Haloed by its six million views on the webtoons platform, this romantic comedy by Diane Truc and Rutile, in praise of bodybuilding, is being released in bookstores.
A few days before the 50th edition of the Angoulême festival, the most anticipated comic of the moment is not a Franco-Belgian album, but the paper version of a webtoon (name given to Korean digital comics). With 6 million unique readings online, colossal by Diane Truc et Rutile arrives from this Thursday in bookstores.
colossal follows the story of Jade, daughter of an aristocratic family forced to study in a prestigious high school and to participate in social events to save her parents from ruin. Only problem, Jade has only one obsession, which she keeps secret: bodybuilding. Everything changes when she meets a handsome groom…
Often more attractive and easier to access than manga and Franco-Belgian comics, webtoons have become one of the most dynamic trends in the 9th Art. In France, its stars are Diane Truc and Rutile. In a few years, colossal established itself as the model of the genre while renewing the codes of romantic comedy.
The two authors are the first surprised to contribute to “the advent of a new medium”: “I had lost faith in comics”, underlines Rutile. “I couldn’t find my place. And there it is. I finally feel like there’s a business model, there’s an audience, there’s something to do .”
“It happened very quickly”
Ode to bodybuilding and difference coupled with a critique of the gender codes dictated by society, colossal quickly found success despite stiff competition as one of the major webtoon titles. “It was very quickly chained”, is still surprised Diane Truc. “I was convinced to finish colossal and go back to work in animation.”
This beautiful story began on the webtoon platformwhere colossal was published from December 2020 to February 2022. The story was inspired by Diane Truc’s own passion for bodybuilding: “I got into it and I wanted to talk about it, because I had discovered a lot things.” The rest of the story followed naturally:
“As in all good shōjo [manga destiné au public féminin, NDLR] self-respecting, for the heroine to achieve her goal, you have to put obstacles in her way. I found that putting her in a universe where gender codes are mandatory and extremely pronounced, like the French aristocratic milieu, was perfect.”
It is this diversion of codes, as well as her “healthy discourse” on bodybuilding, which enthused the screenwriter Rutile: “Diane is going to start a movement!”, She exclaims. “Many readers told me that they had returned to the room”, confirms Diane Truc. “Muscular chicks are exploding on the internet right now!”
New imaginary
In line with Secret of superhuman strengthwhere designer Alison Bechdel confides her passion for fitness, or the character of Luisa in Encantoa new imaginary of non-sexualized muscular women is forming in the collective imagination. colossal is the latest manifestation of this silent revolution.
“The look of the body has little to do with physical strength,” insists Rutile. “There is a lot of emphasis in our society on a specific look and mold that women have to adhere to.”
“The primary purpose of colossal is to talk about strength, that physical strength leads to mental strength and not at all to physical allure”, adds Diane Truc, who opposes conventional representations of muscular women: “The emphasis is often on the femininity of the character to counteract the fact that she looks too much like a man.”
To signify the strength of their heroine, the duo decked her out with red hair. “The red-haired characters give off a feeling of strength”, notes Diane Truc. “And the redhead can be seen from afar, it’s practical in comics. Spirou is redheaded. Lanfeust is redheaded. All comic book heroes are redheaded!”, Rutile laughs.
Like “Buffy” and “Doctor Who”
The webtoon often fears showing heroines with flaws. A cliche that colossal gladly stomps: “I learned that by watching buffy and Doctor Who“, exclaims Rutile. “And it is not because she is the main character that our heroine cannot be wrong. We have to question her, let her take it seriously.”
colossal was designed week after week, on the model of the old-fashioned soap opera. “It takes the author back to the origins of popular comics. You have to have a spirit of synthesis to get straight to the point,” says Rutile. The paper publication, however, makes it possible to modify certain less successful drawings and to clarify some dialogues.
Characters had also changed their first name from one chapter to another, as in The three Musketeers. Shells that are not to displease Rutile, a huge fan of the work of Alexandre Dumas. “We did not have control over the publication”, specifies the screenwriter. “There was a Korean editor.”
colossal is available in two editions, including a “bonus shielded” collector’s item. Five volumes of 200 pages are planned, the publication of which is spread over the year. Despite the release of the paper version, the webtoon remains accessible for free. “On the Internet, we give first and then by loyalty people follow”, conclude the authors.
