Belgian and French kids' comics

[dishes]

How about a thread about our Gallic near neighbours? Here are some connections I can think of between their children's comics and ours:

Belgium's Spirou, like our own Beano,is a weekly comic that first came out in 1938 and is still going. Neither comic came up with probably their most famous character until the 1950's (Gaston LaGaffe/Dennis the Menace). The publishers if both titles had a long-running bitter rivalry with another comics publisher with whom it competed for the best artists (Dupuis vs Casterman/D C Thomson vs Fleetway then IPC).

Lew Stringer pointed out recently (well it feels recent, in fact it was last year) that a strip from Spirou, Jean Roba's Boule et Bill appeared in Valiant in the 1960's as "It's a Dog's Life". http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/04 ... larry.html

Which reminds me that I remember reading in Denis Gifford's Encyclopedia of Comic Characters that, prior to the celebrated English translations by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge Astérix (from France's Pilote) also appeared in British Comics in the sixties, rewritten so the characters were Ancient Britons instead of Ancient Gauls, and Asterix himself was renamed "Beric the Bold". (I was surprised when I first learned this because when I was a child I loved both British Comics and also the Asterix books, but they seemed like different worlds, never the twain to meet.)

One more point: there are a surprising number of British heroes in Belgian comics. Clifton, Blake and Mortimer, and Tintin's co-star Captain Haddock. I suppose we should be flattered!

Just some random musings there. What does anyone else think of Belgian or French comics or their artists?

[Richard S.]

Tintin stories first appeared in this country in the original Eagle comic - precise dates etc. are at home and I'm at work so not to hand

[colcool007]

....One more point: there are a surprising number of British heroes in Belgian comics. Clifton, Blake and Mortimer, and Tintin's co-star Captain Haddock. I suppose we should be flattered!

Just some random musings there. What does anyone else think of Belgian or French comics or their artists?

Dishes,
Tintin was created by Herge who is Belgian, so I'm not surprised that Captain Haddock is in Belgian comics!

[davidandrewsimpson]

Asterix appeared in Ranger in the mid-sixties, as "Britons Never Never Never Shall Be Slaves", moving into Look And Learn for a while, then appeared in Valiant in the late sixties.

[felneymike]

and Asterix himself was renamed "Beric the Bold".

Heh, the famous(ish) children's writer G.A. Henty once wrote a story set in Roman times claled "Beric The Briton".

[philcom55]

They might not contain much in the way of comic strips but I was pleased to pick up a number of old French childrens' papers at a local boot fair last weekend. With its proud cover illustration of a French bomber the issue of Benjamin is particularly interesting in that it is dated just days before the devastating Battle of France began, finally bringing the Phoney War to an end.





- Phil Rushton

[dishes]

Wow, Phil, those are amazing finds. The 1940 one for its timing and the 1918 one for its great beauty.

David: yes, "Britons Never Never Never Shall Be Slaves" is the Asterix translation I read about in the Gifford book. I'm surprised and slightly shocked it lasted so long, as it seems wrong for Asterix to be a Briton. But then, I'm always against changing the nationality of characters in translation. It's a pity in itself and it presents the translator with unnessecary problems down the road.

Richard: Tintin is a perfect match for the old Eagle! Bold, courageous, wholesome, whiter-than-white, an eteranl boy scout and meticulously well-drawn.

colcool007, either you misunderstood me or I'm not getting your joke. I was saying that it's curious how many Belgian comic writers (such as Hergé) used British characters (such as Captain Haddock) as heroes.

[felneymike]

Is "Mon Journal" a story paper/comic as we'd know it in Britain? I may have to track some down if it is.
A company called Cinebook translate various Franco/Belgian albums into English. They're not all for kids but some are. They also do a couple of factual ones about the Battle of Britain and The Falklands war. The latter is sold as "Cinebook recounts the Falklands war" but initially it was sold as "Biggles recounts the Falklands war" in an attempt to cash in on the name XD

[Phoenix]

With its proud cover illustration of a French bomber the issue of Benjamin is particularly interesting in that it is dated just days before the devastating Battle of France began

Just a brief explanatory comment, Phil, about the title of that weekly newspaper for young French people (Le journal des jeunes de France). Le benjamin means the youngest child (in a family), and, in a sporting sense, a junior (of about 12/13 years of age). From a personal point of view, I met the word in an early chapter of my first French course book, En Route, in which a key character, Toto, was the youngest child in the fictional French family there, but, until today, I have never seen or heard it used since, in a lifetime of association with the language.

