Leanne Franson
Dessin: Leanne Franson
Mini-bds Liliane
Leanne vs Liliane
par Tony Esposito
(en cours de traduction) En 1992, une jeune femme découvrait une façon originale d'attirer l'attention de la femme qu'elle désire. Being a professional illustrator, Montreal-based Leanne Franson started drawing a cartoon featuring a young bisexual woman named Liliane. The minicomic was photocopied and distributed among friends. Well, might as well try to sell it also! Local gay and lesbian bookstore agreed on carrying the publication. And slowly the minicomic became a pleasant moment of reading for a lot more people, subscribers or bookstore's customers. In parallel with her career as a child books illustrator, Leanne Fearson's "adult" work appeared in a large number of magazines, zines and books. But it took five years and a British publisher to gather together some of those small comics into a book, Assume Nothing. The character Liliane is one we love to love. She's funny as a cartoon character should be, shy or overstressed, clumsy or skillful, militant or naive. The cartoon mainly portrays the journey of her love affairs which quite often go wrong. The series of minicomics is up to 32 issues to this date. The author promises us a new one soon... but she's been saying that since October 1997! There are some main stories in that collection divided as following: "The Fagless Fag-Hag" (issues no. 2 to 5) retraces the period where Liliane wasn't yet aware of her attraction for women also (remember she's bisexual) until her "discovery". "Bonga Barbie" (7) features a feminist Barbie raised in the jungle of Liliane brother's toyland. "Loose Skin in Old Montreal" (9) is one of the few dark tale (and drawings) of the series. It is about Liliane finding a piece of human skin in her new home in Old Montreal. "Acute Baby-Dyke" (13 to17) are the first times of Liliane as a bisexual facing herself and the rest of the world (includind her family). Issue no. 23 titled "Spoofs" is filled with works of other illustrators using Liliane character. "The Anti-Porn Fanatic" (22 and 26) is an unfinished story about the militant moments of Liliane. Then, in 1994, the author living in London, two "Liliane in London" (27-28) inserts itself in the current storyline. The last (so far) story started (and still not finished) is the "Téléphone Temptress" (31-32) where Liliane makes extra money by selling her voice and time to a sexline. Besides Liliane, there are three other regular characters. The Butchy Dyke appears here and there, sometimes for a page of advices. She got a whole comic with issue 29, filled with little stories, advices or gallery Dyke-style. The two other characters are Zania and Butler, the two cats of Liliane. They are always making comments on Liliane acts and decisions, serving as some kind of comic and down-to-earth conscience. When the real Butler died. Leanne decided to give a postumous gift to her cat and dedicated the whole issue 30 (double-sized) to the life of Butler (real or imagined, we'll never know). The book Assume Nothing includes new material, previously not minocomicized stuff, "The Fagless Fag-Hag" retitled "Impeccable Taste" and "Loose Skin in Old Montreal". From the beginning, we wonder if Liliane is just the drawn version of the author and we are reading some autobiography. The cats (and the new dog) have real counterparts. Liliane appearance, activities and backgrounds are very similar of those of Leanne, etc. But Leanne assured that Liliane's life is quite more adventurous than her own and that the biographical parts in the comic are minimal. RETOUR À LA PAGE PRINCIPALE