Heroes no longer triumph in comics

"The 35th International Angouleme Festival marks a turning point in comic strips", comments Daniel Couvreur, following the award ceremony of this major event on January 26th. "The social model of the hero has had its day. It is no longer predominant in people's minds. The narrative field is showing literary ambition. Within the comic strip frames life stories full of soul are being outlined, so many expressions of man's everyday life. The graphic novel triumphed at the award ceremony of the 2008 Festival, displaying the preoccupations of our times. The Fauve d'Or [golden beast award] was given to the Australian author Shaun Tan for 'The Arrival. This story without any speech bubbles, of a rare graphic poetry, unfolds in a mosaic of mute frames, telling the universal adventure of integration. ... The Angouleme Festival has turned the page on action and moved on to emotion."

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