I discovered Druillet when I was twelve. It blew me away. Since then I have amassed a huge Druillet collection, including posters, French first editions, the leatherbound Lovecraft illustrated by him, and an almost complete set of Metal Hurlant, which he co-founded. Love your Druillet talks.
WOW!! Those little "FICTION" books are a great find. LOVE your video, your right about the story being hard to follow. I had to re-read it a few times myself. But that ART is so spectacular. I am lucky to have a SEALED copy of "Yragael Urm" 1st english edition from Dragons Dream. I have to say Druillet and Serpieri are gods to me. I too prefer the art from that era. Cheers sir from Montreal.
Thank you for spotlighting these books and introducing me to Druillet with your videos! This one looks really spectacular and I cant wait until I get mine
Druillet is a genius. At 8.09, 8.18 we see his Mandelbrot sets drawings, done in 1975, before Mandelbrot himself discovered them. There is no rational argument powerful enough to tell people they should get Yragael and Urm le Fou albums. Just get them, look at them, flip the pages, do it again, do it when you have time to spare, do it whe you're the only one awake at night, there is something unique and profound in it, something that can't be described in words. Some artists achieve that perfect condition, they become this precious, totally free conduit between God (or whatever you wanna call it) and the here and now that we share; Coltrane did it, Druillet did it. Get the Druillet albums, you need them...
Having a great time going through your vids. I'm huge Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal fan from the US. Thanks to your vids I found the Druillet books form Titan comics, I plan to pick them up soon. I studied German in School (but I'm not that good) and lived there in Friedburg for 3 years. I speak English and Japanese, but need to learn French so I can read more French Comics. Your English is great by the way.
thank you... as to Druillet: maybe you can pick up some older printings of Druillet-books (even though they seem to be pretty rare in English) because somehow the reproduction quality at least of the latest titan book is not that good.
@@earlgrey862 Thank you for the heads up. Seems a lot of people are complaining about that Titan print quality too. I'll look for older publishers of his works.
Is the coloring in Yragael & Urm in these reprints any good? I want to pick up a copy but I'm afraid the recolors will be just as botched as with the reprints of The Night.
unfortunately no... I think I have it covered it in a later video (maybe druillet #7?). But compared to a much older copy from a long gone publisher "dragon's dream" it can't hold up to a closer examination: partwise blurry, the colors relatively desaturated... so, everything is fine as long as you don't compare it to other versions :/
nah, seriously: there were some sentences in yragael which I just could not de-code. whether they were meant to be indecipherable high-minded gibberish or not ... that's just one thing I would like to know
@@earlgrey862 I loved your review! Thank you for doing it-it convinced me to pull the trigger. Since this will be my first foray into Druillet, do you have any recommendations for subsequent purchases? By the way, I would be willing to bet on the "high-minded gibberish" vs. something you could not decode. Your English is quite good. Cheers!
@@caseyjpayne7606 thanks....hmm... unfortunately a comment by jonanjello on my video let me look twice at the printing quality of Yragael & Urm (see my comment beneath the video) Anyhow, I found the first Druillet books from Titan with "Lone Sloane" and "Gail" pretty fantastic .... and I hope Titan'll put a bit more effort into the (hopefully) upcoming releases. here's the playlist with all my druillet-videos: ruclips.net/user/playlist?list...
yes, only the covers are by Druillet... they are sort of sciencefiction-fantasy pulp magazines, even though I get the vibe of trying to be more "serious literature" as well
Damn Titan Comics. A few years ago they gave me hope I could get my hands on some new prints of Enki Bilal, but they only published The Nikopol Trilogy and Century's End (which contains arguably his best two shorts). Why did Humanoids have to loose the rights?
