Tonnerre Rampant
I finally managed to take the time to study
this piece of art, which it is indeed. For many years Cartoons/Bandes Dessinées have an important place in the
French culture. Being brought up partially and still living in the French
part of Switzerland, I personally never had been interested in such
Cartoons.
Nevertheless I highly enjoyed reading and admiring the very well made and
highly atmospheric drawings of "Tonnerre Rampant". Also I had to get
acquainted in the way to read a Cartoon (leaps in time and places, details
in the drawings and the text, etc.).
The author mentions that it took him nearly 10 years to finish "Tonnerre
Rampant"!
Basically the Cartoon tells the story of the haunted mansion "Nunhead"
(Borley Rectory) and its occupants at various stages in time. The story
turns around Marie Lairre (the ghostly nun), the last of the Waldgraves (one
of his ancestors killed Marie and buried her in the cellars of "Nunhead"),
an investigator Aloïs Squirre (Harry Price?), the Reverend Pembroke and his
wife Marianne (the Reverend Foyster and your mother).
The main part of the story takes place in the year 1928. Aloïs Squirre is
invited to undertake psychical investigations at the site. He is confronted
by other psychical research groups (one even from Poland) and a medium (this
part reminded me strongly of the investigations undertaken in the movie "The
Haunting"). Various poltergeist effects and the famous wall writings have a
prominent place in the Cartoon. The descendant of the Waldgraves is
regularly confronted by the nun but is finally freed from his torments. At
the climax the mansion burns down and the bones of Marie Lairre are being
found in a well in the cellar and then buried in a cemetery.
"Tonnerre Rampant" mixes known facts with fantasy products; perhaps this and
the eerie drawings make this publication a highly recommended addition and a
collector's item to any Borley library.
Andreas Trottmann, Switzerland
What fun it is! It is exactly how one first imagines the story. All dark decay and sinister gothic. I wish my French was better, but it is a pretty correct version of the legend with just some of the names changed. Marianne would have loved it. It is all in there, the three Bull girls seeing the nun, the coach with the headless horsemen, the summerhouse, the exploding bottles, the seances, Mollie Goldney, the wall writings, Captain Gregson. All there. So much bunkum, but who cares when someone can do so well with it.
He got Marianne's age wrong, thinking she was the same age as Lionel. None of the main characters resemble their real counterpart. Alois Squire is actually an amalgam of Price, Edwin Whitehouse, Guy L'Estrange and Sidney Glanville. He becomes quite a hero!
It is obvious that the author has studied the Harry Price books in some detail. Stand by for a lot more interest in the website. This book is getting quite popular in France.
Andrew Clarke, UK
Liberge, Eric. Tonnerre rampant . (Crawling Thunder.) Sun Productions, October 2002. 80 pages. Graphic novel. Text and art by the author. ISBN : 2-84565-395-6. (Some pseudonyms, but very close to the legend. For adults.) Several web sites have reviews - all are in French, but google.com will provide rough translations. Some have order proceedures. | Publisher's Internet site. "Another splendid album of the collection Latitudes! 80 pages of data base and a very exceptional large size make it possible to discover an account firmly constructed. January 1928. Professor Aloïs Squire, founder of the first office of parapsychologic research at the University of London, goes to the priory of Nunhead, one of the most haunted residences of England, to try to solve the mystery which poisons the places... The reverend, who places there with his family, claims that the spectrum of a none would be at the origin of terrifying the harmful effects which, for soon four centuries, have disturbed the everyday life of the vice-chancellors who followed one another the priory. Rather than to call upon the traditional parades of exorcism, Squire will try to untie the business by deciphering the "messages" which all these demonstrations send. Items by items, it will assemble the puzzle of a human tragedy which unchains all its violence within the priory, to discover with its root a dramatic wound of love... Mystery, supernatural and suspense are the key elements of this captivating one-shot to sumptuous graphics." | Synopsis with several illustrations. | Review "Eric Liberge serves again us the traditional one of the house haunted in which a great drama occurred and where a heart in sorrow tries to contact the alive ones... But with what a brilliance! The size of the album and its rather particular technique completely plunges us in this intrigue." | Order from BNnet.com Publisher's review. | Sceneario.com "Shivers guarantees." | Reviews with link to Amazon.FR "Crawling Thunder is priceless." | Order from bdcool.com "Vibrating!"