Dutch clear line cartoonist Erik De Graaf’s autobiographical comics (an interview with Erik can be found here on the blog) are finally finding their way beyond Holland. In 2010, Canadian publishing house La Pasteque will be publishing a collected version as Souvenirs Perdus.
(the Oog & Blik Dutch version of Erik’s work, Verzamelde Herinneringen, which will be republished in French as Souvenirs Perdus by La Pasteque)
Erik finds himself in good company there, amongst such luminaries as Michel Rabagliati, Fermin Solis, Lilli Carré, and Nicolas Mahler. His drawing style seems to fit perfectly in the faux-naive tradition that La Pasteque used to focus on in their magazine Spoutnik (with contributors like Seth, Rabaté and Ulf K) and which still seems at least dormantly present in their entire catalogue. De Graaf’s subject matter, childhood memories mixed with more or less autobiographical fiction, puts him right up the same shelf occupied by Rabagliati’s Paul series.
Let’s hope that this means an English-language publisher takes notice now – Fantagraphics, anyone? You can read more on Erik De Graaf on his blog
Leave a Reply