The Lebanese adventurer Maxime Chaya and Maison Hachette Antoine held a press conference on Wednesday 2nd November 2016 in the morning at the bank Audi headquarters in Beirut city centre, to launch “Maximum Max”, a series of comic books inspired by Maxime’s adventures when he climbed the world’s seven summits. The comic book cartoonist, the artist Tony Abou Jaoudé, was also present.
In his speech, Maxime Chaya, ambassador of bank Audi, presented “Maximum Max”, a series of comic strips in Arabic and in French, aimed at teenagers and youngsters of all ages. “This series,” he stated, “aims to develop the spirit of perseverance in young people and strengthen their self-esteem, to encourage them to fulfil their dreams, in the knowledge that ‘Everyone has their own Everest’.
Moreover, through “Maximum Max”, Chaya wished to emphasise the need to preserve “the Earth and nature, threatened by our irresponsible behaviour”, quoting a sentence by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
The series “Maximum Max” is made up of five volumes which will be released successively. The first album, “Maximum Max, metamorphosis on the magic mountain”, will be presented on November 5th at the Beirut Book Fair (Salon du Livre Francophone de Beyrouth). It tells of the Kilimanjaro climb in Africa, the adventure that has paved the way to the bank Audi project regarding the seven summits.
Maxime thanked all those who contributed to the making of this series, especially the cartoonist Tony Abou Jaoudé, who has managed to depict human movements and expressions with great precision, the writer Rabih Haddad, author of the scenario whose style is fluid and humorous, and Pascale Kahwaji who closely supervised the project as a whole.
For the occasion, Maxime Chaya and Hachette Antoine are pleased to invite you to the album signing, on Saturday 5th November 2016 at 5:00pm, on the Librairie Antoine stand, during the Beirut Book Fair (Salon du Livre Francophone de Beyrouth) organised at BIEL, in Beirut city centre.
Please note that as of November 24th 2016, Chaya is heading off on a new adventure, the crossing of the Al-Rub’ Al-Khali desert (the empty Quarter) by bicycle, with his British teammate Steve Holyoak. This crossing will end in early 2017. Therefore Maxime Chaya will only be available for meetings and interviews during the few days before this adventure.