I efteråret stod der et mægtigt slag i den danske tegneserieverden. Slaget var både af principiel og ganske konkret karakter: Ivar Gjørup, der i over 20 år har tegnet striben Egoland, var nonchalant blevet tilbudt en alvorlig forringelse af sin placering i den avis der har været stribens hjem i næsten ligeså lang tid, Politiken. I forbindelse med den på mange måder ellers vellykkede omstrukturering af avisen, skulle han gå ned i format og se sig anbragt på bagsiden sammen med venstrehåndsbagatellen WulffMorgenthaler. Det kunne selvfølgelig ikke have sin rigtighed, hverken principielt eller i den konkrete situation. Den holdningsløse indstilling til tegneserien det var symptom på, var en gammel bussemand, der i det konkrete tilfælde forværredes af, at vi her havde at gøre med en af de største klassikere indenfor mediet herhjemme.

Det hele blev godt igen: Gjørups emfatiske protest, hjulpet af en lang række støtte- og klagebreve, fik efter nogen tids tovtrækkeri chefredaktionen på andre tanker. De bøjede sig, og Egoland fik den plads på ledersiderne og det format den rettelig fortjente. Efter en sådan kraftmanifestation fra kunstnerens side, kan det være på sin plads at kaste et blik på hvad han siden har brugt sin genvundne position i avisen på. Svaret er desværre: ik’ møj’.

På et netbaseret dansk tegneseriefanzine er min gennemgang af det seneste Strip! blevet diskuteret. Reaktionerne var bekræftende forudsigelige: de to tegneserietegnere Frank Madsen og Henrik Rehr reagerede med institutionel harme og hovedrysten (begge har jo aktier i at danske tegneseriekultur forbliver kedelig og uengageret), hvorimod de øvrige debattører (med en enkelt hardcore-buff som undtagelse) lå på linje med kritikken: også de mente at Strip! er blevet et kedeligt blad. Og det er jo ikke er mærkeligt, for Strip! ER jo et kedeligt blad. Og det er næppe tilfredsstillende, at det kun er tegnerne selv, eller rettere: de to tegnere, der er glade for bladet?

As a manifestation of comics as an art form, this year’s festival was the best in a long time. It was the happy result of the synergy of a market in which a number of quality comics unprecedented in the past 25 years have become available, the reform of the awards to match this fact, which resulted in a group of quality winners that seems timely and fresh, and a president willing to make it happen. However, having attended the festival this year, it is not difficult to spot the potential problems the proliferation of so-called auteur comics : of which the awards this year were a consolidation : might bring the market and, especially, the art form in years ahead.

It has all been seen before; something starts selling, is consequently turned into product and hawked excessively. One cannot help but feel that the staggeringly high production of what, for want of a better word, could be called ‘graphic novels’ : a commercial term for a commercial product : these years is simply too much for the market to support. Something’s got to give.

It was the best and worst of festivals at Angoulême this year. On the one hand, it was logistically chaotic because the exhibitor’s space had been moved to the suburb of Montauzier, a half-hour walk away from the city centre, with no restaurants, no cash machine, no trashcans, and no soul. Most of the debit for this bizarre attempt to have it both ways can be laid squarely at the doorsteps of City Hall. The same people who are obliterating one of the town’s two central squares with a butt-ugly shopping mall.

On the other hand, the festival was a triumph for comics as an art form, credit for which can pretty much totally be laid at the feet of this year’s president, Lewis Trondheim. He reformed the awards and contributed to giving them to a selection of high-quality comics, he decided to give us a gorgeous Jim Woodring-exhibition instead of the traditional retrospective normally accorded to the president (we would also have liked to see that…), he was a constant, animating presence at the festival, day and night, and it was on his watch that José Muñoz was finally awarded the Grand Prix.