“La Route”, the first graphic novel based on a book by Cormac McCarthy, has been adapted by Manu Larcenet, one of the greatest illustrators in Europe. It was published in French by Dargaud five months ago and was a huge success. It ran out of stock the morning after its publication. By July 2024 the book had gone through six further printings and over 200,000 copies printed. The American edition is on its way as is expected to be released by Abrams Comic Art on September 17, 2024. 

Why did you decide to create a graphic novel specifically based on “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy? What particularly struck you about this novel?

“I loved The Road for the atmosphere it creates. Most likely because I enjoy drawing the snow, the chilling winds, the dark clouds, the sizzling rain, snags, rust, and damps. I draw violence or kindness, wild animals, dirty skin, pits, and stagnant water. I enjoy the contrast between the characters and their environment. I felt that I would be able to draw the silences of the novel…”.

You’ve succeeded, and it’s not just my opinion, in powerfully capturing the atmosphere and apocalyptic scenarios of the novel, and the book has been a great success. I saw the video where you explain your drawing process, which, if I understood correctly, starts from the relationship between horizontal and vertical elements to create spaces and perspectives. Could you explain that in more detail? 

“Lowering the point of view to ground level allows the action to be placed at the bottom of the boxes and leaves a large space above the characters which weighs on them and accentuates the static side. In comics, most of the time, we use the high-angle cavalier perspective which allows us to precisely describe an action. However, it necessarily induces vanishing points which give a sensation of movement. However, for The Road, I wanted to keep the feeling of immobility, of heaviness, of boredom, sometimes even. The characters walk, sure, but they don’t go anywhere.”

You wrote to McCarthy to discuss the project directly with him. What impression did you get of the American author? And how did he react to the idea? Did he set any conditions?

“Cormac McCarthy is a secretive, taciturn writer who has only given two interviews in his life. And from what I know, reluctantly. To present my project of adaptation we got in touch only through his agents. It was obviously based on my future work that I thought we were going to have a dialogue. Unfortunately, this has not been possible; he only saw half of the album and I was only told that he was both happy and impressed by it. Which is both a little and a lot. It so happens that I had complete freedom. Today I like to think that it was the way McCarthy wanted and I believe that he would have been happy with the result”.

Did McCarthy have time, before his passing, to give any feedback that influenced the book in any way?

“No, because he disappeared, and I only learned of his approval of the first few pages after I had finished the entire graphic novel”.

Have you seen John Hillcoat’s film adaptation of “The Road”? If so, what did you think of it? Did it influence your work? 

“I don’t think I was influenced by the film… I had seen it a long time ago and I definitely didn’t watch it again to distance myself from it as much as possible. I only remember one scene, with my fallible memory. But I perfectly remember the heaviness, the threat, the grayness… it seems to me that I liked the film for the same reason as the novel: the absence of a classic narrative. I only worked from the one novel that I read and reread during all these months”.

When I finished “The Road,” I immediately thought about the evocative power a graphic novel adaptation of “Blood Meridian” could have. Have you read that book? Is there a real possibility that you might undertake this project or create another graphic novel based on a different McCarthy novel?

“I haven’t read “Blood Meridian,” and my next project is a very personal work, so it won’t be an adaptation”.