A month ago appeared Florida by Jean Dytar ( Delcourt editions), a surprising book in more than one way to discover absolutely, relating the disastrous epic of the French Protestant colonists sent to America by Coligny to try to establish themselves in the New World, monopolized by Spain and Portugal.
There are works that impose themselves and that do not suffer any criticism. Florida is one of them. Jean Dytar's mastery immediately impresses. Complete author, he offers us a perfectly scripted story, based on historical events and illustrated in a very beautiful way, alternating techniques, depending on whether it evokes the past of the characters or their contemporary world. Thus, we can meet Coligny, Sir Walter Raleigh, glimpse Catherine de Medici and Elizabeth of England or hear the characters evoke Mary Stuart and Francis Drake.
The immersion in history is immediate. We immediately become attached to the character of Eléonore, wife of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, who opens the passage to the austere world in which she evolves. With her Protestant family, she had the chance to go into exile in London a few years before the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, the date on which the story begins. Dreaming of travel since her earliest childhood, when she was still living in Dieppe with her father, a master cartographer, she finally had to fade away to become the model wife of an apprentice of her father and enter into the conveniences of her time. But the desires for elsewhere manifest themselves again in her the day when two characters come to ask her husband to tell them about his American journey, during the disastrous attempt to colonize Florida in 1564-65. This will not be without difficulty, given the trauma experienced by Le Moyne, a genius draftsman who has since been content to paint floral motifs, highly prized by Marie Stuart then in captivity.
As you can see, the story is dense and rich. But it's particularly well written and articulated by Dytar, who has an excellent sense of storytelling. We move from one era to another with ease and the album reads in one stroke, as it is exciting and allows you to learn many facts and events, which it is true, we rarely talk about, if ever.
The drawing is simple (but never simplistic!) and effective, perfectly legible when you are in the sepia world of Eléonore, but much more impressionistic when you enter the memories of the characters. The most judicious choice that perfectly reflects the veil that exists on memories or dreams.
If there is only one criticism of this little gem of 256 pages, it is perhaps the absence of a translation of the Latin texts at the bottom of the illustrations of Theodore de Bry reproduced at the end of the book (you may have noticed that I have trouble using the terms "album" or "comic" for this comic). On the other hand, we greatly appreciate the final four pages of Frank Lestringant, professor of Renaissance literature at the Sorbonne and specialist in travel to the New World, which constitute an excellent summary of the historical context and political issues of the time.
Florida is a book to recommend both to comic book lovers, to those who like to immerse themselves in great epic tales, to avid readers of historical novels, to history buffs, especially of the modern era, and to all those who like to be cultured and entertained at the same time. It's the kind of book you buy twice: once for yourself and once to give away.