yes, I have not too much confidence in titan neither... to publish druillet doesn't make them the second fantagraphics automatically, even though it's a work of merit of course (given that they'll continue the series after salammbo)
comparing the print quality of the new titan ed. of yragael to an old one makes me actually doubt if it's really a work of merit (see jonanjello's comment and my reply)
The art on Yragael is magnificent, but Druillet agreed with you that DeMuth didn't understand the comics form, which is why he took over the writing on Urm. I've held back from buying the Titan books, because I feel they've botched the lettering, which was a big part of the look of the first French editions. A fellow named Dom did some wonderful decadent calligraphy on Yragael and Urm, that were very much in sync with the drawings. Even the English language Dragon's Dream/Heavy Metal Edition seems to preserve the style of lettering. The typeset approach by Titan seems really detached from the art, to me. Speaking of the art, Druillet was never shy about recycling his stuff, which he admittedly put a lot of hours into, and there are several pages that are originally from Druillet's Elric comic "The Return to Melnibone", notably the sex scene and the banquet, but also fragments of other pages. At least one of the pages, a guy on a throne buffeted by cosmic waves, originally appeared as a poster.
urm was written by druillet! thanks for the info, that makes a lot of sense... I either overlooked that or titan didn't point that out at all . And you're right about the lettering in yragael: that's a bit off in places, should be more handmade/gothic or as you put it: "decadent". but I don't know if I am able to wait for a better edition ... the German publisher seems to have stopped the new edition after the second Lone Sloane book & I'm not overconfident to be able to get an old copy of yragael nor urm in German nor English (actually I thought this was the first English translation) ... maybe I'll get some cheap used French copy just to see how that original lettering looks like. as to the recycling of the art: yes, this strikes me as well, if not from other comics (I don't know that Elric comic for an instance) but by some poster art or similar stuff reproduced in my art book from the publisher Mel that I've shown in druillet#4
@@earlgrey862 I've read in a few places where Michael Moorcock says that Druillet's Elric comic was actually the first comic adaptation of his stories that anyone had done (back in the late 60s), but it was all over the place as Druillet couldn't read English and he had a friend of his TELL him the story which he then drew. Druillet later repurposed the art for the Yragael project, I guess.
Well, I've read it in my native language and it's quite difficult, so I think that you might understand it better in german. Druillet is so Cosmic here and even if Dumuth kills the pace in few pages it's also part of the mood (I think Luther Arkwright does something similar with double pages blasted with text) and the text is really beatiful, somptous. I prefer Yragael to Urm, which is more down to earth, because it has everything Druillet has done and it is like his best known stuff. The reader gets thrown in the world and doesn't know its rules, human reasoning doesn't work, it's just about feeling.
"it's just about the feeling." .... yes, and my main feeling was "confusion" :) ... or rather "cosmic confusion", but I'm confident that I'll appreciate yragael much more with every re-read.
Don't worry too much about the texts and stories, they usually have no sense, they're just part of the art. I don't know that Druillet ever made a story that made sense.. it's more the sonority, poetry of it. Sometimes it's even just the stylistic graphism. Sometimes it's alien text, not even alphabetic characters. Anyway the book that was closest to (classic french-belgian) cartoon is Delirius, but even then the story quickly becomes mere pretext for crazy Druillet drawings.
that's a way to put it... even if I'd emphasize the poetry and often the sonority part ... in my mind there is always a story beneath the pictures and text, not only the pretext but sometimes the foundation.
Huh the story made no sense because they were translate from french to english word by word when druillet is writing onirique "surréaliste" poetry. That's bilingual poets that should have translated or rather reinterpreted the texts. It will never make sense translated raw without any deft. Urm the mad ... (for me it should have been translated in English by "urm the fool") It's the story of the son of a cosmic prince and a living city. Born difformed but awake and he is the only one noticing that the absurdity that is boiling everywhere around him is actually ending. Urm is alone facing the end of time or so he believes. Nobody else around him cares. It's a complexe poetic nightmare about the end of all. Or the end of a lonely dreamer lost in a dream of someone else about to wake up. But there is no way to translate that without re interpretation.
