Two essential characters
Until the beginning of the 20th century, children's books were filled with French bubbles. For example, Les Pieds nickelés and the delightful Bécassine appeared in La Semaine de Suzette as early as 1905, while on the other side of the Atlantic, kid strips multiplied at a rapid pace with the advent of photogravure. With his angelic looks, a little blond boy was to revolutionize a booming world. Under the pen of Georges Remi, who became Hergé through a clever inversion of his initials, Tintin's little-known ancestor was Totor, patrol leader of the Hannetons, a character the cartoonist had created in 1926 for the newspaper Le Boy-scout and who, in the process, became Belgian. At the same time, he worked as a reporter-photographer and illustrator for Le Vingtième Siècle. Satisfied with his work, the terrible Abbé Wallez, then editor-in-chief, put him in charge of the weekly supplement, Le Petit Vingtième, and commissioned him to produce a comic strip to denounce the evils of communism to young people. This is how Tintin experienced his first adventure in the Land of the Soviets, in 1929, when Hergé would probably have preferred him to evolve in his favorite territory, America. Nevertheless, Hergé's hero, whose puffball is the only thing that seems to rebel, and his faithful four-legged companion, the chatty fox terrier Snowy, have plenty of time to catch up. Their peregrinations are a hit, and the little journalist travels the world in all directions, from the Congo (where Abbé Wallez has decidedly strong political opinions) to San Theodoros, an imaginary country in South America, half a century later. Twenty-three albums, one final episode, Tintin et l'Alph-art, left unfinished following the author's death in 1983, but also a periodical, launched by Hergé and Raymond Leblanc of Editions du Lombard in 1946, as a riposte to the outrageous success of another title: Le Journal de Spirou.
In his handsome red uniform with gold buttons, the redhead has nothing to envy the well-stocked closet of the blond boy, especially since, to top it all off, his accomplice is a squirrel ("spirou" in Walloon) nicknamed Spip. Born in 1938 from the imagination of Belgian publisher Jean Dupuis, it took shape under the pencil strokes of several artists. First came Rob-Vel, a Frenchman who drew on his own experience as a bellhop on transatlantic liners, and enlisted the help of his wife, Blanche Dumoulin, to give his character the gift of speech. Then, in 1943, Jijé, following an idea from editor-in-chief Jean Doisy, drew a slightly less formal friend, the whimsical Fantasio. Four years later, thanks to Franquin, the mythical Marsupilami made his appearance, compensating for the arrival of dark enemies Zantafio and Zorgub. In the 1970s, Fournier gave him long hair and a new wardrobe. Ten years later, the duo Tome and Janry allowed him a few female conquests, and once the new millennium was over, Spirou took a trip into space. Unlike Tintin, jealously protected by the will of the Moulinsart heirs, Spirou is easy to adopt and adapt, but both share a good heart and a taste for adventure.
A good-natured war
In April 1938, Spirou became the figurehead of a newspaper bearing its name, and in September 1946, Tintin entered the fray, promising to conquer all young people, from 7 to 77. Healthy competition, a chance for many artists, but above all two totally different perspectives that gave rise to two schools of thought. The Marcinelle school, named after the Belgian commune now part of Charleroi where Spirou is printed, is closely linked to Jijé, who celebrated his arrival a year after the launch of the weekly. Joseph Gillain, his real name, was only 25 years old, but his solid training and fertile imagination combined with his hard work. So, during the occupation of France, he worked tirelessly to keep the magazine going. When the war ended in 1946, the team had finally expanded, and he was able to call on three other artists: Willy Maltaite, known as Will (1927-2000), whom he had apprenticed since he was 15, Maurice de Bevere, who would become Morris, and André Franquin, whose first name would soon be forgotten. The four of them formed a merry band, sharing laughs, workshops and characters. Franquin picked up Spirou in the middle of an adventure, allowing Jijé to devote himself to one of his other projects, Don Bosco. The handover was virtually undetectable, and the young man, born in Etterbeek in 1924, gained in self-confidence. Morris, a year his senior, also honed his skills under the benevolent eye of their mentor, perfecting the features of a cowboy who would soon become a legend as the man who shoots faster than his shadow. Lucky Luke first appeared in a special edition, theAlmanach 1947, and although the plot ofArizona 1880 is sketchy, it already features the indomitable but loyal Jolly Jumper. As for Will, although his first comic strip, Le Mystère de Bambochal, was rejected by Dupuis and he had to decide to publish it on his own, albeit with some success, it fell to him to draw the Tif et Tondu series, for which the creator, Fernand Dineur, continued to write the scripts. The gang of four understood the hidden meaning of the Walloon term "spirou", which by extension means mischievousness, and this is reflected in their aestheticism, which embraces curves without blushing - they even go so far as to call themselves the "big noses" - and encourages the art of caricature and spontaneity, thanks to bubbles that escape and squares that overflow. A certain sense of parody, far removed from the ligne claire so representative of the Brussels school, initiated by Hergé, for whom "it's always noon". Realism and legibility are reinforced by the black lines separating the colors, which are never affected by shadows or light sources. It's easy to see that sobriety was the order of the day for the artists who joined Le Journal de Tintin.
