With 68.3 million copies sold in France in 2024, comics and manga are doing well. And if we can always count on Asterix, Blake and Mortimer, Mortelle Adèle or even the Arabian of the future to please bubble fans, success will also come for more local and undercover comic artists.
This is the case of Jérôme Bellanger aka JÉRÔME and his hero Volpe. After a crowdfunding campaign launched by his publisher, Juliette Pommier of Édifice Édition and before the release of the album “Sex, drugs and quinoa”, the screenwriter and designer republished his best-selling book, Octopus Fiction. It will happen this Saturday, November 15 starting at 3:30 p.m. at La Petite Librairie for the official launch and signing.
Le Havre, a character in itself
Jérôme Bellanger grew up in Le Mans (Sarthe) where he studied chemistry. “Because with a father who is a printer and a mother who is a teacher, I needed a serious job,” he smiles. It’s just that I always draw. So, when I arrived in Le Havre in 1998 to work at Total, then in the restaurant industry, I decided to take the plunge.
She then opened a blog and started with a small series by a designer with her cat. “It was fun. This got me noticed at the We love Le Havre festival which combines music events with graphics, says the author. “That’s when I realized that my work as a cartoonist was taken seriously.”
At the same time, this new Le Havre became JÉRÔME. “Falling in love with a city where all scenarios are possible, I started working on longer formats,” he says. First, in small episodes in fanzine format that I distributed in bars. I want to feel the welcome of the community. If people like my character. »
And it is there, in 2020, that the adventures of Volpe begin, a cartoon-style fox journalist-investigator who evolves in the hyper-realistic setting of Porte Océane.
“Le Havre then also becomes a character in itself, a source of inspiration even though there are readers who can understand its intrigue,” explains jERÔME. A real playground. This contrast gives me greater freedom of expression. The self-released album is entitled Walking Raide. That really pleases me.”
Collaboration with other comic artists
In 2021, he released “Parallel Bars” and was later discovered by Juliette Pommier, founder of Le Havre house Édifice Édition. He then published Octopus Fiction in 2023 after two years of work.
“I did a lot of photography research. The story takes place in 1913 between the worlds of Jules Verne and Maurice Leblanc. Juliette did a crowdfunding campaign of 250 copies which sold in two weeks,” he recalls.
A good reason to reissue today an album that has already found its audience. “In between, I also collaborated collectively on a work called Retour au Normandy, the sales of which contributed to the renovation of the former cinemas of the same name. An extraordinary thing that changed my life. This made me officially enter the world of comics.”
And, after a year of writing, developing storyboards, creating plates and inking, the Le Havre cartoonist will release “Sex, drugs and quinoa” in January 2026.
Ecology was at the heart of his subsequent work
Volpe would thrive in Le Havre in the 70s in a world like Starsky & Hutch. “As always, there will be social subjects. There, there will be ecology, expressed enthusiasm. After that, I am a few steps ahead. Today I worked on three axes. My screenplay and drawings for Volpe’s adventures, an album that goes back to his childhood. And, as a screenwriter and designer for others. It is a pleasure to have this recognition and to have found an audience. Comics are an environment that I still find where we don’t get too big-headed. I also like the contact with readers who interact with me on social networks. This is a childhood dream come true.”
