of the first visitors and made some photos.
The exposition is open until 11 december, from Monday-Saturday 10.30 – 19.00. You can find the Galerie Daniel Maghen on 36, Rue du Louvre in Paris.
More info about the expo – with a possibility to visit the expo ‘virtually’: go to the website of Daniel Maghen.
Cosey himself, posing a little uneasy, so it seems.
On display are original drawings of pages from the albums, sometimes accompanied by the ‘mise en couleurs’ – the sheets with the colouring by gouache.
I like the variety of objets that can be seen at the expo.
Thanks to our reporter in Paris, Jean-Christophe Defline
In number 158 of dBD (november 2021), we can read a 8 page interview with Cosey, written by Frédéric Bosser, about – of course – Jonathan 17 and ‘A l’heure où les dieux dorment encore’.
Questions and answers are more or less along the usual lines: why a new Jonathan and why put an end to the series, Cosey’s way of working, his trips to Tibet, etc. But still, it is an interesting interview because Cosey got some more space to answer the questions.
The interview is illustrated with images from both new books – beautiful as ever.
Thanks to Jean-Christophe Defline
The Cartoonmusuem Basel, in Basel (Switzerland) of course), announces a retrospective exposition of the works of Cosey. We need a little patience, because the exposition is scheduled for 11 November 2022 – 12 March 2023 – more than a year from today.
On the site of the museum, we read: ‘Cartoonmuseum Basel is honouring this multi-award-winning artist’s oeuvre in a retrospective – the first in the German-speaking world. It encompasses original drawings, including pages from the latest and final volume of Jonathan, as well as sources of inspiration, photographs, sketchbooks and films.’
More information: click here (german and english website).
Daniel Maghen announces that a special, limited edition (Tirage de tête) is available for ‘À L’heure où les dieux dorment encore’.
The limited edition consists of a box with the book (with a special cover) and an additional ‘cahier’ of 32 pages. 150 copies, numbered 1/150 to 150/150, signed by Cosey.
More information on the website of Daniel Maghen
I have written an article about ‘La Piste de Yéshé’, you can read it here.
As you might know, I don’t write summaries of the albums (read them yourself!) and I don’t write reviews or critics. Every time, I try to find an interesting angle – and this time, logically, it could be only one thing: ‘This is the end’.
I hope it doesn’t read too much as an obituary.
Casemate no 151 (november 2021) has a six page interview with Cosey, richly illustrated with images from the new album.
What struck me when I leafed through the magazine (digitally) was the presence of Cosey throughout the issue. It surely is an event, the release of new books!
On opening the magazine, we immediately find this advertisement of LeLombard on page 2.
A few pages further on, this advertisement of Daniel Maghen. Further on, we find another advertisement featuring the Jonathan album – new subsribers to Casemate will receive the album as a welcome present.
And finally, there is the interview. The interview is two pages and I think the most interesting part is where Cosey explains that he has considered Jonathans death to conclude the series, but that he just couldn’t bring himself to do it: ‘He deserved better.’
After the interview, Casemate publishes four pages of ‘La Piste de Yéshe’, with notes by Cosey himself.
All ends with a hopeful remark for us admirers: ‘[I have] no concrete grand project in mind. I would like to allow myself, this one time, a sabbatical pause for a little while… But do not think that I will put away my brushes. Stop making comics is the last thing I dream about: I hope to draw right until my last day. To die on stage, like Molière, in a way…’.
Thanks to Jean-Christophe Defline