Blank Slate to publish Pierre Maurel’s 3 Déclinaisons

(cover to the L’employé du Moi French edition of 3 Déclinaisons by Pierre Maurel)

Ace British Indy comics publisher Blank Slate Books has just announced plans to translate and publish 3 Déclinaisons (roughly meaning ’3 declines’)by Pierre Maurel this winter, a former sélection officielle status at the Angoulême festival, which is, for anyone who knows their quality comics work, a serious stamp of approval for any work. From the site’s description: “the graphic novel is comprised of three interlocking narratives set within a modern city setting. Thoughtful and understated, it’s an incredibly engaging story drawn in Maurel’s beautiful, loose visual style.” The translation will be by Judith Taboy, co-editor of the excellent Avoid the Future comics site and translator on BSB’s Luchadoras, which has just been released (and is highly recommended)

(a page from the French edition of 3 Déclinaisons by and (c) Pierre Maurel, published L’employé du Moi)

We’ve frequently commented on here about some great comics works coming out in Europe (many of which Wim has reported on for us) only to lament that we rarely get to see most of those translated and republished for the English language market. That has been changing lately and, along with good, new works from the homegrown talent in the UK, we’re starting to see more of this sort of thing, which is very, very welcome in my opinion. Expect this to feature on our monthly FPI’s Most Wanted list of upcoming graphic novels the blog team wants to read in the near future… On a related subject I see from Pierre’s blog tht he is making an appearance in Le Porte de Tête in Montreal on June 10th.