Yakari and River of Forgetfulness (volume 10)


By Derib & Job, coloured by Dominque, translated by Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-140-2

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Cartoon Perfection… 10/10

Children’s magazine Le Crapaud à lunettes was founded in 1964 by Swiss journalist André Jobin who then wrote for it under the pseudonym Job. Three years later he hired fellow French-Swiss artist Claude de Ribaupierre who chose the working name “Derib”. The illustrator had begun his own career as an assistant at Studio Peyo (home of Les Schtroumpfs/The Smurfs), working on Smurfs strips for venerable weekly Spirou. Together they created the splendid Adventures of the Owl Pythagore before striking pure comics gold a few of years later with their next collaboration.

Launched in 1969, Yakari detailed the life of a young Oglala Lakota boy on the Great Plains; sometime after the introduction of horses by the Conquistadores but before the coming of the modern White Man. This year has been a landmark one. The 39th album was released – a testament to the strip’s evergreen vitality and the quality of its creators – and Job announced his retirement. Further albums will be written by Joris Chamblain.

Overflowing with gentle whimsy, Yakari enjoys a largely bucolic existence; at one with nature and generally free from strife. For the sake of our delectation, however, the ever-changing seasons are punctuated with the odd crisis, generally resolved without fuss, fame or fanfare by a little lad who is smart, compassionate, brave… and can converse with all animals…

Derib – equally at home with enticing, comically dynamic “Marcinelle” cartoon style yarns and devastatingly compelling meta-realistic action illustrated action epics – went on to become one of Europe’s most prolific and revered creators. It’s a crime that such groundbreaking strips as Celui-qui-est-né-deux-fois, Jo (the first comic on AIDS ever published), Pour toi, Sandra and La Grande Saga Indienne) haven’t been translated into English yet, but we still patiently wait in hope and anticipation…

Many of Derib’s stunning works over the decades feature his beloved Western themes, magnificent geographical backdrops and epic landscapes and Yakari is considered by fans and critics to be the feature which first led him to deserved mega-stardom. Continentally released in 1989, La rivière de l’oubli was the 15th European album (and now Cinebook’s tenth translated tome): a compellingly rendered, superbly suspenseful yarn offering dazzling wonder and guaranteed enjoyment from a minimum of foreknowledge…

Whilst riding on his valiant pony Little Thunder, Yakari spots a bear cub in distress over a waterfall and rushes in to save it. The noble act ends in disaster as both are washed away in the rushing torrent. Then the little boy sustains a hard blow to the head in the foaming waters…

Some time later he washes ashore far downstream and is picked up by a distressed, confused she-bear who has lost her cub. When the battered little one in her arms calls her “momma” she makes a potentially tragic assumption and carries Yakari off to her den…

Little Thunder meanwhile has traced the river to the spot where his friend emerged. Finding nothing, the wonder pony returns to the camp and informs Yakari’s human friends Rainbow and Buffalo Seed of the accident. After all three have exhausted every avenue of search, they dejectedly call off the search.

Back in the cave the strange cub finally awakes. His head hurts and he can’t remember his name or anything really, so is understandably relieved when the bear tells him she’s his mother. Apparently, her playful, wayward Honeycomb was lost and had an accident and the Great Spirit changed his scent and appearance, but now that mother has found him again all will be well…

The next day she begins teaching him how to be a bear again, but this oddly transformed cub is just so weak and feeble. Conversely, he begins to wonder if there has been some kind of terrible mistake…

As his friends continue their hunt for him, “Honeycomb” greets another new day with growing anxiety. He’s failing every simple task mother sets him, and all too soon her patience is exhausted. Everything changes when she gives the cub a light cuff that sends him flying across a clearing. When his head stops spinning, Yakari instantly realises what’s happening and is soon consoling a heartbroken mother who now realises her son is gone.

Yakari is not so sure though, and whilst searching near the river stumbles upon Rainbow and Buffalo Seed riding Little Thunder. Joyously reunited, they renew their efforts to bring Momma bear and Honeycomb back together…

Whilst maintaining gripping tension, Job’s joyously inventive tale is a stripped down marvel of restraint, allowing Derib’s beguiling artwork and boisterous pacing to carry the tale to its inevitable happy ending: another visually stunning, seductively smart and happily heart-warming saga to delight young and old alike.

Yakari is one of the most unfailingly entertaining all-ages strip every conceived and deserves to be in every home, right beside Tintin and Asterix.
Original edition © Le Lombard (Dargaud- Lombard S. A.) 1989 Derib + Job. English translation 2012 © Cinebook Ltd.