Update 32: 02/10/2017 Tribute to Moebius new adds:
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The Wild Bunch, the Daltons, the Molly Maguires or Butch Cassidy, all these names are known to be those of the greatest outlaws of the American West. But the world knows less the name of the man who chased them for years ... A man who has never skimped on the means to achieve his ends, not hesitating to shed blood and sow corpses to serve Justice. Allan Pinkerton, the father of the modern police, is still today a paradox all by himself, as dangerous as the criminals he pursued and without more pity than them. This first volume evokes the track of Jesse James, where we will see that the reality was less playful than the song that bears his name...
I would like to work (or work again) with screenwriters like Thierry Smolderen, Fabien Nury or Sylvain Runberg (Kennedy at Glénat).
Sébastien Tessier:
Of Pinkerton and westerns' days
This week our guest star is Sébastien Tessier (a.k.a. Damour) who gently answers our interview and brings us some pics of his artworks.
Damour was born in 1972 in La Roche-sur-Yon in the Vendée department (France). He was an artistic painter at "Ma Gomme" before obtaining his degree in Plastic
Arts in Bordeaux. His first aim was to become an art teacher, but he decided to start his career as comic artist after meeting Delcourt Editions team at the Angoulême comic festival of
1994.
He is connected to westerns with the comic series Pinkerton, which he created along with Rémy Guérin. Pinkerton was a Scottish American detective and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
In 1861, while investigating a railway case, Pinkerton uncovered an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln. The conspirators intended to kill Lincoln in Baltimore during a stop on his way to his inauguration. Pinkerton warned Lincoln of the threat, and the president-elect's itinerary was changed so that he passed through the city secretly at night. Lincoln later hired Pinkerton to organize a "secret service" to obtain military information in the Southern states during the Civil War. After the war, in 1865, Pinkerton resumed management of his detective agency. By this time, the U.S. Secret Service had been established to fight counterfeiting. By 1901, its mission included protecting the president. The Secret Service still plays an important role in Washington, D.C., as do detective agencies.
In 1861, while investigating a railway case, Pinkerton uncovered an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln. The conspirators intended to kill Lincoln in Baltimore during a stop on his way to his inauguration. Pinkerton warned Lincoln of the threat, and the president-elect's itinerary was changed so that he passed through the city secretly at night. Lincoln later hired Pinkerton to organize a "secret service" to obtain military information in the Southern states during the Civil War. After the war, in 1865, Pinkerton resumed management of his detective agency. By this time, the U.S. Secret Service had been established to fight counterfeiting. By 1901, its mission included protecting the president. The Secret Service still plays an important role in Washington, D.C., as do detective agencies.
Font: America's library.gov
The Wild Bunch, the Daltons, the Molly Maguires or Butch Cassidy, all these names are known to be those of the greatest outlaws of the American West. But the world knows less the name of the man who chased them for years ... A man who has never skimped on the means to achieve his ends, not hesitating to shed blood and sow corpses to serve Justice. Allan Pinkerton, the father of the modern police, is still today a paradox all by himself, as dangerous as the criminals he pursued and without more pity than them. This first volume evokes the track of Jesse James, where we will see that the reality was less playful than the song that bears his name...
- TBE: What has been your biggest artistic influence and how has your drawing style evolved?
Influences in my beginnings were Jean Giraud/Moebius and Jordi Bernet.
Cowboy sketch by Damour
- TBE: What are the current graphic artists that you like the most?
François Boucq, Mike Mignola, Sergio Toppi and Alberto Breccia are artists that I like and respect.
- TBE: With whom would you like to work?
- TBE: What is your favorite technique for drawing and coloring?
My way of working is very classic: work on paper, storyboards and pencil with lead pencil, ink brush and ink / black markers.
- TBE: How is the experience of working in European publishers like Glénat, delcourt, humaniods ...? Would you like to know and work with a different edition stile and a different form of working like, for example, in the United States?
Working at Delcourt and then at Glénat was, and still is, a satisfying experience. My experience with Humanoïdes Associés was unfortunate because this publishing house was experiencing great difficulties at the time.
I'd like to work with a smaller independent publisher to create a more personal, experimental and less "classic" album. Otherwise, I wouldn't like to work according to the production rhythm of the American Comics (about 20 boards per month).
- TBE: What do you think of digital comic books ... is the comic industry in danger / crisis with the menace of pirate downloads? How can this affect the work of artists?
In my opinion, the traditional paper comics still has good days ahead. It seems to me that the reading of albums on digital media (tablets, smartphone) did not meet a great success. Readers still hold to the album, the book.
My way of working is very classic: work on paper, storyboards and pencil with lead pencil, ink brush and ink / black markers.
- TBE: How is the experience of working in European publishers like Glénat, delcourt, humaniods ...? Would you like to know and work with a different edition stile and a different form of working like, for example, in the United States?
Working at Delcourt and then at Glénat was, and still is, a satisfying experience. My experience with Humanoïdes Associés was unfortunate because this publishing house was experiencing great difficulties at the time.
I'd like to work with a smaller independent publisher to create a more personal, experimental and less "classic" album. Otherwise, I wouldn't like to work according to the production rhythm of the American Comics (about 20 boards per month).
Western girl by Damour
- TBE: What do you think of digital comic books ... is the comic industry in danger / crisis with the menace of pirate downloads? How can this affect the work of artists?
In my opinion, the traditional paper comics still has good days ahead. It seems to me that the reading of albums on digital media (tablets, smartphone) did not meet a great success. Readers still hold to the album, the book.
- TBE: What is your relationship with Spain? Do you want to promote your last / next job in our country?
I've been many times in Spain in my youth with my parents. I've been there several times since; I
like the Spanish language, the dynamism and the ease of the Spanish
people. I don't have any promotion planned in Spain because my albums
are unfortunately not translated in the language of Cervantes.
- TBE: What can you tell us about your current job? What about your upcoming projects?
I am currently working on a trilogy at Glénat, a police investigation in the 1930s in Paris, at the time of the Popular Front "Front Populaire" and in French fascist circles of the time. My future projects are not advanced enough to talk about them.
Thank you very much for visiting our web and answering our interview, Sébastien. We will be looking forward to watching and enjoying your next works.
I am currently working on a trilogy at Glénat, a police investigation in the 1930s in Paris, at the time of the Popular Front "Front Populaire" and in French fascist circles of the time. My future projects are not advanced enough to talk about them.
Thank you very much for visiting our web and answering our interview, Sébastien. We will be looking forward to watching and enjoying your next works.
