Without panic: a teenager on a crusade against the world's indifference to the catastrophe

“When I dream, it’s always very intense, full of adventures… Each time, I say to myself: “I really have to do something with it”,” confides Coline Hégron. A dream particularly marks her. “It was the end of the world and no one cared!” While still a student, the author produced a fanzine of around fifty pages. She then began writing a developed version, of which a three-page graphic prototype won the Young Talents prize at the Angoulême Festival in 2021. The final version, entitled Sans Panique, was published in September by Delcourt, just a few months after the release of his first children's album, Le Grand Labyrinthe, published in the Ronces collection by Jérémie Moreau, by Albin Michel.

After losing her parents in a helicopter crash, the energetic and talkative Romie is welcomed into a family that expresses no emotion, like all the inhabitants of the island of Galguantes. Romie and her new sister make a pact: “Danaé had to teach me apathite and I had to teach her to overflow.” Three years later, when a meteorite threatens to destroy the island, Romie tries to convince the population to flee. In vain. The story is reminiscent of the film Don't Look Up, by Adam McKay, with Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio. Fantasy and mystery in addition.

Romie plays rough to hide her need for love while the apathetic Danaé shows herself to be more sensitive than she seems. The two teenagers with opposite temperaments become closer, learn to understand each other, and progress in their common quest. Since we tell you that empathy can save the world! Grown-ups are generally dumped. “I like to tell stories where children are more mature than those who are supposed to take care of them,” explains Coline Hégron. Even if it means ridiculing adults, especially politicians who are content to “talk loudly”. “I have the impression that my generation thinks that we live in an absurd time, so I talk about it in my comic.”

Together, Romie and Danaé travel through a world of evanescent beauty, which celebrates the surrounding fauna and flora. “I grew up in Normandy, nature is very present in my imagination. I like to represent it in a non-realistic way, with slightly soft shapes.” In this universe that is both strange and familiar, disconcerting avatars of our civilization appear: a Crazy Frog T-shirt, a Troll doll, a telephone adorned with a face worthy of “Téléchat”... Elements of our reality that are interfering in that of the two heroines: “I am quite attached to these kinds of little toys that are sometimes disturbing, they give off a kind of nostalgic aura,” believes the artist born in 1998.

For a memorable scene of culinary experiments, Coline Hégron was inspired by a game that she once played with her little brother, for which she had to combine two foods that have nothing to do together. “The goal was to find the most disgusting duo,” she recalls. Who wants “lamb ice cream”?

Created with a pen and watercolor or acrylic paint, Sans Panique stands out for its harmonious use of color based on two recurring shades, orange and purple. Inventive in her cutting, Coline Hégron twists the perspectives to energize the postures of the characters, in the manner of Léa Murawiec (Le Grand Vide), sometimes leaning towards cartoons or manga. Among her influences, in addition to Jérémie Moreau, Coline Hégron cites Manon Debaye and Salomé Lahoche, as well as Tsuchika Nishimura (La Concierge du department store) and Shinzo Keigo (Hirayasumi). Without forgetting Ai Yazawa (Nana), Kyôko Okazaki (Pink), Akimi Yoshida (Kamakura Diary) and Moyoco Anno (Chocola et Vanilla). “There are a lot of friendship stories in shoujo… That sometimes touches me more than love stories.”

This passion for manga is reflected in the full black, white and orange pages that separate each chapter. Drawings added at the end of the project. “I had finished my boards two months in advance and I still wanted to draw!” says Coline Hégron. The talented artist is currently working on writing her new comic book but would not say no to some commissioned illustrations: “I sent my portfolio but no one answered me” Call your phones!

Without panic, by Coline Hégron, Delcourt, 200 pages, 19 euros.