Idulfania. Brecht Evens

Brecht Evens Translated from the Dutch (Belgium) by Wladimir Anselme

28 × 11.5 cm 80 pages in color hardback october 2021 retail price: 18 €

Brecht Evens was 22 when he walked out of the École Saint-Luc de Gand (Belgium) with Les Noceurs, his final student project, under his arm. This Flemish artist is typical of a new generation of talented and cultivated young authors who are caught in the vice of a bi-cultural country Les Noceurs, translated into seven languages, won the Prize for Daring at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2011. That same year he published Les Amateurs and then Panthère in 2014, both of which were shortlisted in Angoulême. He won the Prix Special du Jury for Les Rigoles at the 2019 festival. Between books, he works for the press and in fashion, and exhibits his work at the Galerie Martel in Paris. For two years, he published a series of comic strips in the Flemish press notable for their absurdist humour and in which the action takes place in Idulfania. Idulfania is an imaginary land of kings, knights, witches, men and women from modern times, fairy-tale characters and mythical creatures. A fascination with power and the devastation that it wreaks are at the heart of these strips that lean distinctly towards black humour, nonsense and surrealism.

Brecht Evens has great fun inventing unexpected twists and turns and vicious punchlines in this collection of short stories and absurdist configurations. We see the Gods playing ping-pong, lords devouring the weakest, and the wine of the Holy Grail provoking nausea. Poetic and grotesque, the world of Idulfania pays homage to trolls and hobbits everywhere, and gives them a good kick up the bottom for good measure…