Literary adaptations abound in Franco-Belgian comics but we rarely leave the great classics. The choice of The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg, a little-known account by Mark Twain, is necessarily intriguing as is the subject. Can one man change an entire city?
Travel to the most honest city in America
The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg is a late short story by Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He reflects on the morality and arrogance of individuals. In the first page, the reader follows a shadow arriving in Hadleyburg. This town is so proud of its reputation as the most honest city in the United States that it is written on its entrance sign. The shadow is that of a man coming to take revenge because, in the past, the inhabitants did not know how to welcome him. He has organized a Machiavellian scheme: he offers $40,000 only to the supposed person who allegedly helped him on his first visit to Hadleyburg. In the meantime, the prize is given to the pastor who soon receives letters from the inhabitants claiming to be this benefactor…
The whole country is passionate about this case. This external event explodes conventions and reveals the secrets of a community. Everyone's contradictions explode on the day of revelation. On the other hand, the book lacks pages because we can find the change of pure inhabitants into demons too fast.
A fan of Twain
Bitterness feeds The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg because the short story was written at the end of Mark Twain's life. We see it in the first page of the comic: the American author is touched by the death of his daughter and survives by conferences in Europe to pay his debts. This short story is both a criticism and a reference to the Catholic religion. On the one hand, if we replace the letter with an apple, we see the reference to the myth of temptation. On the other hand, Mark Twain denounces the hypocrisy of believers who act away from the Gospels in their daily lives.
Writer and penciller Wander Antunes De Souza shortened the narrative by stopping at the ceremony but added storm and left more room for Jack Halliday. This exclusion identifies the contradictions of Hadleyburg. Wander Antunes De Souza is such a fan of Twain that he couldn't help but insert Tom Sawyer characters, Huckleberry Finn and the first lines of the novel. In the foreword, he explains his relationship with the American author. The Brazilian artist started as a child but it is by deepening his readings that he understood that Twain is a committed author who does not hesitate to shake up the rules.
A cartoonist at the service of the story
Wander Antunes De Souza uses the entire page of this large format. Even if he insists on the adult character of the stories, he has a trait close to the classic Franco-Belgian. The curved lines are reminiscent of childhood while the very suggestive colorization and the visible lines in the felt pen evoke the independent comic. Indeed, color has a big place in The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg. Wander Antunes De Souza offers violent contrasts unrelated to reality. A red man surrounds a nocturnal landscape to illustrate the anger arriving in a peaceful place.
Published by La Boîte à Bulles, The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg is a dark tour into the reality of a small town. Inspired by Mark Twain, Wander Antunes De Souza shows us the hypocrisy of the inhabitants but also their inner torments. Not everyone accepts easily to lie but it is up to you to guess who by reading this comic.
Other chronicles of classic adaptations await you on the site such as Capitaine de quinze ans and Claude Gueux.