earl, a person on Amazon rated the book two stars based on the printing, "The artwork is amazing but the printing is horrible. The linework is very blurry. Low resolution and/or out of focus. Very disappointing." How's your copy, earl? It looks good to me in this video. Thanks for your insight.
the printing is not good tbh ... I adressed this issue in the video, even though I was cautious (in hindsight: too cautious) not to overrate the problem. But I got recently a used copy of another english translation, it's an old book from 74 or 75 but the printing is much much better (softcover, publisher is called "dragon's dream", seems to be a french outfit, but the text is English). Too bad, but I wasn't able to compare the two editions sooner... I think I'll adress this problem in the next druillet video (about Salammbo).
While Druillet can draw truly breathtaking epic scenes, including amazing architecture, his figures are very often ugly and deformed. Pity he couldn't draw some truly good-looking heroes/heroines to go with his scenes. The story of Yragael/Urm seems quite incomprehensible on the whole as well, not to mention very negative in its overall feel. I once lent a copy of the Yragael/Urm to an English teacher. She disliked it, feeling that it was too negative for her taste. I don't blame her. Would be nice if some of the scenes could be made into posters or picture cards in their own right. I'd love to scan them and print them out to place on a wall, but being double-paged means that when you scan them there'll be that big black dividing line in the middle -- ugh!
I discovered Druillet when I was twelve. It blew me away. Since then I have amassed a huge Druillet collection, including posters, French first editions, the leatherbound Lovecraft illustrated by him, and an almost complete set of Metal Hurlant, which he co-founded. Love your Druillet talks.
you're welcome... and that sounds like a collection of druillet to be envied and cherrished
WOW!! Those little "FICTION" books are a great find. LOVE your video, your right about the story being hard to follow. I had to re-read it a few times myself. But that ART is so spectacular. I am lucky to have a SEALED copy of "Yragael Urm" 1st english edition from Dragons Dream. I have to say Druillet and Serpieri are gods to me. I too prefer the art from that era.
Cheers sir from Montreal.
I'd love more content from your channel. I just bought the Lone Sloan hardcopy here in America. I absolutely love it... turning on to Druillet!
Thank you for spotlighting these books and introducing me to Druillet with your videos! This one looks really spectacular and I cant wait until I get mine
Got them all looking forward for salammbo a new solicit from Titan for more druillet coming in December .
Druillet is a genius. At 8.09, 8.18 we see his Mandelbrot sets drawings, done in 1975, before Mandelbrot himself discovered them. There is no rational argument powerful enough to tell people they should get Yragael and Urm le Fou albums. Just get them, look at them, flip the pages, do it again, do it when you have time to spare, do it whe you're the only one awake at night, there is something unique and profound in it, something that can't be described in words. Some artists achieve that perfect condition, they become this precious, totally free conduit between God (or whatever you wanna call it) and the here and now that we share; Coltrane did it, Druillet did it. Get the Druillet albums, you need them...
word!
Having a great time going through your vids. I'm huge Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal fan from the US. Thanks to your vids I found the Druillet books form Titan comics, I plan to pick them up soon. I studied German in School (but I'm not that good) and lived there in Friedburg for 3 years. I speak English and Japanese, but need to learn French so I can read more French Comics. Your English is great by the way.
thank you... as to Druillet: maybe you can pick up some older printings of Druillet-books (even though they seem to be pretty rare in English) because somehow the reproduction quality at least of the latest titan book is not that good.
@@earlgrey862 Thank you for the heads up. Seems a lot of people are complaining about that Titan print quality too. I'll look for older publishers of his works.
So much anxiety on RUclips these days - thank you for your meditative alternative.
there is a lot of anxiety in druillet's comics actually... but I know what you mean, thank you very much
Is the coloring in Yragael & Urm in these reprints any good? I want to pick up a copy but I'm afraid the recolors will be just as botched as with the reprints of The Night.
unfortunately no... I think I have it covered it in a later video (maybe druillet #7?). But compared to a much older copy from a long gone publisher "dragon's dream" it can't hold up to a closer examination: partwise blurry, the colors relatively desaturated...
so, everything is fine as long as you don't compare it to other versions :/
Druillet est à la bande dessinée, ce que lsd est au rock'nroll. Nice collection congrats from France
Your English is just fine!
