CYRIL PEDROSA ON THREE SHADOWS

[MattBrady]

by Michael C Lorah

Recently released by First Second, Three Shadows is the first comic from animator and comic book creator Cyril Pedrosa to reach American audiences. After cutting his teeth working in the animation department on Disney films Hercules and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pedrosa struck out on his own as a comic book artist, working with writer David Chauvel on the French-language books Ring Circus and Shaolin Moussaka.

Now working solo, cartoonist Pedrosa’s Three Shadows is his most personal and emotional journey to date, and his first title to cross the Atlantic. Threatened by three shadows, harbingers of death, a young father flees with his young son, across a fantastic world of prophets, pirates and beings who may be able to grant the father’s fondest wish – the salvation of his son’s life. Mixing artistic styles to capture the emotional and physical aspects of the journey, Pedrosa’s book challenges readers visually and emotionally.

We talked to him about the move to working in comics and the anticipation of his first English-language release.

Newsarama: Cyril, Three Shadows is your first comic to be published in English, right?

Cyril Pedrosa: Absolutely, and I'm thrilled.

When Lewis Trondheim, whom you probably know as an author but who is also a publisher, and is in fact my publisher for Three Shadows in France, put me in touch with Mark Siegel at First Second, I was on a cloud. Few French books manage to make it outside of Europe. I'd had the good fortune of seeing some of my books translated into German, Spanish and Greek, and I find it amazing that in a sense your work continues to travel without you. But getting published in the U.S., and therefore in English, is a greater journey still for the book.

NRAMA: The book jacket mentions this, but for readers who’ve not seen the book yet, what was the inspiration for this story?

CP: It's a long story. A few years ago, some close friends of mine lost their little boy. Such a heart-wrenching tragedy makes no sense, and obviously that death left everyone around that family deeply shaken. The little boy's passing stirred in me feelings of terror that I had no idea I had, and it also made me aware of my absurd, hopeless and wholly unconscious desire to protect my own children at all costs from the "risks of life," which, paradoxically, include dying. Little by little, the feelings that had raged in me back then settled down, but I had no desire to talk about all this. But I write stories for a living, and the ideas came in spite of me, until I had to admit to myself that in a way, whether I liked it or not, I had to make a book about them.

NRAMA: How did you come to your decision to approach the story as a fantasy/journey?

CP: It's strange, but I didn't really decide that at all. It all started with a doodle in the corner of a page: without thinking, I drew a giant father who is hiding his son in his fist. From that drawing, which came uninvited, was born a small story, about a father who becomes a giant to protect his son, then a slightly more elaborate tale, and finally Three Shadows when I allowed myself, with Lewis Trondheim's encouragement, to make it into a comic book. In hindsight, I can say that giving the story this form of a fantasy journey allowed me to express intensely the feelings caused by the death of this little boy without being inhibited by reality: I was telling a fictional tale, I was free to imagine everything, to use all the metaphors and fantastical twists and turns I wanted to without being afraid of hurting my friends' feelings or betraying their personal story. But it wasn't a deliberate choice.

NRAMA: You’ve worked in animation, on the Disney films The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules. How does your animation background influence your approach to comics storytelling?

CP: I don't think my background in animation has a particularly strong influence on the way I tell stories, on the type of comics language that I use. At least its influence is no stronger than what I get from the novels and comics I read or the movies and plays I see. I'm convinced that creative people feed off everything they come into contact with, draw on everything around them. I even think that's a requirement – you have to listen to the world in order to grow.

On the other hand, my brief experience in animation – only 18 months long, and over ten years ago – had a big influence on me graphically. A far too big influence, in fact, and it took me a long time to free up my drawing and try to open up my work and ask myself what would be the best way of telling this or that particular story through drawing.

NRAMA: The journey of Joachim and his father, Louis, actually reminded me of the journey seen in some of Miyazaki’s films, or a traditional heroic quest. Was there a particular inspiration you were thinking of?

