A world of difference

a world of difference is the French Traduction of a Roman graph of Howard Cruse, Stuck Rubber Baby , published into 1995 in the United States. The English title, " the type with the hood collée" , is abandoned with the profit of a world of difference by the translator, Jean-Paul Jennequin, for the publication at Vertige Graphic in 2001. The album receives the Prix of criticism (ACBD) at the time of the Festival of Angouleme in 2002.

The main themes are the Racisme and the segregation of the Blacks in the United States in the years 1950 and 1960. The narrator and main character, Toland Polk, live thus in Clayfield, a city imaginary of a state of the South of the United States, traditionalist and opposed to the movement of the Civic right . White young man, Toland bathes in ordinary racism, a daily newspaper of lynchings and Violence S towards the Blacks. It is by the means of the bonds between people whom it will be brought to become aware of the injustices that they undergo.

The other important topic is the discovery of the Homosexualité and the experiment of the Homophobie. Orphan, Toland lives in his Melanie sister and his Orley brother-in-law. A friend of bowling, Riley, and his/her girlfriend Mavis Green, introduce their friend Sammy Noone to him. Toland fights its homosexuality whereas Sammy fully assumes like gay. It is in a nightclub for the Blacks, Melody, target of the Ku Klux Klan, that Toland sees for the first time of the men dancing between them. It is there too that it meets Ginger, an young girl engaged for the rights of the Blacks.

The drawing, in black and white, meticulous, is raised with the brush and shade using dotted lines and of pilot wheels. The chins are strong, the feature is round. The boxes are often tightened on cut characters or scenes swarming with details. The récitatifs are very present.

This comic takes as a starting point anecdotes and by real dramas, and intends to transmit the history of the fights against the segregation, and to promote the acceptance of the homosexual ones.

References :

Stuck Rubber Baby , New York, Paradox Close (cd. Comics), 1995.

a world of difference , Paris, Graphic Giddiness, 2001,210 pages.

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