Chninkel

Chninkel or The Great Power of Chninkel (French: Le Grand Pouvoir du Chninkel) is a Franco-Belgian comic with the story written by the Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and the art drawn by the Polish artist Grzegorz Rosiński. First published from 1986 to 1987 in black and white, and later republished in color and translated to several languages, it mixes the genres of fantasy, science fiction and Biblical parables. It follows the adventures of a diminutive humanoid J'on, who suddenly finds himself tasked with saving the world. It has been called one of the first graphic novels in the history of Franco-Belgian comics.

Chninkel
J'on, the main character of the comic and member of the chninkel race.
Created byJean Van Hamme
Grzegorz Rosiński
Original languageFrench
Genre
Publication date1986–1987
Reprints
The series has been reprinted, at least in part, in Polish, German, Italian, Spanish, Finnish, Dutch, and English.

Background

Jean Van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosiński previously collaborated on Thorgal, a fantasy comic that debuted in 1977. They would continue working on that series for many years, with occasional ventures into other projects. Chninkel was a novel, one-shot project that they saw as departing from the types of works common at that time in the Franco-belgian comic scene. The project was initiated by Rosiński, who wanted to produce a work in black and white, instead of the usual color. Van Hamme agreed and initially wrote it as a fantasy story, which later gained a more unique character when he decided to mix in references to Christianity.[1][2][3]

Publication history

The series debuted in October 1986 in the À Suivre magazine published by Casterman.[4][5]: 91  It was first published in French in black and white in an episodic form, then collected and published in an album form in 1988, with a color edition in 2001.[6]: 6–8 [7]: 57  The complete edition consists of ten chapters and 134 plates.[8] The comic was initially intended to be black and white, and for that purpose Rosiński utilized a number of techniques specific to that style. It was later colored by Polish colorist Graza.[1][2]

The graphic novel has been translated to several languages, including Polish (as Szninkiel, with several editions since 1988),[6] German (as Die große Macht des kleinen Schninkel),[9] Spanish (as El gran poder del Chninkel),[10] Italian (as Il grande potere del Chninkel),[11] Dutch (as De Chninkel)[1] and Finnish (as Chninkel ja suuri voima).[12] An English translation was published from 1991 to 1993 in the anthology series Cheval Noir (as The Great Power of the Chninkel).[13][14]

Cover of Le Grand pouvoir du Chninkel, French 2008 CASTERMAN edition

Given the commercial success of the series, the publisher had considered plans for a sequel and van Hamme had some preliminary ideas, but ultimately the authors refused, so the only new publication was the release of the color edition.[2]

Plot summary

Chninkel's story is set on the planet Daar orbiting a double sun, where there is a constant war between three immortal beings: Jargot the Fragrant, Zembria the Cyclops and Barr-Find the Black Hand. The main character is J'on, a chninkel (a race of midget humanoids), raised as a slave of Barr-Finda. J'on survives one of the bloody battles, and in the ensuing chaos is left on the battlefield among the casualties, gaining his freedom. Unexpectedly, a black monolith appears in front of him, and declares itself to be the supreme god U’n. It orders J'on to bring peace to the world. This fits with a chninkel legend according to which a chninkel chosen by U'n will one day restore peace on Daara. J’on would prefer to live his days in peace, and with his love interest G'wel, but is thrust into escalating events beyond his control, and eventually brings peace to the world, by uniting the immortal beings against himself. For that, he pays the highest price: death by public execution (he is chained to a monolith and shot at with arrows). In the end, an angered O'n brings an apocalyptic rain of fire that destroys almost all life on the planet, including the chninkels, and is presumed to abandon the survivors (a race resembling apes) to their fate; the latter eventually reclaim the recovering world, but in turn forget about O'n and the world before, although the monolith of U'n remains on the surface of the planet and is worshipped by the apes.[6]: 6–8 

