Broken Frontier

Edmond Baudoin is a seldom seen artist in English language circles. He represents a veritable black hole in the US graphic novel world while in Europe he keeps churning out beautiful graphic novels at a leisurely pace with art and writing that is part of the absolute top of the comics cosmos.

There are some folks working in comics that have a gut-wrenching visceral impact with their visual magics. Artists that make you wonder why they have ever chosen the comics profession instead of a career in the arts. But it is the combination of their beauteous and bewitching graphics with the wonder of the story that often uplifts the art and creates something more than the sum of their parts. Writer Frédérique Vargas and artist Edmond Baudoin have reached such alchemical heights throughout their collaborations that one has to wonder why they haven't reached the English language parts of the world yet.

Their latest philosopher’s stone - number 23 already in the publisher’s Baudoin collection - is entitled The Sponge Salesman. It is a small crime tale that is, in a typical move for Fred Vargas, more concerned with the philosophical aspects of the characters than in producing a thrilling caper or murder mystery. Pi Toussaint is a vagabond and sponge salesman who has a knack for numbers, especially concerning circles and the number pi. Upon accidentally witnessing the shooting of a woman from high society circles, he meets a police man who - in Pi’s refusal to cooperate - makes him question the value he places upon human lives and whether we are all equal or not.

Fred Vargas is a historian, crime novel writer and political activist. An interest in human nature is the leitmotif in all her works and doubly so in her comics writing. Characters in the Vargas/Baudoin works are always rooted in a deep humanity, the story never overwhelming the protagonists who always remain true human beings with all their positives and negatives. In The Sponge Salesman, Vargas remunerates on the scales of balance, what is the assessment of a human life? Being at the bottom of the social ladder, Pi divides humanity into the haves and have-nots, a reaction out of embitterment born of his social position. His gut reaction to the shooting of the ‘have’ woman is apathy and he is more interested in getting away from the cops than seeing justice served. The sponges he drags around (9732) seem to be his only link left to humanity. Cost price one euro per piece, he reaches out to make contact with anyone willing to set aside their predilections to judge him for what he is worth, not on how he looks. Even his fancy for numbers reflects this, creating a perfect order out of the world; numbers being constant and dependable unlike the chaos that reigns humanity.

His encounter with Adamsberg, the detective in charge of the case, changes his view on the outside world and represents the main body of the graphic novella. Their conversations are drawn out and extensive, both men going back and forth in an absorbing dialogue that touches on the essence of their point of views and results in a fascinating discourse with a logical and human conclusion. I won’t go into detail because the ethical and philosophical journey is what this novella is about but is a tour de force concerning small things.

In The Sponge Salesman, Edmond Baudoin confides to the reader in a small graphical confession that he feels mostly at home drawing nature while Vargas is constantly challenging him to draw the loneliness of the city, the boredom, the metal of cars. He succeeds with verve though. Baudoin’s cityscapes contain dark ink blotches echoing the isolation of the stone walls while the rough half transparent charcoal linework reflects the imperceptible inner lifes of its inhabitants. Though the graphic novella contains mostly conversations, Baudoin always looks for angles to externalize the inner worlds of the conversationalists. He breaks panel borders, inserts splash pages, lets heads float into each other in a collage of speaking faces, he inserts panels into speech balloons, graphically visualizes thought balloons and commercials in the background enliven the thoughts they exchange. Coupled with a rough interpretative and figurative line, he succeeds in elevating the poetic prose of Vargas to a realistic and primal level.

The comics of Fred Vargas and Edmond Baudoin represent a poetic niche in the European comics world. Reflections on life and humanity are coupled with a deep understanding of story and philosophy. They are unique works that deserve a wider audience and The Sponge Salesman is just the latest proof of that. I’m sure their next work will be another one.

The Sponge Salesman by Fred Vargas and Edmond Baudoin is published in Dutch by Sherpa. It is a 64 pages softcover OGN retailing for € 14.95.