The winner of women’s lifestyle magazine ELLE ‘s second annual Grand Prix de la BD [Comics Grand Prize] was announced in Paris last week and it was revealed that the twenty-five person jury came out with a tie: David Sala‘s Le poids des héros [tr. ‘The Weight of Heroes‘] and Jean Marc Rochette‘s La dernière reine [tr: ‘The Last Queen‘] – both published by Casterman. Of the two winners Rochette’s made the Angoulême 2023 Official Selection.
The ELLE Grand Prix de la BD began last year, with the debuting winner being Corinne Rey/Coco‘s Charlie Hebdo recovery story Dessiner encore [tr. ‘Drawing Again‘]. Fifteen graphic novels are selected by ELLE, from which a panel of twenty-five readers then vote on the winner.
In the fifteen book shortlist for this year’s prize, two English-originated books showed up in the running – the French editions of Alison Bechdel‘s The Secret of Superhuman Strength (Le secret de la force surhumaine from Denoël Graphic) and Jennifer Hayden‘s The Story of My Tits (Nénés chéris from La Cité graphique).
Translated by DeepL:
“On Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the second annual Elle Grand Prix de la BD took place at the Publicis Drugstore on the Champs-Élysées. After religiously devouring the fifteen books in competition, our jury of twenty-five readers elected not one but two joint winners! This year’s winners are: “Le poids des héros”, by David Sala (Casterman) and “La dernière reine”, by Jean-Marc Rochette (Casterman). The authors received their trophies from the hands of the 2021 winner, Coco, for “Dessiner Encore” (Les Arènes BD).”
The Joint-Winning Books (with DeepL-translated synopses)
Le poids des héros [tr. ‘The Weight of Heroes‘] , David Sala (Casterman)
Translated Synopsis:
“In Le Poids des héros, David Sala traces his early personal trajectory marked by the mentor figures of his grandfathers, war heroes and resistance fighters. By summoning his point of view as a little boy, he plunges us into a majestic and abundant exploration of childhood and adolescence. The use of the imagination allows us to approach the dark areas and the flaws from a safe distance, while recomposing a universal learning and transmission path for the reader. Without forgetting the imperishable taste of bike races, the discovery of the first US rap songs, the first times of artistic initiation at the Emile Cohl school.”
La dernière reine [tr: ‘The Last Queen‘], Jean Marc Rochette (Casterman)
Translated synopsis:
“A battle-scarred man from World War I, Edouard Roux finds refuge in the studio of the animal sculptor Jeanne Sauvage. She gives him a face and introduces him to the artists of Montmartre. In exchange, Édouard introduces her to the majesty of the Vercors plateau and the story of the last bear he saw killed as a child. In the heart of the Cirque d’Archiane, he reveals the Last Queen to her and encourages Jeanne to create the masterpiece that will make her famous.
“In the vein of the great serial novels of the 19th century, The Last Queen crosses the destinies of the last bear of the Vercors and of Edouard Roux, the broken face of World War II.
“As in Le Loup, man and animal confront each other in a powerful story, mixing ecological questions, feminism, love story and art history.”
