The Professor's Daughter - a Comic Review

(written on 14-06-1998)

This comic is about an impossible love between an ancient Egyptian pharaoh and the beautiful daughter of an archaeologist. This was very unusual during the days of Queen Victoria. By the way, it is still a bit strange that a young girl falls for the charms of a mummy who is not as dead as he should be. Not to mention that he requites het love.

Emmanuel Guibert and Joann Sfar are the men who created this strange romantic story. On page one it seems as if you ended up in the middle of a story, but it does not feel that you missed something important. In this way, the gentlemen are maintaining a brisk pace throughout the whole story. The continuously plot twists surprises me every time. The humor is in the vein of Monty Python's Flying Circus, everything seems unreal. But instead of laughing out loud, I have a big smile on my face throughout the whole story.

The drawings are inspired by old Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd films. The body language and expression on the faces of the characters are exaggerated. Like they did in the silent film era. This was because the actor could not say that he was happy or unhappy, because he did not have a voice. In one scene the daughter of the professor opens her eyes as wide as possible and her eyebrows almost disappear on top of her head. She brings her hand to her wide open mouth and looks at the body. When her father sees the corpse and asks what all this means, she replies: 'Oh dear! Never seen! Could it have been there for a long time, do you think?’ While she knows exactly what happened. It could be a scene from a silent movie.

Guibert takes the space to give the characters a good shape. Although the environment clearly is less important, some drawings cover an entire page. The lighting is rich in contrast and some scenes are monochrome in color. The charcoal lines are thoughtfully placed in the right place. The watercolor coloring is very soft and nonchalant. This way even the fat characters seem light.

The professor's daughter is a work of art. Both the story and the drawings are of high quality. You would like to remove almost every image, enlarge it and hang it on the wall. Well, at least I would like that.