[philcom55]

Le benjamin means the youngest child (in a family), and, in a sporting sense, a junior (of about 12/13 years of age).

Thanks Phoenix, that's brilliant! I was wondering where the title came from.

Is "Mon Journal" a story paper/comic as we'd know it in Britain?

Mon Journal, which was published by Hachette & Co. from 1881 to 1925, certainly has a lot in common with British story papers. It was, for example, regularly collected in bound volumes; however comparing it with a 1924 Champion Annual I happened to pick up at a local boot fair last weekend (ahem!) there are significant differences as well. For one thing it appears to have been aimed equally at girls and boys, in addition to which there don't seem to be any continuing characters.

Here's another example in which the Kaiser's Finest are reduced to cowering impotence as a pyjama-clad Frenchman does terrifying things with a whicker chair!



- Phil Rushton

[colcool007]

...colcool007, either you misunderstood me or I'm not getting your joke. I was saying that it's curious how many Belgian comic writers (such as Hergé) used British characters (such as Captain Haddock) as heroes.

I think that we stood at a crossroads of misunderstanding there Dishes. I originally thought that you meant that the writer of Tintin was British, but I see that you meant that it is curious that a Belgian writer should use a character that was British as a hero instead of a fellow Belgian. I understand the confusion about language as we are using it in different ways. However, I think it is more interesting to look at why Belgian writers/artists thought of the British as heroes in the original era of publication of Tintin.

Apologies if this seems convoluted, but I am PUI (Posting under the affluence of incohol!)

[dishes]

Oh, OK!

In fact, as far as Captain Haddock goes, I think I can answer my own question. The Captain was first introduced as a minor character in "The Crab with the Golden Claws" and Hergé had no notion initially of making him a main character. Like the other recurring characters in Tintin, he simply caught on.

More interesting perhaps are the other cases I mentioned, of "Clifton" and "Blake and Mortimer" as their British protagonists were conceived as the heroes from the start. "Clifton" is a humorous British stereotype (but an affectionate stereotype I think, I browsed it in a French comics shop but I didn't read it). "Blake and Mortimer" was by Hergé's sometime collaborator Edgar P. Jacobs- maybe making his characters Welsh and Scottish was a way to make the characters just exotic enough without being too alien to the Belgian readership. Or possibly he took his lead from Captain Haddock!

[STARBOY]

Scottish and Welsh exotic" aw jings crivvens mon I'm fair chuffed tae read that, richt enuff we ur pretty classy wee bugg'as - I know what you mean strangely the Scots (can't comment on he Welsh but think its the same) are well thought of in Belgium and France (well tolerated is probably more like it that is, if they've even heard of us) - On a broader reply I love European comics I used to travel a lot in my last job and would pick up French language comics when I could - some stunning work there (also in Portugal and Spain) a big favourite of mine is Kid Paddle really nicely drawn and a funny and simple idea very "Beanoesque"" as well - I m off for an exotic Scottish Breakfast, like the English one but double deep fried

[philcom55]

...Go easy on the Mars bars Starboy!

On the Belgians' curious love affair with British heroes (and let's not forget the very English Thompson twins) it's worth remembering that Agatha Christie famously reciprocated by making one of her most celebrated characters a Belgian!

- Phil R.

[stevezodiac]

How come no-one has mentiond the Thompson Twins? Weren't they British? I picked up a couple of French Victorian fashion mags at the recent ephemera fair (there was a huge pile of them for £2 each mainly 1880s) I gave them to a French female colleague as I thought she'd like the curiosity value of them.