Award winner Polar for the best crime opera at the Angoulême 2022 festival, Slash marks the debut in the world of comics Antoine Maillard.
Published by Coconino Pressthe work of the French author is remarkable both from the point of view of writing, thanks to an interesting interpretation of the psychological thriller genre, and from the graphic one, for the elegant and refined sign.
Slash is set in a coastal town where a serial killer, armed with a baseball bat, kills two very young high school students. Fear begins to spread in the community and, especially among adolescents, emotional reactions develop that are not entirely predictable.
While the basic idea is a cliché, the way Maillard develops the story is positively striking: the author chooses a choral plot where a series of equally important characters and unrelated to the stylistic features of the classic hero act. In the same way he plays with genres, leaning on the psychological thriller but mixing elements of noir and slasher, complete with final girlbut also far from stereotypes.
Although linear, the narration sometimes proceeds with particular editing choices, offering the reader two parallel sequences that in some cases intersect. At table 56, for example, the narrative lines of four characters cross several times, walking in pairs on opposite sides of a road, in a sort of well-thought-out sequence plan.
Some deliberately deceptive scenes are also properly designed, where Maillard juggles between dream and surreal. Despite this, the general climate of the story always points to raw realism, as shown by some interludes in which, to deepen the psyche of the serial killer or provide updates on investigations, newscasts are used with interviews with psychiatric experts.
Precisely the psychological factor is the central theme of Slash, to the point that some of the adolescent protagonists have pathological traits similar to those of the killer. Each of the characters therefore seems to have two faces, demonstrating that madness can hide behind a facade of normality or a docile character. In this sense, the most striking, but in different ways, are Pola and Ralph, companions of the killed high school students, who in the end undergo the most significant changes. But the growth of the characters, not necessarily from a positive to a negative condition, involves the entire cast of Slash. For example, the story of one of the older boys who, after a drug-based evening with his roommate involved in drug trafficking, tries to do the right thing deserves attention.
Maillard focuses on the relationships between teenagers and parents rather than on police investigations or the activities of the serial killer. From the latter, some almost alcoholic, others more normal and even bigoted, there is a feeling of detachment, cynicism or negative apprehension. A perennial inability to communicate, which makes relationships harrowing and at times ferocious, based on a superficial educational approach or linked to social clichés. The result is that the mothers of Slash they have no idea what their children do or think, and the worst thing is that they don’t seem to care, due to insurmountable preconceptions. With such people it is impossible to argue and the author also intervenes visually to underline it, with the superimposition of balloons that erase the adolescent’s words, during a one-way discussion with the mother.
However, Maillard allows his protagonists to convey emotions in the reader, without ever giving in to the temptation to express a more direct opinion, perhaps through captions or comments from secondary figures. However, one thing transpires unequivocally: parents are unable to communicate and understand their children.
It is equally true that some of the same adolescents, submissive, frustrated, embarrassed, shy, violent or reckless, do not seem able to understand themselves: in some cases, helpless in the face of an unforeseen event or unable to resist gestures that appear without sense, they seem to ask themselves: “How did I find myself in this situation?”or, “Why do I behave like this?”.
The texts are well associated with the characters: for example, the children use a free and direct language, characterized by typical youthful expressions. However, Maillard’s desire to let the images speak as much as possible is evident: in fact, there are long sequences, even of two or three tables, completely devoid of texts, but no less communicative or engaging.
Paired with a story of quality, the designs represent a true strength of Slash. The sign is set on realism and based on a pencil with soft lines, capable of transmitting all the shades of black and white thanks to the interpretation of gray, shadows and contrasts. In this way the author achieves the exaltation of full blacks and above all of whites, sometimes so bright as to seem dazzling. A skill that is not an end in itself: for example, shadows are used to hide the face of the killer or of drunk people.
The most important peculiarity, extended to the whole comic, is the choice to eliminate the white space between the cartoons, which are merged with each other with the limited but not canceled elision effect.. This aspect requires an extra effort of concentration on the reader, because the reading of the sequence is not immediate, but at the same time satisfies him by forcing him to grasp the most representative aspects of the work, that is, the meticulousness of the nuances and contrasts.
In tables with two or three strips, interspersed with some beautiful full-page illustrations, the author uses frequent regular double or quadruple vignettes, and there is great attention to physical detail: the hands are often framed, which according to the pose or to objects held underline moods or intentions. But in a scene in the finale, during a party, the author proves to be at ease even in the management of cartoons with numerous characters.
The long series of feelings of the protagonists is often communicated only with images, through postures, tears, red cheeks, sweat or a mixture of these elements: a cocktail of drawn emotions, one of which does not exclude the other but, in certain situations , can prevail.
The path taken by Antoine Maillard, with this one of his Slash debut, it seems to point towards originality and innovation. The first step is in the right direction, even if they appear a bit forced, but in a market constantly looking for new phenomena it is inevitable, comparisons with directors of the caliber of David Linch e John Carpenterwhich appeared in the French press.
We talked about:
Slash
Antoine Maillard
Translation by Emanuelle Caillat
Coconino Press, 2022
152 pages, paperback, black and white – € 20.00
ISBN: 9788876186127
