The third collection of Trondheim’s mini-autobiographical Petit Riens sketches from life strips sees the series continuing to dip, the observations becoming more matter-of-fact than outright funny-absurd. It’s not that Trondheim’s life has become less interesting – the rightful acclaim of his work, his Grand Prize success at Angoulême a few years back and presidency at the festival the following year, all seeing Lewis propelled into recognition as a cartoonist of worldwide fame, leading to invitations to events all over the world. This provides plenty of opportunity for new and bizarre observations in the one-page strips in this latest collection, as do his characteristic lack of nerve in dealing with new situations and his funny observations about his growing up children.
There’s no softening of his self-critical or observation facilities then and the artwork is as strong and evocative as ever with excellent colouration, but something is missing. The series lacks the rough fluidity and scope of his Approximativement period work and, perhaps more critically, it lacks the magnificent cast of wayward L’Association characters to bounce surreal ideas off.
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