Comix 2000

by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, Edmond Baudoin

Plus qu'à un catalogue exhaustif, c'est à une anthologie, un vaste panorama de la bande dessinée à l'aube de l'an 2000 que nous convie Comix 2000, résultat gargantuesque d'un pari impossible. Jean-Christophe Menu et toute l 'équipe de l'Association ont patiemment collecté, répertorié, mis en page ces 2000 planches muettes, donc universelles, en noir et blanc, dont le seul thème imposé était le nouveau millénaire. Aux auteurs déjà confirmés du neuvième art (Lewis Trondheim, Edmond Baudoin, Andreas, Jean-Claude Denis, Frédéric Boilet, Manu Larcenet, Chris Ware.) se sont joints les talents ignorés ou débutants de toute la planète, du Japon à l'Allemagne en passant par la Serbie ou les USA.

Presque impossible à lire d'une traite, ce gros pavé rouge, visuellement conçu par Etienne Robial, ne pourra pas vous laisser indifférent : il est l'instantané d'une époque, un concentré d'univers et de cultures – un témoignage, un constat. --David Rault

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

2000 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1999

Reviews

[D.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ambitious project: French publishers compiled work from an international assemblage of independent comics creators into a door-stopping 2000-page (more with the index and intro) hardcover, celebrating/acknowledging the beginning of a new century. And it kind of works. The work herein is certainly international, with an understandable emphasis on French (i.e., local) creators, but going as far as Japan, New Zealand and Los Angeles (and points between) for contributions. These 'stories' do, for the most part, have an at least passing acquaintance with the concept of The Year 2000.
Unfortunately, though the introduction explains the hopeful genesis and eventual selection process, there's no mention made of quality control. So, the pieces herein range from the wonderfully cartoony to the nearly photographic, but without any standard for coherence, narrative or visual. Thus, there were times when I looked at the first page of a piece, couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on, and just moved on. There were also times I loved the look of something, but couldn't at all understand just what the hell was going on. But there were more frequent times when a work was coherent, well-produced, and told an understandable story. Unfortunately, there are no Works of Greatness here, though that may be due largely to limitations of time (to produce something) and space (only as much as 12 pages for most creators). It is sometimes charming, sometimes bewildering, but never great.
What Comix 2000 does best, though, is provide a fairly comprehensive snapshot of independent comics all over the world at that point in time. For that, it was well worth the price of admission, and an admirable addition to any comics geek's shelf.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s apparently harder to tell a coherent wordless story in 5-10 pages than it seems, and even harder to have it say anything meaningful. A lot of times it’s hard to tell what the artist was trying to do at all. The majority are quick little gag strips that usually aren’t very funny. Standout piece is Thomas Ott’s motel horror story. But it’s still an impressive collection with a huge array of art styles, and that alone is worth 3 stars.

[John Martz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for the audacity of a 2000-page anthology of wordless comics. Like all anthologies, there is a lot of garbage filler here, but the sheer amount of comics means you could trim the book by 1500 pages and still end up with a 5-star collection of brilliant work.

[First Second Books]

Breathtaking anthology of many of the world's best comics artists. Out of print but worth seeking out, if you can find it (I lucked out at my school's library).