In Good Company

It’s 1997, and in a small village in Flanders, pub landlord Martin Dupont has been dreaming for years of a career as a crooner. While he’s busy writing songs, buying rounds, planning merchandise and recording CDs, it’s up to his wife Cecile to keep the pub afloat, do the housework and look after Martin’s father Edgar, who’s suffering from dementia. Meanwhile, young Elise tries to get through her summer job as a post woman as quickly as possible every day so she can spend more time with her dealer boyfriend Franky. Franky gets into trouble, and Edgar makes things extremely difficult for everyone. On the eve of Martin’s big breakthrough, everything goes wrong.

In this tragicomic tale, Inne Haine and Mathias Van den Berge interweave the lives of a handful of villagers who, like so many, yearn for a different life. How far are they prepared to go to achieve their dream? ‘In Good Company’ showcases the authors’ exceptional eye for human interaction. The many different narrative perspectives and their visualisation – especially Edgar’s escapades – create variation and momentum. Haine and Van den Berge did both the writing and drawing together, which has resulted in a wonderful combination of evocative, colourful illustrations and a carefully crafted script.