Smash Pages Q&A: Étienne Davodeau on ‘The Cross-Eyed Mutt’

The French creator discusses his latest graphic novel from NBM, a very serious comedy about a security guard at the Louvre.

Étienne Davodeau’s graphic novel The Cross-Eyed Mutt, recently published in a translated version from NBM, has a hilarious premise. Fabien is a security guard at the Louvre and when he meets his girlfriend’s family, they tell him that they have a painting from their ancestor. “Would our ancestor’s painting have a spot in the Louvre or is it an insignificant piece of crap?”

The book is the latest in a series of graphic novels published with the Louvre, and Davodeau uses the situation as a chance to tell a story that, like his Lulu Anew and The Initiates, manages to both poke fun at eccentrics and deeply honor unusual ways of looking at the world – sometimes simultaneously. It is a book that is profound and joyful and very funny about what we love about art and museums, about what we remember, how we see ourselves, and in the end, how we live our lives.

The Cross-Eyed Mutt is in short, a very serious comedy, and it is one of the year’s best books. Thanks to Terry Nantier and Stefan Blitz at NBM, I had a chance to speak with Davodeau about spending time in the Musée du Louvre, his own thoughts on art, and whether we might be able to get my great-uncle’s work into the museum.

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Marvel announces ‘Old Man Hawkeye’

Ethan Sacks and Marco Checchetto revisit the world of “Old Man Logan” with a prequel story about Wolverine’s road trip buddy.

The New York Daily News reports that one of their own, Ethan Sacks, is writing a 12-issue Old Man Hawkeye series for Marvel. This prequel to the Old Man Logan series will be drawn by Marco Checchetto.

“In this story, [Hawkeye is] losing his vision and that sort of forces him to confront something really horrible that happened to him personally 45 years ago, and go on his own hero’s journey while he still can,” Sacks told the Daily News. “It’s very much like a ticking clock that’s forcing him into action.”

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