The first issue appeared on September 26, 1946, and featured Edgar P. Jacobs, father of Blake and Mortimer, a long-time friend of Hergé who had previously published in Bravo! The Brussels-based cartoonist depicts two Britons, one of whom works for the secret service, the other a nuclear physicist, and together they fight against an intractable criminal, Olrik. It's a particularly realistic comic strip, even if it sometimes veers into the world of science fiction, which has led to it being banned in France when its violence seems unsuitable for children. The adventures of the two friends could have come to an end with the death of their creator in 1987, but 13 years later, Bob de Moor took over the unfinished work, and the episodes continue today under different pens. Edgar P. Jacobs drew his characters from two men: Blake from Jacques Laudy, one of the magazine's founders and author of La Légende des quatre fils Aymon, and Mortimer from Jacques Van Melkebebe, the first editor-in-chief, who was soon forced to resign after being convicted of collaboration during the war. In 1948, Frenchman Jacques Martin took his inspiration from Roman antiquity and illustrated it with Alix, a character who quickly became popular. A few years later, he brought Lefranc to life, in a much more contemporary setting. As for Paul Cuvelier, he continues to develop the young Breton orphan Corentin in the heart of the 18th century. Willy Vandersteen (1913-1990), nicknamed the "Walt Disney of the Netherlands" and considered one of the founding fathers of Flemish comics along with his contemporary Marc Sleen, the creator of Néron, transposed Suske en Wiske into French under the watchful eye of Hergé, who asked him to move closer to the clear line and take care of his stories. With 200 million albums sold, Bob et Bobette is still one of the biggest success stories in comics.
Rivalry is no longer the order of the day
In 1955, following a dispute with Dupuis, Franquin left Spirou to join Tintin. This came at just the right time for the magazine, which was keen to refresh its line. Modeste and Pompon fulfilled their role, but Franquin reconciled with his original publisher and soon found himself overwhelmed. He enlisted the help of scriptwriters, notably Greg, the future creator ofAchille Talon, and René Goscinny, who needs no introduction, before deciding in 1959 to entrust the care of the lovers to Dino Attanasio, so that he could return to fully occupying himself with one of his characters in need of a shake-up, Gaston Lagaffe, whose arrival at the newspaper in 1957 proved anything but discreet. At Spirou, Franquin reunited with his assistant, the discreet and talented Jidéhem, as well as his friend Peyo, who abandoned Johan and Pirlouit to devote himself to the Smurfs, a neologism they invented together. Jean Roba is also there, giving birth to a little boy and a dog, both red-headed and mischievous, Boule & Bill. Tintin was also revitalized, with two Frenchmen on board: Jean Graton, who launched Michel Vaillant in 1957, and Tibet, who left Mickey's newspaper and adapted his Aventures de Chick Bill to the clear line, before inventing a hero with a punning name, Ric Hochet. For Tintin, the 1960s saw a return to humor, with Zig et Puce, Cubitus and Taka Takata, while the 1970s saw a return to realism, thanks in particular to the appearances of the elusive Corto Maltese, the adventures of Michaël Logan, André Beautemps' aviator, and the more fantastical Thorgal, initially scripted by Jean Van Hamme, who went on to give voice to XIII and Largo Winch. Yet the following decade saw sales decline, and publication was forced to cease in November 1988.
Spirou could also have come to a halt when editor-in-chief Yvan Delporte was fired in 1968, but his replacement, Thierry Martens, managed to stop the bleeding by injecting new blood. He kept Les Tuniques Bleues, by Willy Lambillotte, aka Lambil, and the prolific Raoul Cauvin(Cupidon, Les Femmes en Blanc, Pierre Tombal, etc.), who had come on board following Lucky Luke's defection, and innovated by welcoming two women, the seductive stewardess Natacha by François Walthéry, and the Japanese heroine Yoko Tsuno imagined by Roger Leloup. The golden age may be over, but throughout the decades to come, through team changes and even internal squabbles, the editorial line will adapt and reinvent itself. A winning formula that has enabled the periodical to blow out its 80 candles in 2018, without having aged a day!
