'Le Vol du Corbeau 1' (2003).
Jean-Pierre Gibrat is a French comic creator, known for his graphic novels that portray real people in historical settings from the 20th century. Beginning his career as a press illustrator, he made his first comics in collaboration scriptwriters Jackie Berroyer, Dany Saval and Daniel Pecqueur, before becoming an allround author with the critically praised diptyches 'Le Sursis' (1997-1999) and 'Le Vol du Corbeau' (2002-2005). Since 2008, he is the creator of the series 'Mattéo' at Futuropolis, portraying the life journey of a Spanish anarchist through the wars and revolutions during the first half of the 20th century.
Early life and career
Jean-Pierre Gibrat was born in Paris in 1954 into a family of unionists. His brother Michel later also worked as a comic artist, using the pseudonym Uriel. Following a peaceful suburban childhood in Rueil-Malmaison, he obtained his Bachelor's degree in Philosophy in 1972, and subsequently studied Advertising art (1973-1974) and Plastic Arts (1975-1977). In 1977, he interrupted his studies to pursue his ambitions as a comic artist, publishing his first short comic stories in Pilote magazine, and in the following year also in Fluide Glacial. Some of them were written by Gibrat himself, others by Éric Simonet, Rodolphe, Jackie Berroyer, Bruno Léandri or Arbellara. In 1980, several of his Pilote stories were collected in the comic book 'Visions Fûtées' (Dargaud, 1980).
From: 'Visions Fûtées' (1980). Dutch-language version.
During the early stages of his career, Gibrat combined drawing comics with jobs as a commercial illustrator, working for magazines like L'Événement du Jeudi, Le Nouvel Obs and Sciences et Avenir. Later on, he also made artwork for Bayard Presse's children's magazines Okapi and Je Bouquine. Between 1981 and 1984, he produced five covers for L'Ordinateur de Poche, a specialized magazine dedicated to pocket calculators.
'Dossier Goudard' (1980).
Goudard
With the journalist/screenwriter Jackie Berroyer, Gibrat began a more steady collaboration, resulting in the 'Goudard' feature (1978-1987), presenting sketches from the everyday life of a typical teenager. Published successively in B.D. (1978), Charlie Mensuel (1979) and Fluide Glacial (1980-1981), the 'Goudard' stories were collected in book format by Éditions du Square, Audie and Dargaud. Since the artist had a knack for drawing beautiful women, Gibrat and Berroyer then created 'La Parisienne' (1982), a story serialized in Pilote Mensuel about the Parisian Valérie spending her vacation in the French countryside. For the next two stories, the authors combined their two creations by letting Goudard and Valérie have a holiday fling, after which she accidentally becomes pregnant.
'La Parisienne' (1982).
Switching genres
Where the 'Goudard' stories first showed Gibrat in the social-observational genre he became best-known for, he often challenged himself by exploring unexpected subjects or creations. In 1985, he agreed to draw the outlandish adventures of 'Zaza', the dog of French actress Dany Saval and her husband, TV host Michel Drucker. Written by Saval herself and serialized in Télé-Poche, the semi-celebrity comic 'Les Aventures de Zaza: L'Empire Sous la Mer' (1985) was collected in a comic book by Editions n°1. In 1987, a second installment was published by Michel Lafon, this time drawn by Dominique Lébreton.
'Pinocchia' (1995).
Between 1985 and at least 1988, Gibrat appeared in Bonheur magazine with the gag comic feature 'Sébastien Fait Ce Qu'il Peut'. Between 1988 and 1994, Gibrat drew the comic series 'Médecins Sans Frontières', about the French humanitarian medical organization, written by Guy Vidal, Dominique Leguillier or the artist himself. After serialization in Okapi magazine, the stories were collected in three books by Bayard. The series was also translated in Dutch as 'Artsen Zonder Grenzen' and serialized in the comic magazine Suske en Wiske Weekblad.
In 1995, Jean-Pierre Gibrat teamed up with writer Francis Leroi to create 'Pinocchia' for L'Écho des Savanes, an erotic parody of 'Pinocchio', in which the main character's breasts, not her nose, grow when she tells a lie. One year later, Gibrat worked with writer Daniel Pecqueur on 'Marée Basse' (Dargaud, 1996), a dreamlike fantasy one-shot set in Venice.
'Marée Basse' (1996).
Le Sursis
During the late 1990s, Gibrat began working as a solo creator on what he became best-known for, a series of graphic novels with real-life characters against a historical backdrop. His first efforts appeared in the luxury Aire Libre collection of the publishing house Dupuis, kicking off with the two-volume 'Le Sursis' ("The Reprieve", 1997-1999). Set in 1944, the main character is Julien, a young man from the town of Cambeyrac, who jumped off the train that took him to Germany for forced labor. When the train was then the target of an attack, he was presumed dead. With the help of his aunt, he went into hiding in his hometown. From an abandoned building, he not only witnessed his own funeral, but also became a quiet observer of the everyday life in the village, torn between resistance and sympathy for the occupier. His main fascination is however observing his love interest Cécile, whose heart he fears will soon belong to a young doctor, but whom he eventually joined in her Resistance work.
'Le Sursis 1' (1997).
