A unique look at Relativity
Sloane was again the hero of the graphic novel Delirius (1973), written by Jacques Lob. In the novel a religious group asks him to help them steal a large sum of money from the Imperator, the ruler of the hedonistic planet Delirius. The book contains a page in which an intriguing and exuberant variant of M.C. Escher’s Relativity (1953) can be seen. Escher’s work had previously been used as cover images for books, and psychedelic versions of his prints were also made by hippies and students in the late 1960s. But this is possibly the first time that an artist used an Escher work as a source of inspiration for a completely unique version.
Druillet’s revolutionary designs are what make him unique. He dispenses with the waffle iron model (four rows of three identical frames) and experiments wildly with the page layout. Druillet did not shy away from using very large images. Sometimes a page only consisted of two pictures, yet was still crammed with detail. He also used round frames, triangular frames, octagonal frames—anything was possible. Occasionally, the reader has to tilt the book sideways, because the draftsman was inclined to draw a page in a different direction. Lone Sloane and the characters from his other books roam around in worlds filled with gigantic buildings and bizarre spaceships, displaying a mixture of Art Nouveau, Mayan and Aztec temples and Gothic cathedrals. He uses a lot of symmetry in his work and it is not only the aforementioned print that is reminiscent of the worlds of Escher.