CP: Like many authors, I have a deep admiration for Miyazaki's work and for his ability to produce artistically ambitious movies that appeal to a large audience, that are very much rooted in his Japanese culture and yet absolutely universal. For the journey of Louis and Joachim, I was mostly thinking of the tales of the brothers Grimm, linking to the sensations that those stories produce in me, and also to some of Gustave Doré's engravings, which have a remarkable expressive power.

But, once again, in hindsight I realize that the scene in which Joachim brings to his father the spark from his heart was influenced by Miyazaki – not by any specific scene but by the epic sweep of those films and even more so by the benevolent and generous power that he recognizes in childhood.

NRAMA: You gave yourself plenty of great characters and settings to draw. How much of the story was shaped by a desire to stretch your artistic muscles when designing the locations and people Joachim and Louis meet along their way?

CP: I always try to write by focusing first on the story I need to tell, without thinking about the drawing, as if I were writing for somebody else, not worrying about whatever difficulties the illustrator will face. Sometimes I'd read what I'd written and think, "Whoa, Joachim's father is dreaming that he's fighting against entire armies, that won't be easy to pull off…"

But to be perfectly honest, I could tell as I was writing the story that with that theme, those characters, those backgrounds it would probably be extremely stimulating and exciting to draw. And it certainly was, especially because I'd decided, this time in a very conscious way, to allow myself complete freedom in drawing this story, taking it one day at a time and seeking out for each scene the graphic form that seemed most appropriate.

NRAMA: Joachim’s mother, Lise, is important in establishing the familial relationships and confirming the threat of the Three Shadows, but when Joachim and Louis go on the run, she stays behind, resigned. When you were plotting the story, what moved you to focus on the father/son relationship?

CP: Even more than on the father/son relationship, I think the narrative thrust is built on the inner conflict experienced by the father – that conflict, between his love for his son and his desire to protect him which becomes crushing and harmful to the child.
That conflict, which turns him into a monster despite all his good human qualities, is what drives the story. Lise is the most perceptive character in the story, but it's not a story about perceptiveness, it's a story about blinding oneself to the truth. So that meant leaving behind the character of Lise, even if it's very frustrating. I couldn't honestly talk about a child and his parents getting separated without causing frustration in the reader, without bringing out that feeling: this family relationship is so happy, and yet it has to end, and that's painful.

NRAMA: Are you still working in animation?

CP: A few months ago I would've answered no. I no longer wanted to work in animation because I find it very frustrating. But a screenwriter friend of mine, Fabien Velhmann, asked me to work on the character design of a project for a French TV channel. He's very talented and in the end I had a lot of fun over a few weeks' time, working on those characters.

NRAMA: What’s next for you?

CP: I have to finish the second volume of a children's comic book called Phantom Brigade, a new book of autobiographical stories will be coming out in France in a few weeks, and especially I'll be spending a few months in Portugal this summer to work on a project that's particularly dear to my heart: a book based on my experience as the grandson of Portuguese immigrants who came to France in the 1930s, on migrant families and how they pass on their roots.

Three Shadows is currently available. More information can be found at First Second.com.

[sgtpepere]

A really good story I read in French. I was maybe a little disappointed because I was told it was a masterpiece. But as I don't have a child yet, maybe it wasn't as strong as it is for actual parents.

Anyway, the art is gorgeous and the story really gets to your heart with this feeling of destiny and despair. And Death. Well that's 3 out of the 7 Endless.

As a whole, a book really worth reading.

[caanan]

I've purchased this, but it's still sitting in my 'to read' pile, I've been so busy. But it looks great!

I'm saving it for a long flight... Can't wait.

[Chuck bb]

I just read this today, and it was blown away. My heart broke, but i smiled. really excellent. it made perfect sense to me, excellent graphic storytelling.

[phil c.]

Best book I read in the last two years. Moving, beautifully illustrated. Wonderfull stoytelling.. If you are a father you will be deeply moved I think. If you're not, I guess you'll love it too