#marcel allain

[trulyunpleasant]

Fantômas!

My version of the classic arch-criminal, created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre.

Rendered in watercolors, inks, pencils, correction paint, and some charcoal.

[magicallysweetshelter]

Where is my French stalker?! My Franco Fantômas <3 the personification of pure, absolute evil... a genius of crime, the lord of terror, the embodiment of ruthlessness <3

[where-your-eyes-dont-go]

"Oh!" said Charles Rambert, "have you finished talking about Fantômas? It was so amusing!"

"For my part," the president answered dryly, "I do not find stories about criminals 'amusing.' "

But the lad did not detect the shade of reproach in the words.

"But still it is very odd, very extraordinary that such mysterious characters as Fantômas can exist nowardays. Is it really posssible that one man can commit so many crimes, and that any human being could escape discover, as they say Fantômas can, and be able to foil the cleverest devices of the police? I think it is—"

The president's manner grew steadily more chilly as the boy's curiosity waxed more enthusiastic, and he interrupted curtly.

"I fail to understand your attitude, young man. You appear to by hypnotized, fascinated. You speak of Fantômas as if he were something alluring. It is out of place, to put it mildly," and he turned to the Abbé Sicot. "There, sir, that is the result of a modern education and the state of mind produced in the younger generation by the newspapers and even by literature. Criminals are given halos and proclaimed from the housetops. It is astounding!"

But Charles Rambert was not the least impressed.

"But it is life, sir; it is history, it is the real thing!" he insisted. "Why, you yourself, in just a few words, have romanticized this Fantômas to an extent that makes him absolutely fascinating! I would give anything to have known Vidocq and Cartouche and Rocambole, and to have seen them closeup. Those were men!"

President Bonnet contemplated the young man in astonishment; his eyes flashed lightning at him and he burst out:

"You are mad, boy, absolutely mad! Vidocq—Rocambole! You mix up legend and history, lump together murderers with detectives, and make no distinction between right and wrong! You would not hesitate to put the heroes of crime and the heroes of law and order on one and the same pedestal!"

"You have said the word, sir," Charles Rambert exclaimed; they all are heroes. But, better still Fantômas—"

The lad's outburst was so vehement and spontaneous and sincere that it provoked unanimous indignation among his listeners.

Fantômas, by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, William Morrow and Company Translation

[vsthepomegranate]

Fantômas (1980)

[cinematic-literature]

Judex (1963) by Georges Franju

Book title: Fantômas: Le cercueil vide (The Empty Coffin in English; 1913) by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain

[frenchcurious]

Couverture du roman ‘’L’Assassin de Lady Beltham’’ par Gino Starace, 1912. - Source Facebook.

[mudwerks]

It's been a while since we featured Michel Gourdon's work, so above you see a cover for L'évadée de Saint-Lazare by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain, for Paris based publishers Éditions Robert Laffont, number 29 in its series Collection Rex

[frenchscificovers]