Fan Art: Departements d'Outre Mer

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While I was fleshing out France's loverman reputation, I started reflecting about the overseas departments. Most people assumed these departments are separate countries, like a colony or a dependency. But in fact, they are considered integral parts of France--think like a state in the USA.

Then, it dawned on me that these departments could be portrayed as France's regular stable of girlfriends, somewhat akin to Hugh Hefner's "official girlfriends" or a harem. France attends to their needs and they live with him regularly. There will be one new "girlfriend" joining them next year--I'll discuss her story very soon.

The girls are aware that France doesn't want to be tied down to a commitment and are aware he's seeing other women, but they do not seem to mind that much--they accepted him for who he is.

Now in this lovely picnic tableau, let me introduce you to the departements d'outre-mer, from left to right.

REUNION - I decided to depict her as an Indian girl with curly hair, as that's the type of photo I see popping up when I do a google search. I don't really have a full handle of her personality yet--not sure if I should put elements of SATW Iceland considering that her island is volcanic.

GUYANE (FRENCH GUIANA) - I decided to depict her as native, though she might actually be more of a diverse ethnic mix (with black, white and Asian roots). In general her main appeal is her jar of cayenne peppers (Cayenne is the capital of this country and where the famous peppers got its name), as France sometimes has a fix for something hot and spicy.

GUADELOUPE - France loves her exotic dusky features. Despite the sophisticated hairdo you see in this picture, she's actually a bit raw around the edges, unlike...

MARTINIQUE - Notice she's styled similarly like Sister France, except in lieu of a beret, she sports a flower. This department is described as highly cosmopolitan, so logically I figured that this girl learned a lot from Sister France's sense of style and imitated her. Martinique is helping Guadeloupe polish her act.

I have an issue about the regional flags of these departments--for the first three, they look like tacky T-shirts, hence the way they are worn are like casual T-shirts. Martinique's flag does look like a bonafide flag, but I dislike the flag nevertheless--snakes? Well, at least my character Martinique knows how to make it work and look stylish. Also my apologies that I made the snakes face the opposite direction--they will be corrected in subsequent strips.

Martinique's style based on Sister France, copyright by Humon as "France".

By: josephvitug 8th July 2011