Dupuy, Philippe 1960-

PERSONAL:

Born December 15, 1960, in Sainte-Adresse, France.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Paris, France.

CAREER:

Cartoonist; also illustrator for advertising firms and publishers.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Prix du Meilleur Album (with Charles Berberian), Festival d'Angoulême, 1999.

WRITINGS:

Hante (autobiographical comic book), Cornelius, 2005.

WITH CHARLES BERBERIAN

Petite Peintre, Magic Strip, 1985.

Graine de voyous, 1988.

Le journal d'Henriette, tome 1, 1988.

Le journal d'Henriette, tome 2, 1988.

Une aventure de Stanislas: Klondike, 1989.

Le chat bleu, 1990.

Le destin d'Henriette (Book 3 in the "Journal d'Henriette" series), 1991.

Les heros ne meurent jamais, 1991.

Monsieur Jean, l'amour, la concierge, 1991, published as Monsieur Jean, tome 1: L'amour, la concierge Les Humanoïdes Associés (Paris, France), 1998.

Les nuits les plus blanches (Book 2 in the "Monsieur Jean" series), 1992.

Les femmes et les enfants d'abord (Book 3 in the "Monsieur Jean" series), 1994.

Journal d'un album, 1994.

New-York carnets, 1996.

Une envie de trop (board book; Book 1 in the "Henriette" series), Les Humanoïdes Associés (Paris, France), 1998.

Vivons heureux sans en avoir l'air (board book; Book 4 in the "Monsieur Jean" series), Les Humanoïdes Associés (Paris, France), 1998.

Un temps de chien (Book 2 in the "Henriette" series), 1999.

Barcelone carnets, 1999.

La Théorie des gens seuls (board book), Les Humanoïdes Associés (Paris, France), 2000.

(Illustrator) Philippe Dupuy, I Pity You: A Cartoonist's Diary, Highwater Books, 2000.

Comme s'il en pleuvait (Book 5 in the "Monsieur Jean" series), 2001.

Trop potes (Book 3 in the "Henriette" series), 2001.

Le petit garçon qui n'existait pas, 2001.

Lisbonne carnets, 2001.

Inventaire avant travaux (Book 6 of the "Monsieur Jean" series), 2003.

Esprit, es-tu la? (Book 4 of the "Henriette" series), 2003.

Tanger carnets, 2004.

(With Jean-Claude Mezieres, Gil Kane, and others) The Comics Journal 260, Fantagraphics Books, 2004.

Un certain equilibre (Book 7 in the "Monsieur Jean" series), 2005.

Get a Life, Drawn & Quarterly (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2006.

Maybe Later, Drawn & Quarterly (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2006.

Contributor to the New Yorker.

SIDELIGHTS:

Cartoonist Philippe Dupuy is best known for his long collaboration with fellow artist Charles Berberian on the "Monsieur Jean" comic series. These comics, which Dupuy and his partner both write and illustrate, offer a humorous look at the title character, a middle-class Parisian. After two decades working together on that series, Dupuy released his first solo collection, Hante, an autobiographical comic that combines stories from the author's life with surrealistic episodes in which incredible events happen. For example, the protagonist sees the ghost of his mother and also meets a talking dog. A Comics Reporter reviewer described the work as "autobiographical but in an unusual way.… The first time that I read it, I will admit, I was somewhat thrown—as if this were all too much, and it was a little too dark. Re-reading it in the cold light of day, however, I was struck at how smartly the connections are made between stories, and how skillfully Dupuy has balanced the elements here.… This is an important book by an artist we thought we knew well."

Get a Life reproduces comics from the early years of the "Monsieur Jean" series, allowing American readers to become acquainted with the protagonist as he deals with the trials and concerns of everyday life as a bachelor and, later, as a married man. A kind of Everyman, Jean is a likable but flawed man who is a minor author and translator by profession. Maybe Later contains more recent episodes from Jean's life, flavored with humor regarding the character's observations and fantasies about his mundane existence. In this collection, the styles of the two authors are easily contrasted as they take charge of alternating chapters. Dupuy's writing tends to be darker and more morose than Berberian's, critics have observed, but together, as one Publishers Weekly writer asserted, "Dupuy and Berberian complement each other perfectly." "Dupuy and Berberian get some nice laughs out of … tiny predicaments," commented a Kirkus Reviews contributor, who added: "But it'd be unfair to characterize the two as mere gag writers, and the best stories here are broader and more emotionally complex."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 2006, Gordon Flagg, review of Maybe Later and Get a Life, p. 31.

Entertainment Weekly, June 23, 2006, review of Get a Life, p. 73.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2006, review of Get a Life, p. 439.

Publishers Weekly, March 13, 2006, review of Get a Life, p. 48; April 3, 2006, review of Maybe Later, p. 47.

ONLINE

Comics Reporter,http://www.comicsreporter.com/ (August 3, 2005), review of Hante; (March 21, 2006), review of Get a Life.

Dupuy-Berberian Home Page,http://www.duber.net (November 1, 2006).*