The Cross-Eyed Mutt

June 12, 2017
Channeling the gentle absurdity of his Lulu Anew, Davodeau takes readers on a comic romp that questions the nature of high art. Meeting his girlfriend Mathilde’s family for the first time, Fabien is quickly welcomed into the off-kilter clan. When his prospective in-laws discover he’s a security guard at the Louvre, they make a peculiar request: to convince the world’s most famous art museum to accept a thoroughly mediocre painting by their ancestor. Fabien’s attempt to follow through on his mission brings him into contact with the Republic of the Louvre, a secret society that controls the museum’s collection. In the process, Davodeau meanders among questions that have plagued artists for centuries: what differentiates low art from pieces worth millions? Why do we overlook some artists in favor of others? In the end, Davodeau suggests that both sides of the spectrum are equally ridiculous, exquisitely incorporating classical sculptures and oils into his cartooning—but sparing a moment to laugh at his own form, too.

September 1, 2017

Fabien is a guard-cum-guide at the Louvre museum in Paris, enamored of the frisky Mathilde Benion. But then he meets the Benion clan, a pushy crew who ask him to use his position to get great-grandfather Benion's all-too-amateur portrait of a cross-eyed dog hung in the museum. Now what? For although the Benions haughtily distinguish highbrow from lowbrow in their furniture business, they do not recognize such distinctions in the arts. French creator Davodeau (Lulu Anew) constructs an amusing sitcom out of the story's premise, incorporating a Louvre-based secret organization as bizarre as Mathilde's relatives. Underneath the chuckles, the plot meditates on art culture and who decides what "great art" is and why. A closing essay acquaints readers with the Louvre's actual acquisition policy to discourage Benion imitators. Davodeau's black-ink-with-grey-wash drawings excel at depicting realistic people via simple lines without excessive caricature, and the background features numerous real artworks beautifully rendered. VERDICT Romance fans might complain that Fabien's relationship with the independent Mathilde is not more fully resolved, but amateur and professional art watchers alike will be amused and challenged. Some nudity and suggested sex. [Previewed in Douglas Rednour's "Comics Cross Over," LJ 6/15/17.--Ed.]--MC

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