Go West Young Man, a major editorial project that reveals the trait of Bordeaux cartoonist Dominique BERTAIL

On November 3, Go West Young Man made its appearance in bookstores. This ambitious book is a western comic strip that succinctly traces the history of the American West. The major periods are addressed between historical characters and fictional characters who enrich the narrative. Beyond that, the birth of the book is possible on the one hand thanks to the vision of Tiburce OGIER who bends to the exercise of the screenwriter. On the other hand, the book came to life thanks to the collective drawings of 17 artists including the Bordeaux cartoonist Dominique BERTAIL. If Go West Young Man is a tribute to the western genre and history, it is also a human adventure crossed by many talents.

Go West Young Man, Tiburce Ogier’s book that brings the western up to date

Since the age of 16 Tiburce OGIER knows that he wants to dedicate his life to the ninth age. Indeed, he already draws at this age for the fanzine Pizza. It is therefore quite natural that after his baccalaureate in plastic arts he follows a training at the Fine Arts of Angoulême. A city whose reputation is well established in terms of comics. However, the artist thinks bigger. He therefore wants to move towards animation to develop a more specific trait. His professional career began in the 90s at Delcourt. He intervenes in particular on the scenario of the Children of the Nile or the comic book adaptation of the Emerald Knights.

However, he has a field of predilection inherited from his childhood. This is the western theme. Thus, he realizes for example the book Buffalo Runner on which he intervenes as well on the scenario as on the drawings. With Go West Young Man, the author delves a little deeper into his passion for the genre.

Indeed, Tiburce OGIER’s Go West Young Man is a historical epic across the United States. Through fourteen stories, the book traces the history of the conquest of the American West from 1763 to 1938. The stories retrace the conflicts of the time through destinies that intersect and also bring out the dark side of men. According to the author, the book knows the influence of the Colorado series he watched when he was young.

For the latter, Go West Young Man also gives a second wind to the western genre that was gradually falling into oblivion. This was due in particular to a concern for the notoriety of western authors. Only the big names could bring the genre to life. In addition, the western suffers from an image and reader problem. The collective imagination thinks that the Western consists only of Indian tribes in full cavalcade or shootings between men and that it does not have much to bring again. However for Tiburce OGIER, the western is not quite that, far from stereotypes, for him, it is more the story of farmers in the heart of an era with their customs.

Landscape western cowboy cattle
Go West Young Man and the History of the Conquest of the American West

A work that brings together the trait of 17 different artists

To transcribe the genre in his own way, he then undertook a particular exercise with Go West Young Man, which brings together 17 artists. The lockdown brought the idea into the author’s head. He wanted to bring together different artists to make them each draw a story. The opportunity for the author to keep his screenwriter’s hat and also to pay tribute to the authors he admires. It brought together Dominique BERTAIL, Michel BLANC-DUMONT, Benjamin BLASCO-MARTINEZ, François BOUCQ, Steve CUZOR, Paul GASTINE, Eric HERENGUEL, Hugues LABIANO, Enrico MARINI, Ralph MEYER, Félix MEYNET, Patrick PRUGNE, Christian ROSSI, Michel ROUGE, TADUC, Ronan TOULHOAT. In addition, among the authors, the Bordeaux cartoonist Dominique BERTAIL lends his line. If the exercise seems complex for the author, this has not been so much the case. On the contrary, he adapted to the train of each cartoonist in the establishment of his scenario.

Thus Go West Young Man offers a new vision of the western that traces the history of the American West through short but related stories. A beautiful tribute to the talent of the artists who contributed to it. This is a book that could well end up under the tree at Christmas, especially since it is available at the Mollat bookstore in Bordeaux.

Sources:

“Bordeaux artist Dominique Bertail participates in the legendary collective Go West Young Man!” Wide Angle, press release of November 16, 2021

“Go West Young Man” Press kit
Go West young man – Tiburce OGIER” Librairie Mollat

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