Ei try my bäst
nah, seriously: there were some sentences in yragael which I just could not de-code. whether they were meant to be indecipherable high-minded gibberish or not ... that's just one thing I would like to know
@@earlgrey862 I loved your review! Thank you for doing it-it convinced me to pull the trigger. Since this will be my first foray into Druillet, do you have any recommendations for subsequent purchases? By the way, I would be willing to bet on the "high-minded gibberish" vs. something you could not decode. Your English is quite good. Cheers!
@@caseyjpayne7606 thanks....hmm... unfortunately a comment by jonanjello on my video let me look twice at the printing quality of Yragael & Urm (see my comment beneath the video)
Anyhow, I found the first Druillet books from Titan with "Lone Sloane" and "Gail" pretty fantastic .... and I hope Titan'll put a bit more effort into the (hopefully) upcoming releases.
here's the playlist with all my druillet-videos: ruclips.net/user/playlist?list...
Those early books look very interesting. Are they just covers by Druillet? They look like pulp magazines.
yes, only the covers are by Druillet... they are sort of sciencefiction-fantasy pulp magazines, even though I get the vibe of trying to be more "serious literature" as well
Damn Titan Comics. A few years ago they gave me hope I could get my hands on some new prints of Enki Bilal, but they only published The Nikopol Trilogy and Century's End (which contains arguably his best two shorts). Why did Humanoids have to loose the rights?
yes, I have not too much confidence in titan neither... to publish druillet doesn't make them the second fantagraphics automatically, even though it's a work of merit of course (given that they'll continue the series after salammbo)
comparing the print quality of the new titan ed. of yragael to an old one makes me actually doubt if it's really a work of merit (see jonanjello's comment and my reply)
The art on Yragael is magnificent, but Druillet agreed with you that DeMuth didn't understand the comics form, which is why he took over the writing on Urm. I've held back from buying the Titan books, because I feel they've botched the lettering, which was a big part of the look of the first French editions. A fellow named Dom did some wonderful decadent calligraphy on Yragael and Urm, that were very much in sync with the drawings. Even the English language Dragon's Dream/Heavy Metal Edition seems to preserve the style of lettering. The typeset approach by Titan seems really detached from the art, to me.
Speaking of the art, Druillet was never shy about recycling his stuff, which he admittedly put a lot of hours into, and there are several pages that are originally from Druillet's Elric comic "The Return to Melnibone", notably the sex scene and the banquet, but also fragments of other pages. At least one of the pages, a guy on a throne buffeted by cosmic waves, originally appeared as a poster.
urm was written by druillet! thanks for the info, that makes a lot of sense... I either overlooked that or titan didn't point that out at all . And you're right about the lettering in yragael: that's a bit off in places, should be more handmade/gothic or as you put it: "decadent". but I don't know if I am able to wait for a better edition ... the German publisher seems to have stopped the new edition after the second Lone Sloane book & I'm not overconfident to be able to get an old copy of yragael nor urm in German nor English (actually I thought this was the first English translation) ... maybe I'll get some cheap used French copy just to see how that original lettering looks like.
as to the recycling of the art: yes, this strikes me as well, if not from other comics (I don't know that Elric comic for an instance) but by some poster art or similar stuff reproduced in my art book from the publisher Mel that I've shown in druillet#4
@@earlgrey862 I've read in a few places where Michael Moorcock says that Druillet's Elric comic was actually the first comic adaptation of his stories that anyone had done (back in the late 60s), but it was all over the place as Druillet couldn't read English and he had a friend of his TELL him the story which he then drew. Druillet later repurposed the art for the Yragael project, I guess.
