Rare are those who have surveyed this village located at the foot of the mountains. Where, precisely, we could not tell you. The only indications: borrow “a dusty road”, zigzag between the rocks and pass under a tunnel to get there. Many are discouraged or scared and turn back. If you haven’t already, listen up. A deafening sound like a “stone waterfall” clashes when a village child wakes up. His name is Otto. Camped upright on his bed, his nose glued to the window, he does not divert his gaze from the colored trailers towed by yaks. A single indication here too: Cirque d’Erêves. “Ladies and gentlemen, dear and tender children”here is the number of Stéphane Servant and Nicolas Zouliamis: Monsters.
What does a monster look like? The tales have always told us that a monster had sharp teeth, horns and countless legs and eyes. History has shown us that a monster could have a human appearance. It is the acts that are frightening. In this illustrated novel, “the highlight of the show” does not have the head of the monster of the tales nor the hideous actions of the story. He’s a little boy, locked in a cage, with smooth white skin, round eyes and “a few hairs that made him like a crown on his head”. Friendly this little guy who sings with sweetness. Insignificant for the reader, appalling for the villagers. They have disproportionate horns, canines and saggy cheeks. The monstrous is much more than a story of appearance or action, it is above all a question of accepting differences.
It is this difference that will bind these two boys who are called Otto. On closer inspection, they look alike. True, one is hairy with cat whiskers, the other is not, but both are shunned by their peers. “You two are brothers! Two ugly! Two monsters!” To look into this budding friendship is to forget that ugliness and cruelty are trivialized at Cirque d’Erêves. It is also a closer look at Zouliamis’ sketch. A black ballpoint pen. What could be simpler and yet, the illustrations are enough on their own to tell this story. A bit like Emil Ferris. Here, the shadow of the bars of the cage is reflected on Otto’s face giving the impression that he is crying. Hatching captures color and light – much like nightmares trap us in the face of our fears.
In Monsters, Otto, the little monster, runs away. Her parents argued again. Everything starts from this bad agreement between them. So it’s decided: he’s going to leave. He doesn’t know where yet, he’ll see. He grabs baggy pants and his backpack with bulging eyes and hooked teeth. “At that moment, his eyes rounded. Lake […] I understood that this is where he came from. Before being picked up by Ringmaster and then by Otto, the cat-like narrator. Their goal ? Cross the violence of the inhabitants to return to the lake. Their defence? “A song that said monsters look like us sometimes. And that cages are made to be broken.