I had to make a book about war, this scourge of our times. My stance is super simple: no more soldiers, no more war.

We never see war, we only see its consequences. The impact is stronger when things are only implied.

The book begins by alternating cold drawings and warm drawings. Half way through, it changes to shades of orange: Eustache reaches awareness and life takes over once again.

I think that uniforms change men, unfortunately. It’s to ridicule this, that my little soldier finds himself in boxer shorts.
If soldiers only wore underpants, they’d laugh their heads off and would stop shooting at each other.

The story doesn’t tell everything: you can follow up many of the threads with children. Where is the little girl’s father? In the end, will Eustache stay or will he leave?

The double page where Eustache walks like a shadow puppet on a blue background is a tribute to Tomi Ungerer’s superb book: "The Three Robbers".
It’s also the cover of the new edition. The old cover can be seen in the translations.