Reception and analysis

The comic has been described one of the first graphic novels in the history of Franco-Belgian comics,[15] and as mixing the genres of fantasy, science fiction and Biblical parables.[16]: 536  The work draws inspirations and has numerous references to other works, from Tolkien's Middle-earth[3] and Clarke's and Kubrick's Space Odyssey[17] to the Bible.[18] Less obvious references have been identified to, among others, The Dark Crystal, Conan the Barbarian, Elric of Melniboné, and various elements of Norse mythology.[19]

Gwael Bernicot described it in turn as a "very contemporary and disillusioned reinterpretation of the religious phenomenon", a "disenchanted Gospel".[20] Parallels have been drawn between the main character, J'on, and Jesus, while his diminutive design resembles Bilbo the hobbit.[1][18] In 2020, Cédric Pietralunga, writing for Le Monde called the book Rosiński's masterpiece, describing it as a "a disenchanted version of the New Testament with Tolkien sauce".[21] Van Hamme himself described the story as Tolkien-inspired "offbeat version of the New Testament".[3] He also discussed his "theological marketing" idea, related to the concept of the saviour: primitive societies worship God, but then turn away from him. God punishes them with a disaster, then sends a Savior, who will ensure the reformed religion will be kept in check by he fear of punishment, absent in the original belief they turned away from.[1][22] As for the most obvious Space Odyssey reference, the God in the series is portrayed by the Monolith, and the end of the comic references the beginning of the movie.[1]

A 1989 review in The Comics Journal concluded that "here is the Thorgal team on a great story: elves, Amazons, dwarves, allegory, religion, and philosophy. Entertaining, too!".[23] Wojciech Obremski, in his monograph on the history of Polish comics, concluded that the complex story of Chninkel, mixing numerous cultural references, results in a product that should satisfy most demanding readers.[24]: 94–96 

Ksenia Chamerska, in a preface to the 2020 Polish edition of the graphic novel, which she translated, pointed out that the "god" of Chninkel, appearing in the form of a black monolith, bears an uncanny resemblance to the artifact from Clarke's Space Odyssey. With regards to Tolkien's influence, she compares the midget humanoid race of chninkels to hobbits, and his quest to that of Frodo's. She also observed that Chninkel is an "important phase in the history of European comics". She praises the work for a deeply philosophical story open to numerous interpretations, plot twists, subtle jokes, and beautiful and occasionally erotic art, concluding that the work is a masterpiece of its genre.[6]

In 2022, a reviewer for the Spanish website Zona Negativa praised the comic as a "very solid piece of work in which a coherent and archetypal fantasy, full of references and tributes, merges with a satirical and skeptical treatment, both of the characters and of the very essence of fantasy".[19]

In 2020, the original cover artwork for the series sold at an auction for 186,760 euros.[25]

