‘Alan’s War’

�Alan’s War� came out in France in 2000, a year after Alan Cope passed away at the age of 74. in his Paris apartment, Guibert flips through the thousands of sketches he did in preparation for drawing the book. The two men first met in 1994 and became close friends. They met on a small French island where Cope had been living in retirement for years and where Guibert had been on vacation. Within a few days after first meeting, Cope told Guibert the entire experience of how he came to France for the war and then decided to stay. Guibert says at the first silence in the conversation, Guibert said we have to make a book. The story is simple: it tells of a 19 year old Californian who ends up in the American Army and then meets a lot of interesting characters and also learns about art and life. Guibert says he wanted the English translation to come out as naturally as possible. The smallness of the story comes out in the way the story is told as well as the way the book is drawn. This scholar says the artform of comics makes this possible. Cope witnessed entire towns that were destroyed by war which led him to a life of humanity. He filled his own life with art. Guibert says he’s now working on a prequel based on Alan’s early life.