With the emergence of the graphic novel, a controversial but useful label so that the comic is treated with the same interest as any other book, comic book authors gained, above all, the freedom to present their works: diverse formats, the most varied extensions and of course the possibility of addressing all types of topics with all types of approaches. Another thing that the comic has gained is pause and silence. It may seem anecdotal but it is not.
The graphic novel format and the fact that these comics are published directly as a book have allowed authors to explore new tempos, new narrative rhythms. Loira, written and drawn by Étienne Davodeau and published by La Cúpula with translation by Raúl Martínez Torres, is a good example of this.
This is an album to see and to feel. To enjoy entering its landscape and getting lost in it. Anyone who has traveled any part of this river, the longest in France, or visited any of the towns it crosses, knows that it is difficult not to be captivated by the beauty of its nature. Through Loira Davodeau’s vignettes he captures that landscape, that light, that beauty.
Loira is a book where moments of pause and silent vignettes allow us to stop reading and delight in the landscape. In this sense, Loire is like a trip in which we make stops to contemplate the surroundings and enjoy the journey, just as the protagonist of this book does. Louis has received an invitation from Agathe, who left him decades ago for another. Happy and intrigued by that old love that he has not forgotten, the sexagenarian travels to Agathe’s house, on the banks of the Loire River. But when he gets home, it won’t be his old friend who greets him.
It is clear that, despite the beauty of its images, Loira is not only a beautiful catalog of images but a story that captivates us from the beginning and whose plot twists will not cease to surprise us until the end. The landscape is important but it does not drown out the story but rather complements it. Through these vignettes beautifully colored in watercolor, Davodeau tells us a love story that is not finished or that simply refuses to end. Youth, old age, hopes and memories. A story about the past and the way we remember it and continue living with it.
