The Belgian Comic Strip Center - Museum Brussels

Among the hundreds of original albums published every year in autumn, some are more worthy of consideration than others. Why? Because they make a stronger graphic impression. Or because the narrative that they propose is particularly soul-stirring. This is the case of the new album by Marianne Duvivier, ‘Happy Life! Happy Fighting!’ (Éditions Dupuis). 

The Comics Art Museum is delighted to propose to its visitors the opportunity to discover, through a selection of original strips, what undoubtedly represents a major work in this cartoonist’s career…. would it not perhaps be better to write, “this major stage in this cartoonist’s life” for whom each new release is a distillation of humanity.

Underpinned by the scenario of a great storyteller, signed Denis Lapière, Happy Life! Happy Fighting!  relates the exceptional existence of Marianne Duvivier. When we put down this deeply-moving book, we think to ourselves: - How on earth could Jean de La Fontaine have known that the Reed of his fable would really grow one day, more than three centuries after his own birth?

Jean Auquier, Brussels Comics Art Museum.

After her studies at the Saint-Luc School in Brussels, under the supervision of Claude Renard and François Schuiten, Marianne Duvivier enrolled in drawing classes at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts. She started her comic strip career in 1983 with the publication of short stories in Circus magazine. From 1984 to 1987, she created three albums for the “Stone” series (Éditions Glénat) with Jan Bucquoy. Then, in 1990, Editions Delcourt published “Lagune, L'abbaye des dunes”, with a script by Jacques de Pierpont. In September 1993, Casterman published "Mauvaise graine", about a world out of the ordinary where children struggle to survive. Two more albums in this series would follow in 1997 and 2001. The first volume of “L’Écharde” appeared in 2004, with a script by Frank Giroud, in the “Secrets” collection of the Éditions Dupuis. This album “Happy Life! Happy Fighting!” is the latest one.

Marianne Duvivier’s father was at the heart of the African independence struggles. Involved, in particular, alongside Patrice Lumumba in the Congo and then the Algerian trade unions, he was also a man unable to find his place within his own family. Marianne, the youngest child, became the stalwart, the one who healed the wounds of the soul, before finding her freedom in love and creation.
The title “Happy Life! Happy Fighting!” is taken from a dedication, like an order of life from the father to his daughter...

Sophie Dumont , Dupuis Publishers.