By Jack Ruttan
We weep a bit for Nicolas Plamondon, a young, up-and-coming comic artist who took his own life last weekend at age 23. He was not yet famous but well-known to many of the Montreal community.
He followed his sister, whose suicide as a teen Nico immortalized in his elegantly drawn webcomic Théâtre de Souffrance. [pg 7 of which is seen to the right here]
His father owned Débédé, a prominent and venerable shop in Montreal for used comics and one presumes a partial source for his initiation and education in sequential arts. Nicolas began his life in Saint-Hippolyte, in the Laurentides region of Quebec. And he claimed to have been drawing since he was 14 months old.
“I love to draw. It’s as primordial as eating.”
In 2001, he created a 20-page fanzine called Megamag. His influences included Calvin and Hobbes, Arkham Asylum, Mike Mignola and Dave McKean. Montreal artist Eric Braün was another more immediate influence, with his wordless cynical gothic strips. Nico’s work echoed that dark vision and he became a regular at USINE 106U vernissages and exhibits.
Nicolas’ work also appeared in the fanzines Mensuhell, What the F***? and a collection called Cochon Lunaire. He’ll be deeply missed by those that knew him. With luck, his work that we have, little there was, will live on.
Photos of some of his friends at the monthly Montreal Comics Jam memorializing him care of Jane Tremblay and Richard Gagnon.
Le Blog de Nicolas Plamondon – Théâtre de Souffrance – Entrevue avec Nicolas Plamondon by Christine Faucher – À la mémoire de Nicolas Plamondon on Facebook – A “Veillée funèbre pour Nico Las” is planed for Dec 8 at Usine 106u – Official death notice from his family.