Lavishly Painted Story of WWII French Resistance Fighter Contends for “Best European Book” Award
The lush watercolors and masterful storytelling of French artist Jean-Pierre Gibrat have earned him a 2018 Harvey Award nomination for Flight of the Raven, his first graphic novel translated to the English language.
Flight of the Raven, published by the EuroComics imprint of IDW and translated by Diana Schutz and Brandon Kander, has been nominated in the Best European Book category. Winners will be announced at the 30th Anniversary Celebration on October 5th during New York Comic-Con.
“This is a wonderful testament to Jean-Pierre Gibrat’s talent,” says Editor Dean Mullaney, “His stunning artwork has been recognized on both sides of the Atlantic — first, the Best Artist award at the Angoulême Festival and now, his Flight of the Raven being nominated as Best European Book at both the Eisner and Harvey Awards.”
One of the most beautiful graphic novels of the 21st century, Flight of the Raven takes place in Paris during the German Occupation and stars a memorable heroine in the French Resistance fighter named Jeanne. With the help of an apolitical cat burglar named François, she tries to save her comrades, including her missing sister Cécile, from the Gestapo.
The Harvey Awards, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2018, honors comic book excellence across a variety of categories and represents one of the industry’s largest annual events. Voting is now open to eligible industry professionals.
The Christian Science Monitor calls Flight of the Raven “one of the most memorable graphic novels of the past decade…. Each page is lushly illustrated in gorgeous watercolors.”
EuroComics/IDW has recently released Gibrat’s The Reprieve, the prequel to Flight of the Raven, and will publish the first volume of his newest series, Mattéo, this coming December. Gibrat is working on the fifth and final volume in the Mattéo series that follows the titular protagonist through the major conflicts of the first half of the 20th Century, so readers have plenty of his work to look forward to.