BD REVIEW – Between humor and discomfort, Italian author Juta questions our fascination with celebrities in a surrealistic narrative that is both refreshing and bewildering.
The fans of Chat Pernucci are in mourning. One by one, they approach the small raised coffin to pay their final respects. This is no ordinary cat: blue, without paws or tail, adorned with yellow stripes and a single eyebrow of the same color, it resembles a fancy cushion. Only its snout and whiskers actually remind one of a feline. Outside the gymnasium where the star’s body lies, vendors sell products bearing his image: keychains, socks, mugs, phone cases, etc. Why is he so popular? We may never know for sure. After all, Grumpy Cat didn’t have any particular skills either. Nevertheless, one day, Chat Pernucci visited Olga, apparently to make amends for causing her to fall down a staircase. Fausto, the young woman’s lover, was not particularly pleased to welcome him during his vacation, especially since the creature did not seem in a hurry to leave…
Published by L’Employée du moi, a Belgian publishing house that notably publishes Lisa Blumen, “Chat Pernucci” is undeniably a peculiar comic book. The countless objects featuring the animal that adorn the pages and the incomprehensible cult of his fans evoke a fierce satire of our consumption-driven society always in search of personalities to idolize or new gods to worship. Unless it is a reflection on our own relationship with art and beauty, as evidenced by an exhibition of paintings on the comical theme of bone fractures. Was Olga’s accident, adding a fracture – albeit a well healed one – a “calculated” event to generate publicity?
Bad feeling
The satirical narrative thread may be just a playful pretext to showcase this distant relative of Doraemon with an eternal enigmatic smile. Initially, the comic’s narrator peppers the story with perfectly useless information (“When Chat Pernucci slurps his spaghetti, he closes his eyes”) and vaguely amusing descriptions (“Chat Pernucci, floating armrest”), before revealing bewildering secrets (“His gaze can detach from his eyes,” “can even pass through the keyhole”). Was Fausto’s bad feeling justified? The story gradually becomes weighty, bordering on thriller, as the “curious ovoid cat” plays hide and seek in the garden, bakes cakes for his guests, and sketches a self-portrait on Olga’s canvas. The latter remains fascinated without fully understanding why. Their relationship weakens.
Editorial cartoons
It’s hard to pin down the mysterious Chat Pernucci, which is precisely what gives this unconventional comic its edge. The Italian author Juta, a former press illustrator born in 1991, proves particularly adept at creating expressions without seeking realism: Fausto looks more like a werewolf than a human! The pastel colors elegantly accompany the shifts in natural light, play with atmospheres, and highlight natural landscapes without the need for dense lines.
Surreal in concept but offering a coherent world, “Chat Pernucci” skillfully juggles everyday earthy issues, subtleties of human psychology, and completely absurd situations (how does the cat manage to ride a motorcycle without paws?). While most of the mystery remains intact, the plot surprises and bewilders, the staging engages, and the artwork captivates. And unexpectedly, touches of poetry emerge… Closing the book, one essential question remains: what have we just read?
A bit too curious
“Chat Pernucci,” by Juta, translated from Italian by Aude Lamy, L’Employée du moi, 192 pages, 22 Euros.
