The collaboration between Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain leads to a surprisingly comic essay about fossil, renewable and nuclear energy. To try to give answers to the most common fears. By breaking the mold and avoiding stereotypes
While in Italy we are still wondering whether it is correct to call a comic book a book, in France the band dessinée dominates the charts and the best-selling book of 2022 with 522,000 copies is exactly an example of the ninth art . Is called The world without endis an essay produced by the collaboration between Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain, and is published in Italy by Oblomov Edizioni in a large format paperback edition, with 200 pages in color for the price of 24 euros.
Rationalize fears
The world without end is a book born out of the need of Christophe Blain (Isaac the pirate) to rationalize his fears about the climate and energy apocalypse we’re heading towards and from an advice the French cartoonist gets from his brother: “Listen to Jancovici’s lectures,” he keeps repeating until he does. And then: “Why don’t you write a book together?”. From there, the email, the first meeting, and then the collaboration resulted in a nothing short of amazing essay.
Energy dialogues
The dialogues between Jancovici (one of the foremost experts on climate change, lecturer at Mines Paris Tech and member of the High Council on Climate) and Blain are transported quite directly on paper, with the cartoonist playing the role of the man of the street with all its fears, its consolidated beliefs, its ideas and the propagator committed to dismantling popular beliefs and common idiosyncrasies that are not deeply rooted in reality.
Dispel myths and fears
One by one, Jancovici debunks the most widespread myths about renewable energy sources, the idea that degrowth is a possible process without radically changing our habits, the nuclear phobia. It does this through science, with powerful and immediate metaphors, cites files and reports on the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents, explains in detail the operation of the power plants that produce energy and provides concrete data on their efficiency and their sustainability. He never looks for the simplest solution, the most popular, but always looks for the best possible solution to save the world from the deep energy, food, water and climate crisis it faces.
Blain’s humorous trait
The graphics are fantastic. Blain has an extraordinary talent for translating anything but simple physical and metaphysical concepts into images. The caricatural, humorous quality makes it easier to read a complex subject and speeches with a certain terrifying meaning. It is striking with the imagination with which the artist gives shape and body to “characters” such as our global energy needs (depicted as a caricature of Iron-Man) and the Earth (a gigantic woman with beautiful hair that envelops everything), but also like the total absence of a cage and standard vignettes, which certainly makes the realization of the work more fluid (and complex).
A challenging experience
light The world without end it’s a demanding experience and not just because of the density of information, concepts and data in the comic’s 200 pages. To do this, it is necessary, above all, to be willing to face your limits, to feel every part of the planet’s progressive destruction, to put aside the most entrenched beliefs and to accept that they are constant and long-lasting. are subject to a media greenwashing work that is not always carried out in good faith. The world will end, yes, at least what we have known, but we can make the transformation process softer and longer.
Read the other insights into the comic world of FUMETTOPOLIS
Source: TG 24 Sky
I am Mary Kenneth, a professional news writer and editor with 5+ years of experience in the industry. I specialize in crafting compelling stories that capture the attention of my readers. As an experienced journalist, I have had the privilege to cover some of the most trending topics in today’s society, ranging from politics to business.
