It Don't Come Easy

Since the character of Monsieur Jean first walked onto the page in 1998, he has endeared himself to readers, maturing with each frantic, surreal, heart-warming episode. Beginning as a young Parisian bachelor, defeatist writer, and urban bon vivant, Jean has reluctantly transitioned into a family man of forty, learning how to live with, and ultimately love those around him unconditionally. Constantly surrounded by a group of childhood class- mates, an unbearably idealistic live-in friend Felix and his adopted son, Eugene, as well as his sweet daughter Julie, Jean questions life and those of others in an honest and endearing way; his unmistakable joie de vivre always undermined by a palpable sense of cynicism. The joy of these award-winning cartoons stems from that fact that Jean s weaknesses are our own; his doubts about life, universal; his relent- less quest for happiness understood. With their unique collaboration, both writing and drawing each Monsieur Jean story, celebrated French cartoonists Du-puy and Berberian prove time and time again just how powerful and seductive a simple, yet elegantly told story can be.