HERMANN

HERMANN ◊ JEREMIAH Un hiver de clown (T.9), Hachette 1983 Original plate no. 3, prepublished in Le Journal de Spirou no. 2376, October 27, 1983. Superficial soiling and very light ink stains on spine. ink stains on the back. Signed. India ink on paper 36.3 × 47.8 cm (14.29 × 18.82 in.) A harsh winter, even if Jeremiah can keep warm with Lena where, in this album, Kurdy is conspicuously absent. Our heroes come across a stranded cargo ship, transformed into a "Noah's Ark" for people who are different and excluded from the surrounding societies. Don't be fooled by the lightness of the line and the first, somewhat bucolic sequence, where the seagulls, with their resplendent white feathers, execute elegant volutes. On the raft, a community of disguised deformed beings lives under the thumb of the "master". What looks like a haven soon turns out to be a nightmare... The first plate of an album - the incipit - is important: it sets the mood for the album. Hermann's shadowless line leaves it to his colorist Fraymond, alias R. Fernandez, to exercise his talent for lighting.