Luc Besson makes a Le Mans racing film! (1 Viewer)

[Michael St. Clair]

http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.cf...8328&series=15
This year, the 24 hours of Le Mans will include 2 extra cars...that will be shooting film for a Luc Besson project...the part I don't understand is that the film is supposedly about "Michel Valliant", a Formula 1 racer in a european comic strip.
Enticing!
I feared 'Driven' would have killed all motorsports films for the next few years.
And maybe the attention this gets will get the classic 'Grand Prix' and 'Le Mans' films released!

 

[Francois Caron]

Michel Valiant? Yeah! He's the main character in a comic book series in Europe. Basically, he's a highly talented race car driver who always seems to get into trouble on the side.
A bit of background on European comic books. Unlike the American model where comic books are created in an assembly line fashion and printed on pulp grade paper at the rate of one new edition every few weeks, European comic books are basically 40 to 60 page hard cover books printed on high quality white paper slightly bigger than letter sized paper. They're released just like episodes in a movie franchise, often taking as much time to create. Sometimes the wait for the new chapter in a popular series can be as long as five years.
The books themselves are usually created by the same pair of artists, one working on the story and another working on the drawing. A full team at the publishing house is responsible for inking and tracing the artist's rendition, a process that can require many months of time and many layers of work.
Along with Michel Valiant, there are also the well known series such as Astérix, Tintin, Spirou, Guy Lefranc, Yoko Tsuno, Gaston Lagaffe, Natacha... The list is endless! There's also a thriving collection of adult oriented comic book series which would probably never see the light of day in the USA because of the misconception that comics books should just be for kids.
It's not unusual that Luc Besson wanted to work on such a project. In fact, the look for his movie "The Fifth Element" was created by adult comic book artists Moebius and Méliès if my memory is correct. Working with a character as well known as Michel Valiant might produce quite an interesting movie. I can't wait to see what comes out of this!
I hope this explains things a bit..

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Francois,
We're not quite as uncultured as you may think.
European-style "comic albums" of titles like Tintin and Asterix have been translated and sold here for years, they just aren't in every mainstream bookshop. Also, hardly any 'comics' in the american market are done on pulp paper any more, most are done on good baxter paper or other acid-free stock, and a fair amount are published directly as 'graphic novels' and skip the serialized 24 to 32 page 'comic book' all together.
Also, there are tons of european 'adult' titles that are published over here, along with some american titles of the same genre. This was jumpstarted back in the 70s by 'Heavy Metal', which was our version of 'Metal Hurlant' on your side of the pond.
And yes, Moebius did designs for The Fifth Element (and Alien, Willow, and more). His 'real' name is Jean Giraud, and his 'Airtight Garage' and 'Blueberry' (and other) albums have been published over here in various editions/formats over the last 30 years.
Some good north-american resources are:
http://www.fantagraphics.com/cart/
http://www.fantagraphics.com/cart/sh...Category=World
http://www.nbmpub.com/

 

[Francois Caron]

Oops! My mistake! I got Giraud mixed up with the creator of the movie "Un Voyage Dans La Lune". I've lost count on the number of times I screwed up his name. :b
My perspectives are off a bit considering the French comic books are available in just about every single bookstore in the province. You can't get away from them! As soon as one of the popular ones hits the shelf, it's at the front of the store and on the bestseller list in the same week!
Also, when I said "adult oriented", I didn't exactly mean erotica although I can understand the misunderstanding. There are a lot of comic book series available here that deal with subject matters somewhat similar to a lot of Hollywood movies. One series named "Soda" is about a tough NYC cop who in order to keep his mother from knowing his real job, dresses up as a priest whenever he's home! Another series named "Largo Winch" is about a young multimillionaire who has to deal with much more than just the "family business". You may have heard of it. It was turned into a syndicated TV show just a couple of years ago.
Here's my link to my favourite bookstore. Link Removed Click on the top left balloon to view the new releases. Or yet, click on the drop-down list on the left and select "Collection". Then start entering some of the names I mentioned for an idea on what's available.
Once Hollywood discovers this treasure cove of original stories, expect to see a lot of these books turned into big time Hollywood movies!
A question. I know there's translated version of the French comic books we've mentioned. But why do they seem to be available only in soft cover? More important, why do they usually cost about twice as much as the French hard cover originals?

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Francois,
My mistake, I didn't read that you were from the north and not from the eastern hemisphere.
There are a fair amount of non-erotica european adult comic albums available in the States, I wasn't strictly referring to erotica. I'm not familiar with the two titles you reference, though.
All of this stuff takes some effort to buy, most bookstores don't carry them.
Indeed they are expensive over here...far more per page than north american graphic novels or manga. I don't know why, but I sure don't like the prices!

 

[Rollo Lee]

I'll say one thing: The French artists can REALLY draw. American comics these days, I'm surprised when I can find an artist who clearly has a strong grasp of anatomy, perspective and all those other supposedly basic drawing skills. My French is terrible, but I've always been interested in French comics and I've rarely come across one that looks bad. I suppose it's also due to them spending so much time on them. Labour of love instead of assembly line crap.

It's too bad that the occasional books that Heavy Metal puts out are so strangely translated. I have a hard time following them sometimes.

 

[Vincent Matis]

. I know there's translated version of the French comic books we've mentioned.

You mean French-speaking because Tintin, Spirou, Yoko Tsuno, Gaston Lagaffe, Natacha, Les Schtroumpfs (The Smurfs), Lucky Luke, Natacha, Soda, Largo Winch, Thorgal (and so many others) are coming from Belgium...
Don't take away one of our few cultural treasures: the "comics" artists...
Vincent

 

[Francois Caron]

You mean French-speaking because Tintin, Spirou, Yoko Tsuno, Gaston Lagaffe, Natacha, Les Schtroumpfs (The Smurfs), Lucky Luke, Natacha, Soda, Largo Winch, Thorgal (and so many others) are coming from Belgium...

Ack! My apologies! With the over 200 books I have in my collection, you'd think I would remember where they all came from!
BTW, would you know when the new Spirou is scheduled to come out? That's the "grand Spirou", not the "petit Spirou".