Caza

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Caza, 2009

Caza (* 14. November 1941 in Paris as Philippe Cazaumayou ) is a French comic book artist . He became known in particular with his detailed drawings for the magazine Métal Hurlant (German heavy metal ) and with his suburban chronicles, which he published in the comic magazine Pilote from 1975 .

Caza represented himself in several panels of his comics.

life and work

As the son of a (according to self-testimony in Bédéthèque) "sporty and caricatured father" and an art teacher, he first trained in advertising graphics and worked for 10 years first as a freelance graphic designer and then at the Paris advertising agency EKO before he reoriented himself ("recycles “) And turned to comics. The first comic book to appear in 1970 was Kris Kool , a psychedelic science fiction comic by Eric Losfeld , influenced by Jean-Claude Forest ( Barbarella ) and pop art, especially the albums by Guy Peellaert ( Jodelle and Pravda ; ibid.).

In the early 1970s, illustrations and covers for various publications by the Éditions Opta (Fiction, Galaxie, le Club du Livre d'Anticipation, Emmanuelle, Marginal, ...) as well as various short stories for the Pilote magazine ( Quand les Costumes avaient des dents , Contes hystériques , Le Caillou rouge , ...). Additional illustrations for the popular paperback editions of the J'ai lu fantasy classics series . In the mid-1970s he moved to the Cevennes.

For the newly founded French comic magazine Métal hurlant (German heavy metal ) (1975), Caza wrote mythical science fiction stories, initially in black and white ( Sanguine , L'Oiseau-Poussière ), then also in color ( Arkhê , Axolotls ).

At the same time he began to draw satirical stories for pilots (dt. Pilot ), the scènes de la vie de banlieue (dt. About scenes from suburban life). The chronicles live from the exaggeration of the modern world into the fantastic.

In the 1980s he “returned to civilization” and moved to the vicinity of Montpellier. He devoted himself entirely to SF and published the series "L'Âge d'Ombre" (The Age of Shadows) in Pilote, the poetic chronicle of a human race that has withdrawn completely into its closed cities, while mutants of ancient myths are in the great outdoors rage. At the same time, his first album for Les Humanoïdes Associés ("Laïlah"), mythological and erotic, appears.

1985–1987 he drew a cartoon ("Gandahar") based on a novel by Jean-Pierre Andrevon together with René Laloux , and a short film ("Comment Wang-Fô fut sauvé", "How Wang-Fo was saved") based on a " Nouvelle Orientale "by Marguerite Yourcenar. At the end of the decade he illustrated "Skaith" by Leigh Brackett for the Editions Albin Michel, and for the first time also role ("Simulacres" for Casus Belli) and computer games ("Kult" for Infogrames).

In the 1990s the comic cycle "Le Monde d'Arkadi" (Arkadi's World) followed, of which six (of the ten planned) volumes were published by Humanoïdes Associés. The remaining four were published by Delcourt from 2000. At the same time he was working as a scriptwriter on "Amiante", drawn by Patrick Lemordan for Soleil Productions. More SF comics followed ("L'Appel de Cthulhu", "Drakkhen", "Menaces sur TèR", "L'Odyssée") and again and again cover illustrations for J'ai Lu and others.

In 1993 the first major retrospective was in the Maison d'Ailleurs (House of Extra-Terrestrials), a European science fiction museum in Yverdon-les-Bains , and immediately afterwards at the Utopia 2000 festival in Nantes.

New editions of "L'Âge d'ombre" (1998) and "Monde d'Arkadi" followed, as well as his new work "Nocturnes" (1999), all by Guy Delcourt. In 2000 he ended his collaboration with Les Humanoïdes Associés.

In 2003 he was co-scenarist and chief graphic artist in the production of the cartoon "Les Enfants de la pluie" (The Children of the Rain) based on a novel by Serge Brussolo. Directed by Philippe Leclerc, with music by Didier Lockwood .

From 2004 further volumes of "Le Monde d'Arkadi" were published by Delcourt, in 2008 the saga was concluded with volume 9.

In 2015 he was awarded the Prix ​​Cyrano for his life's work .

Works (selection)

  • 1970: Kris Kool
  • 1975: Scènes de la vie en banlieue
  • 1976: Fume… C'est du Caza!
  • 1982-84: L'Âge d'ombre
  • 1982: Arkhé
  • 1985: Le Caillou rouge
  • 1985: Mémoire des écumes
  • 1988: Chimères
  • 1988: Laïlah
  • 1989-2008: Le Monde d'Arkadi
  • 1993–97: Amiante (with Lemordan)
  • 1999: Chroniques de la terre fixe
  • 2003-08: Les Mois sont de papier
  • 2004: Kronozone
  • 2005: Dialogue avec l'extraterrestre

Published in German:

  • Collected Works Volumes 1-5, Volksverlag Linden GmbH, 1984
  • The world of Arkadi, 4 volumes, Splitter Comicverlag, 1995–1995
  • Amiante 1: The lost city of Kroshmarg, Splitter Comicverlag, 1998

proof

  1. Les enfants de la pluie in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Web links