In his letter from Agolam, Yvan Alagbé riffs off a recent visit to the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France to challenge comics, what they are, what they do, what they can do, even what they’re willing to address as a form. In opaque frames that explode the frame and using text-as-subtext, Alagbé highlights an intricate economy of the contemporary that passes in an animating circuit through art, society, personal desire and love.
Born in Paris, Yvan Alagbé, in collaboration with Olivier Marboeuf, created the Dissidence Art Work association in 1991. A year later they started L’Oeil Carnivore, a fanzine about comics, litterature, music, cinema and painting. Their first big project, “Ville Prostituée”, drawn by Alagbé and written by Marboeuf, was published by Vents d’Ouest in 1993. Afterwards, they founded their own publishing house, Amok, now Frémok, and began the alternative comics review Le Cheval sans Tête. Alagbé lives and works where he wants, but more often where he can.
The latest edition of the Chronic gives focus to graphic stories. Preview stories online and order in print or PDF here.