Secularism is omnipresent in the debates while we have rarely spoken so little about faith. It is all the ambition of And God in all this? where Olivier Oltramare, Hervé Loiselet and Violette Vaïsse meet a gallery of people to discuss faith.
Three authors in search of spirituality
On the occasion of the mass in memory of the death of his older brother, Hervé Loiselet discusses with his friend Olivier Oltramare the different ways of believing. From this discussion emerges this question: And God in all this? To make this complex subject understood, the two friends have the vague project of creating a book. A year later, Hervé is ready to begin research.
And God in all this? is a comic showing the open-mindedness of the authors from the first pages. The mass for the brother of Hervé Loiselet takes place in a large Parisian church but Freemasons are in the audience. This is not a book to convert but to understand spirituality or rather spiritualities.
And God in all this? is not simply a timeless reflection on death and the divine, but a reflection of 21st century society.e century. The two screenwriters are not satisfied with the religious authorities but choose to find a large number of believers from very different religions and currents of thought. The book is therefore presented as a series of exchanges with them. Five questions identical to all participants are asked. Hervé Loiselet are more anthropologists than preachers. The reader then understands the differences and the links between each. These people show a great diversity of situations. Some were converted from childhood by family education, others very young after an encounter and still others much later by a revelation. However, there is no desire to be exhaustive, but the choice of speakers is made by network like a string marabout. The scriptwriters put churches and paranormal movements on an equal footing. The author of I saw the saucers, with the same publisher, would expose a different point of view…
Three artists around a project
This entry into religion is facilitated by authors who are not specialists. Olivier Oltramare is a journalist, an editor specializing in manga and video games and a creator of board games. Hervé Loiselet works in advertising and comics publishing. Violette Vaïsse is divided between illustration, comics and children’s books. We don’t even know their religion. To guide the reader, And God in all this? is organized into several thematic chapters related to the questions asked: the definition of spirituality, their awakening to faith, the choice of a story illustrating their conception of the sacred, the place of religion in today’s world, the place of death and the separation between the profane and the sacred. However, the plan is flexible as there are a lot of rollbacks. Oltramare and Loiselet choose to reproduce the vocabulary of the speakers to understand their thoughts. We see them exchange on the beautiful reflections collected. It’s not just a book but a journey of thought. However, some lyrics are cryptic. However, the rich vocabulary and the density of the text put us at a distance.
And God in all this? is also the story of the construction of this comic. The first pages show the birth of the project then the reader sees how the two screenwriters end up with this book. They explain how they found all the speakers. One could also think that there are sometimes too many people obliging the authors to keep only one quotation. Thereafter, we witness the recruitment of the designer. Violette Vaïsse has a very simple and deceptively childish drawing with very thick inking.
And God in all this? edited by The bubble box presents a beautiful multicultural gallery of spirituality. In the middle of this mosaic, the two authors demonstrate that the most spiritual men and women are also the most human.
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