Well, I've read it in my native language and it's quite difficult, so I think that you might understand it better in german. Druillet is so Cosmic here and even if Dumuth kills the pace in few pages it's also part of the mood (I think Luther Arkwright does something similar with double pages blasted with text) and the text is really beatiful, somptous. I prefer Yragael to Urm, which is more down to earth, because it has everything Druillet has done and it is like his best known stuff. The reader gets thrown in the world and doesn't know its rules, human reasoning doesn't work, it's just about feeling.
"it's just about the feeling." .... yes, and my main feeling was "confusion" :) ... or rather "cosmic confusion", but I'm confident that I'll appreciate yragael much more with every re-read.
Druillet the night coming out in December also a reprint of Dave sim crebus tp
good times
Don't worry too much about the texts and stories, they usually have no sense, they're just part of the art.
I don't know that Druillet ever made a story that made sense.. it's more the sonority, poetry of it. Sometimes it's even just the stylistic graphism. Sometimes it's alien text, not even alphabetic characters.
Anyway the book that was closest to (classic french-belgian) cartoon is Delirius, but even then the story quickly becomes mere pretext for crazy Druillet drawings.
that's a way to put it... even if I'd emphasize the poetry and often the sonority part ... in my mind there is always a story beneath the pictures and text, not only the pretext but sometimes the foundation.
Huh the story made no sense because they were translate from french to english word by word when druillet is writing onirique "surréaliste" poetry. That's bilingual poets that should have translated or rather reinterpreted the texts. It will never make sense translated raw without any deft. Urm the mad ... (for me it should have been translated in English by "urm the fool")
It's the story of the son of a cosmic prince and a living city. Born difformed but awake and he is the only one noticing that the absurdity that is boiling everywhere around him is actually ending. Urm is alone facing the end of time or so he believes. Nobody else around him cares.
It's a complexe poetic nightmare about the end of all. Or the end of a lonely dreamer lost in a dream of someone else about to wake up.
But there is no way to translate that without re interpretation.
BTW earl grey have you done any episode's on rick geary
that would be amazing, one of the suggestions I've made some time ago as well...
I thought dead orbit was going to be part of the video.
no sorry, it was only part of the background by accident... just the usual chaos
earl, a person on Amazon rated the book two stars based on the printing, "The artwork is amazing but the printing is horrible. The linework is very blurry. Low resolution and/or out of focus. Very disappointing." How's your copy, earl? It looks good to me in this video. Thanks for your insight.
the printing is not good tbh ... I adressed this issue in the video, even though I was cautious (in hindsight: too cautious) not to overrate the problem. But I got recently a used copy of another english translation, it's an old book from 74 or 75 but the printing is much much better (softcover, publisher is called "dragon's dream", seems to be a french outfit, but the text is English). Too bad, but I wasn't able to compare the two editions sooner... I think I'll adress this problem in the next druillet video (about Salammbo).
even though the art is the best ive seen from him so far this was a bit of a chore to finish... delirius is way better imo
The only druillet book with any story I guess ...
Krouch I have the treasury of Victorian murder compendium volume 1 and 2 nbm press super stuff
loan Sloan is as cool as Moebius , Corban or Toppi....... Heavy Metal
While Druillet can draw truly breathtaking epic scenes, including amazing architecture, his figures are very often ugly and deformed. Pity he couldn't draw some truly good-looking heroes/heroines to go with his scenes.
The story of Yragael/Urm seems quite incomprehensible on the whole as well, not to mention very negative in its overall feel. I once lent a copy of the Yragael/Urm to an English teacher. She disliked it, feeling that it was too negative for her taste. I don't blame her.
Would be nice if some of the scenes could be made into posters or picture cards in their own right. I'd love to scan them and print them out to place on a wall, but being double-paged means that when you scan them there'll be that big black dividing line in the middle -- ugh!
Real Sublime stuff mind blowing makes kirby or Simonson amateurish
I would rather say that their pretty likeminded .... but druillet goes often beyond Kirby in many ways