The Confessions of Dragon Dragon

1792. Pierre-Marie Dragon is a dragoon, a mounted infantryman in the French revolutionary army, which has been tasked with trying to stop the Prussians from advancing on Paris. Dragon Dragon, as he likes to be called, is a cowardly and unreliable windbag who gets by on his charms. He shamelessly uses sex as a weapon to keep both his subordinates and his generals under his thumb. Unwittingly and quite by accident, Dragon Dragon helps shape the course of history.
In ‘Valmy, 1792’, the first album in this three-part series, Nicolas Juncker and Simon Spruyt show what really happened at the Battle of Valmy. And it’s totally different from what the history books would have us believe to this day. Part two, ‘Belgium, 1792-1793’, throws a completely new light on events including the theft of the Ghent Altarpiece by the French army.

In Dragon Dragon, Juncker and Spruyt lift the anti-hero to an entirely new level. Oversexed, arrogant and gutless yet full of himself, this character is the undisputed star of their grotesque, picaresque narrative. Spruyt’s exceptionally expressive drawing style is a perfect foil for the satirical text, which is thoroughly accurate when it comes to historical uniforms and other details. Every once in a while, he will use a full page to depict events in what looks like an old engraving. This alternative historiography is a top-notch parody.