Everything is going wrong in the Olympus enterprise, Yahweh has arrived and monotheism wants the exclusivity of the market of faith. Discover in Startup Yahvé published by Delcourt the reactions of the gods and goddesses.
Find divine storytelling
With Startup Yahvé, the scriptwriter, cartoonist and colorist Thierry Chavant offers a series of short humorous stories starting from a concept that is at least far-fetched: if religion is a business, how would the polytheistic gods react to the emergence of a monotheistic religion?
Even if we smile a lot, Startup Yahweh is also a crazy history lesson. We understand the radical change with the emergence of a single god. Polytheism is an open system that easily welcomes foreign gods, mixes existing gods or creates new ones. Monotheism refuses this syncretism for a closure because god then becomes exclusive and omniscient. Thierry Chavant, undoubtedly well documented, shows that initially, the borders are blurred between Jews and Christians. He was amused by future theological – but also military – debates about the Trinity and the Immaculate Conception. These very complicated concepts are rendered with humor. A sacred text defining the canon – the rules to be followed – is a tool for controlling the masses.
Startup Yahweh is therefore also a criticism of religion. The pessimistic view of humanity is often ridiculed and the creation of hell is intended to force humans to believe. Christianity being misogynistic and sex becoming a sin, goddesses become Pussy Riots. We find in Thierry Chavant's precise drawing this parody because he is inspired by baroque and neoclassical architecture to represent Olympus.
After Judaism, the situation becomes even more complicated with Christianity. Temples are reused as churches. The faithful become so numerous that the Roman Empire becomes Christian. Eastern gods complain about this networking. Faced with competition from Yahweh, some gods choose reconversion. The eastern god Baal becomes the king of hell Belzebuth and makes an internet show to tout his new burning career. A god of thunder, considering a career at Marvel. Others reacted more collectively to attempts to expel Olympus by hiring a lawyer and then forming a union.
Forget the family, enter the open space
Indeed, Thierry Chavant reinforces the strangeness of the initial concept by placing religion in the business world , hence the title of Startup Yahvé. Humor is at the heart of the Startup Yahweh and in every detail up to a note on the trademark. It can be discovered from the cover page with an organizational chart of the gods. The deities want to adapt their marketing strategy to regain their audience share and their loyal clientele. The Greco-Roman group has already experienced mergers as it assimilated Mesopotamian and Egyptian goddesses, Viking gods and even demons. The author takes the opportunity to play with the cultural codes of these different pantheons. As it is necessary to find work, Lilith and Apollo agree to play for the Yahweh studios. However, the filming of the original sin goes badly and, in the following sketches, the scene becomes more and more funny under the effect of successive transformations.
Thierry Chavant mocks marketing jargon by giving Yahvé an acronym without any meaning. A prophet becomes a sales force to recruit new followers and an archangel explains the concept of monotheism in a TED meeting. Local branches of Christianity are branches that adapt to local tastes. Conversely, a regular briefing is heckled because no one listens and everyone laughs at the specialist.
With Startup Yahvé, the Pataquès collection, a guarantee of quality in humour, is enriched with a new pantheon. Thierry Chavant's double concept shines by its originality and very often makes you smile. The drawing serves the purpose perfectly. This volume is therefore a success even if it is not sure that it will fit on other volumes.
You can find on the site other titles of the very good Pataquès collection with La vie de ma mort and Un soufflement de nostrils.
