The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

What are the odds against coming across two totally different graphic novels, produced completely independently of one another, about a subject as particular as the procreation activities of salmon?  In 2004, Alternative Comics published Salmon Doubts by Adam Sacks (not to be confused with the late Douglas Adams’ Salmon of Doubt – Joe), a very earnest allegory on the purpose and meaning of life and about how knowledge and understanding are limited by what we are able and willing to see and sense. It was a beautiful, poetic book, printed in a pastel palette of light blues, purples and greys, which was sadly pretty much overlooked by the press and the general public.

Last year, four years after Salmon Doubts, French publisher Les Editions Sarbacane published Nage Libre by the Canadian cartoonist Sébastien Chrisostome.  It was presented at this year’s Festival in Angoulème as the latest in a series of books created with the support of the Maison des Auteurs, which had invited Chrisostome as artist in residence in the second half of 2007.  This is a wild and colourful book, not only because of Chrisostome’s style but also thanks to the extravagant cast he presents, and the rollercoaster of events that he submits them to.  And yet, both books ask the same questions and, in the end, come to the same conclusions.

(cover to Nage Libre by and (c) Sébastien Chrisostome, published Editions Sarbacane)

Nage Libre follows the adventures of three salmon; the enthusiastic Josi, the rather cynical Monsieur Nale and the still very young Marsha, on their quest for a suitable spawning ground and beyond.  After they have found what nature sent them out to look for (food and a few willing fémelles), they are tempted on a quest for more: they want to see the ocean.  They meet a colony of beavers who save them from hungry crocodiles and introduce them to a shamanic fish or sorcerer.  He understands the existential nature of their longing and sends each of them on a different journey to find what they are looking for, and more.  Josi finds himself in a poisoned sewer; Nale in a salmon farm and little Marsha suddenly is confronted with a bunch of hungry Orcas in the Arctic Ocean.  Each in their own way they experiences an epiphany which in the end brings them together and makes them decide that in order to live, you have to grow beyond your limitations.  Life is about the journey, not the destination.

Whereas Sacks’ salmon were quite cerebral characters who spoke as if they acted in a Hollywood epic, Chrisostome’s heroes are very much children of their time.  They are quite cynical and urban in their speech, and none is without faults (except maybe young Marsha, whose youth is his only sin, one which he will surpass magnificently in the end).  The assorted supporting characters are never flat, and always contribute more to the story than simply being there and pointing the heroes in the right direction.

(one of the supporting characters the salmon encounter in their travels in this scene from Sébastien Chrisostome’s Nage Libre)

Chrisostome’s artwork is a pleasure to read.  As is the case with many of his contemporaries (and with quite a few of the independent and underground cartoonists that have paved the way for the current golden age of French literary comics), his drawings have a childlike quality, with very broad brush strokes and spots of un-shaded colour.  Water, the main element of life for his cast, is suggested by willingly primitive patterns of lines, swatches and all kinds of greens and blues.  The fish don’t look like salmon at all, but resemble the goldfish that a five year old would draw.  And still every character has its own individual traits, which make it instantly recognizable and, actually, quite likable.

(the fish discussing events in a page from Nage Libre by Sébastien Chrisostome, published  Editions Sarbacane)

Nage Libre may seem a little odd if you are not used to reading contemporary comics beyond the mainstream, but it truly is an enriching experience.  Chrisostome proves himself a quite accomplished storyteller who is able to combine spectacular action with profound reflection.  The startling contrast between the sprawling story of the four salmon and the banal epilogue only helps to understand that this is indeed, a major work.

Sébastien Chrisostome: Nage Libre, published Editions Sarbacane, 2008,  108 page. You can read other entries in Wim’s Translation Please series where he highlights good comics that deserve to be republished n English here on the blog and keep up with more of his writing on his own Ephemerist site. There’s also a video interview with Chrisostome (in French) from the Angoulême festival on the FNAC YouTube channel:

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