Comès - Lot 178

Comès COMÈS SILENCE Casterman 1980 Original plate no. 11, pre-published in (À Suivre) n°13, February 1979. India ink on paper 36.5 × 51 cm (14.37 × 20.08 in.) In the late 1970s, Casterman published Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese at Hergé's insistence. The series became a huge bestseller, and established the new format of the "graphic novel". Publishers thought that a magazine should be devoted to these black-and-white creations, which inaugurated a new type of narrative and graphic design. This was to be the magazine (À Suivre). But while Tardi and Forest were soon recruited for Ici Même, new talent was also needed. Belgian Dieter Comès, originally from the "Redeemed Countries" (i.e. the German-speaking part of the Plat Pays), was one of those who soon reached the top. Blending social chronicle and fantasy with subtle black-and-white expressionist drawing, the album Silence, endorsed by Hugo Pratt, caused a sensation and met with great commercial success. In 1981, it was awarded the Prix du meilleur album at Angoulême, opening up a new horizon for Belgian comics.