Will - Lot 33

Will WILL TIF ET TONDU Le Gouffre interdit (T.26), Dupuis 1978 Original cover. The title is a reproduction affixed to the original. Signed. India ink on paper 25.5 × 36.3 cm (10.04 × 14.29 in.) It was the publisher and bookseller Michel Deligne who brought young scriptwriter Stephen Desberg into contact with Maurice Tillieux. Deligne knew that Tillieux wanted to reduce the number of scripts he had to deliver each week to Journal de Spirou. Following this meeting, Tillieux entrusts Desberg with a short Jess Long story, "on a trial basis and without guarantee". Desberg came through, and Tillieux, who wanted to hand over Tif et Tondu, commissioned a new story. It was to be Le Gouffre interdit. The idea for the album came from Desberg: a hold-up is perpetrated by stuntmen who tragically disappear with their loot. His original scenario was set in the United States, but Tillieux decided to set the story in Aulenay, in the Ardèche. With Will," Tillieux professes, "the story has to take place on the Nationale 7 in the south of France...". Desberg had to rewrite the script several times. Will, for his part, created sumptuous settings: cliffs, forests and abysses rendered with a cinematic sense of framing and depth. These settings convey the anguish and immoderation of the site, while retaining the dynamic legibility that is its hallmark. These qualities are reflected in the intriguing cover, with Tif brandishing a bow in the foreground.