VANCE

WILLIAM VANCE XIII Three Silver Watches (T.11), Dargaud 1995 Original plate no. 38. Signed. India ink on paper 44.2 × 61 cm (17.4 × 24.02 in.) Trois Montres d'Argent is a dense album, one of Jean Van Hamme's favorites: it deals with the New York Mafia, competition between the Irish and Italians, the Mexican Revolution... All in the same album. But there's a lot of text. William Vance couldn't cope, and asked his scriptwriter and publisher if he could cut it into 52 plates instead of 46. It's the only album in the series to be that long. This motivation is perceptible in the treatment of the panels, even though this scene is static: it's a long story that practically sums up a lifetime of research, and Vance plays perfectly with the effect of the half-light of falling day, then the sudden awakening at dawn. What mastery!