Le Vol du Corbeau
Chronologically following the events of 'Le Sursis', Gibrat continued with another diptych, the widely praised 'Le Vol du Corbeau' ("The Flight of the Raven", 2002-2005). Although he reprised some of the characters from his first story, the main focus was the Parisian resistance worker Jeanne, who was later revealed to be Cécile's sister. Caught in the possession of weapons, she was jailed inside a local police prison, where she encountered François, a cynical burglar with a ready tongue and quick wits. During an air-raid alarm, the couple escaped through a journey over the Parisian rooftops, and eventually found refuge aboard the barge of a couple, René and Huguette. Leaving the Paris region by boat, they were however forced to take aboard a German soldier, who closely watched them. In 2017, the book was published in English by Eurocomics under the title 'Flight of the Raven'.
Mattéo - 'Première Époque (1914-1915)' (2008).
Mattéo
Gibrat's style of slow, observational storytelling allowed for a focus on character development and the choices everyday people have to make in difficult times. After these first two stories, the artist embarked upon a series with a central character, 'Mattéo' (2008- ). Published by Futuropolis, each volume covered an important event from the first half of the 20th century, experienced and witnessed by the Spanish anarchist Matteo, whose philosophical and cynical reflections in the text captions offer not only a better insight into the character himself, but also give an original view on the atrocities of war and human behavior. Set during the early years of World War I, the first volume introduced the character of Matteo as the son of Spanish refugees. Living with his mother in the French town of Collioure, his Spanish nationality keeps him from being drafted for the war. However, this lowers his chances with his love interest Juliette, who seems more and more interested in Guillaume, an aviator from a good family. Much to the dismay of his anti-militaristic mother and best friend Paulin, who returned from the trenches crippled, he eventually signs his enlistment document. This sets off a chain of events that make Matteo a first-hand participant in key events from European history, along the way encountering new people, most notably the nurse Amélie.
After experiencing the horrors of the trenches in volume one, the second installment has Mattéo accompany Gervasio, an anarchist friend of his late father, to Saint Petersburg, where they join the Russian revolution. However, they are quickly caught up between the stormy relations between their anarchist group and the Bolsheviks. Making a time-jump of eighteen years during which Mattéo was sentenced to hard labor for desertion from the army, the next three volumes have him rejoin old friends and take part in the Spanish Civil War, all the while learning more of his own past. In volume six, the series then moved on into World War II, with Mattéo traveling into war-torn Europe to find Louis, his illegitimate son with Juliette, who had joined the army.
Mattéo - 'Cinquième Époque - Septembre 1936-Janvier 1939' (2019).
Les Gens Honnêtes
Between 2008 and 2016, Jean-Pierre Gibrat was additionally a scriptwriter for Christian Durieux, creating the bittersweet four-volume graphic novel series 'Les Gens Honnêtes' in the Dupuis Aire Libre collection. This contemporary slice-of-life series tells the story of 53-year old Philippe Manche, whose carefree life is shaken up when he loses his job, and in the ensuing depression, also his wife. In the following installments, he tries to pick up the pieces of his shattered life by finding new work, love and lifegoals.
Graphic contributions
In 1981, Gibrat contributed to 'Paris Sera Toujours Paris(?)', an all-star collaborative project in Pilote magazine, written by Pierre Christin. Each chapter is a comic interpretation of a rhyme by Christin about one of the French capital's districts. In 1989, Gibrat visualized a Georges Brassens song for the anthology book 'Brassens 1952-1955', a project by Philippe Amat for publisher Vents d'Ouest. In 1991, he also appeared in 'Drôles de Messages', a comedy book published by the French postal services, and the erotic anthology 'Été Fripon' by Les Humanoïdes Associés.
Mattéo - 'Troisième Époque - Août 1936' (2013).
Recognition
Over the years, Jean-Pierre Gibrat has been celebrated as one of France's best creators of realistic comics, combining subtle full-color artwork with deeply human storytelling. Already in 1979 his talent was noticed during the Angoulême Comics Festival, where he and Berroyer received the "Most Promising Newcomer Award" for the album 'Dossier Goudard'. By the time he was creating his own stories, his prizes expanded with the 1998 Comic Book Booksellers' Prize for 'Le Sursis' and the 2006 Art Prize at the Angoulême Festival for 'Le Vol du Corbeau'. In 2003, he received the "Silver Boar Award for Best Artist" during the first edition of the "Prix Albert-Uderzo", initiated by publisher Éditions Albert René to support new talent. In the following year, Gibrat received the Grand Prize at the Saint-Malo Comics Festival, and in 2010, he was bestowed with the Grand Boum prize from the city of Blois during the BOUM comics festival for his entire body of work. On 16 January 2014, Gibrat was named Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture.
Legacy and influence
In 2011, the publishing houses Dupuis and Champaka released the artbook 'Jeanne et Cécile', dedicated to the two heroines from 'Le Sursis' and 'Le Vol du Corbeau'. This was followed in 2019 by a new artbook published by Daniel Maghen, 'L'Hiver en Été', presenting a handpicked selection of the artist's best drawings, as well as a lengthy interview by Rebecca Manzoni.
Jean-Pierre Gibrat has been named an influence by Federico Bertolucci and Veselin Chakarov. The artist has received admiration from veteran artists Daniel Kox and Hermann for his use of color.
Self-portrait (2011).