Awards

References
  1. Haslé-Le Gall, Brieg (20 January 2011). "Le Grand Pouvoir du Chninkel, un mythe prébiblique et 'tolkienien'" [The Great Power of Chninkel, a pre-biblical and 'Tolkienian' myth]. Planète BD (in French). No. 24. Hachette. 4 pp. Retrieved 22 June 2022. Dutch translation at De Stripspeciaalzaak
  2. Chabannes, Jean-Sébastien (9 June 2014). "Grzegorz Rosinski ("Thorgal") : « On pourrait faire quelque chose avec le Chninkel. »". ActuaBD (in French). Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  3. "BD Paradisio : Interview de Jean Van Hamme". www.bdparadisio.com. 1996. Archived from the original on 28 April 1999. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  4. "Casterman - Le Grand pouvoir du Chninkel". Casterman (in French). Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  5. Finet, Nicolas (2004). (A Suivre) 1978-1997: Une aventure en bandes dessinées (in French). Casterman. ISBN 978-2-203-37005-0.
  6. Chamerska, Ksenia (2020). "Przedmowa". Szninkiel (in Polish). Egmont Polska Sp. z o.o. ISBN 978-83-281-5855-9.
  7. Delneste, Stéphanie; Steyaert, Florie (1 December 2017). "L'oeuvre de Grzegorz Rosiński. Pour une poétique du mouvement". Cahiers ERTA (in French). 12 (12): 49–67. doi:10.4467/23538953CE.17.024.7970. ISSN 2353-8953.
  8. de la Croix, Arnaud (2008). "Préface". Le grand pouvoir du Chninkel: l'intégrale. By Rosinski; Van Hamme, Jean (in French). Bruxelles; Paris: Casterman. ISBN 978-2-203-01669-9. OCLC 470638678.
  9. "Die große Macht des kleinen Schninkel". Splitter (in German). Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  10. C, Emilio (10 April 2019). "El gran poder del Chninkel". Comicverso (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  11. Rosinski, Grzegorz; Hamme, Jean Van (2012). Il grande potere del Chninkel:Il comandamento-Il prescelto-Il giudizio (in Italian). Alessandro. ISBN 978-88-8285-321-1.
  12. Rosinski, Grzegorz (1992). Chninkel ja suuri voima. Jean van Hamme, Jorma Penttinen, (Limes). Hki: Like. ISBN 951-578-106-X. OCLC 58020921.
  13. "European graphic novels in English". www.europeancomics.net. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  14. "Cheval Noir #14 :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics". www.darkhorse.com. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  15. Florent D. (6 August 2017). "La bande dessinée au sommet de son art : Rosinski, Franquin, Jacobs, Uderzo..." ActuaLitté.com (in French). Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  16. Kojder, Andrzej; Sowa, Kazimierz Z. (2003). Los i wybór: dziedzictwo i perspektywy społeczeństwa polskiego : pamiętnik XI Ogólnopolskiego Zjazdu Socjologicznego, Rzeszów-Tyczyn, 20–23 września, 2000 r (in Polish). Wydawn. Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego. ISBN 978-83-7338-032-5.
  17. Thiry, Maxime. "Reshaping the Scandinavian Saga through Hybridity: "Thorgal", an Anti-Mythological Hero | DIAL.pr – BOREAL". dial.uclouvain.be. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  18. Nouailhat, René (10 September 2015). "La fin de l'histoire, ou l'imaginaire de la mort en BD". Socio-anthropologie (in French) (31): 23–35. doi:10.4000/socio-anthropologie.2096. ISSN 1276-8707.
  19. Aguileta, Aitor (12 February 2022). "El gran poder del Chninkel, de Jean Van Hamme y Grzegorz Rosinski - Zona Negativa". www.zonanegativa.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  20. Bernicot, Gwael (2002). "Le Grand Pouvoir du Chninkel". Calliope. 1: 22–23. ISSN 1764-8637. OCLC 474372750.
  21. Pietralunga, Cédric (23 October 2020). "Sélection galerie : Grzegorz Rosinski chez Daniel Maghen". Le Monde.fr (in French). Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  22. Groensteen, Thierry (1986). "Entretien avec Jean van Hamme". Les cahiers de la bande dessinée. (in French) (70): 14–19. OCLC 36196852.
  23. The Comics Journal (Issues 128–129; Issue 133). Comics Journal, Incorporated. 1989.
  24. Obremski, Wojciech (2005). Krótka historia sztuki komiksu w Polsce: 1945–2003 (in Polish). Adam Marszałek. ISBN 978-83-7441-219-3.
  25. "Près de 150.000 euros pour un dessin de "Tintin"". BFMTV (in French). Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  26. Kuifje Weekblad - 1989 - 01 (in Dutch).
  27. Groensteen, Thierry; Bernière, Vincent (2003). Primé à Angoulême: 30 ans de bandes dessinées à travers le palmarès du festival (in French). Editions de l'An 2. p. 48. ISBN 978-2-84856-003-8.
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