Little chance that there was consultation. But the fact is there: the two most emblematic figures of the comic book planet are the subject of a return to their sources almost simultaneously. With Tintin, the publication duly supported by the great Tintinologist Philippe Goddin of the first adventures of the famous Belgian reporter imagined by Hergé, Tintin in the Land of the Sovietsby Moulinsart and Prisma editions in bookstores on October 16 but also on newsstands – this first opus inaugurating the collection Behind the scenes of a work which will be composed of 23 volumes published in chronological order (i.e. Tintin in the Congoscheduled for December 4, Tintin in America, etc.) And for Asterix, the release, on October 23, by Albert René editions of a superb blue anniversary box setAsterix the Gaulsort ofartist’s edition in the Anglo-Saxon style, including, on the left, the entire typewritten scenario (synopsis and division) by René Goscinny and, on the right, the 44 original plates drawn and inked by Albert Uderzo.
Will we have to choose? Not sure that there is a Franco-Belgian war on the horizon, “Asterixophiles” could also be “Tintinophiles” and vice versa, even if Asterix would be, according to a recent survey, the favorite comic book hero of 49% of the French versus the 42% who favor Tintin – the frog (and wild boar) eaters tending to recognize themselves in these “irreducible, courageous, snarky, stubborn, scavengers, brawlers and laughers” Gauls. On the sales side, Asterix would also take the advantage (difficult to have precise figures at these stratospheric levels) with some 380 million albums sold worldwide compared to 240 million for Tintin… “It was in 1966, like the ‘testifies the front page of September 19 of L’Express, titled ‘The Astérix phenomenon’, that the sales curves of the little Gaul will begin to catch up and then double those of Tintin, reports the journalist specializing in comics Jérôme Dupuis (and formerly of L ‘Express), which caused a slight irritation on the part of the elder, Hergé, towards his colleagues. However, despite the rivalry, there is a lot of respect between these men of two different generations, Goscinny. having even worked on one or two adaptations of Tintin at the cinema.”
But back to “news”. It was on January 10, 1929, at the age of 21, that Georges Remi, alias Hergé, published the first two pages of the adventures of Tintin and Snowy in the newspaper supplement The Twentieth Century directed by the ultraconservative Abbot Wallez, recalls Goddin in his album rich in preliminary sketches, unfinished sketches and evocations of the parallel work of this tireless worker. Sent by his newspaper to Moscow, the reporter with the tassel and checkered suit is the target of an attack aboard the international express, is arrested by the Berlin police, escapes, seizes a motorcycle… “In around ten boards […]the tone is set: the adventures of Tintin will be animated, full of humor, burlesques […] realistic in their documentation, unrealistic in their adventures. Is this the key to success?” asks Goddin. Certainly. And this is how, on June 8, 1930, the first album appeared Tintinaccused of primary anti-communism (he borrowed several episodes from the very anti-Soviet Moscow without sailsby Joseph Douillet) and who will experience a purgatory of more than forty years before being considered “pre-Gorbachevian”.
No purgatory for Asterix the Gaul, born thirty years after Tintin, in 1959. Goscinny and his friend Uderzo were then desperately looking for a series idea for a new weekly, Pilot. In the designer’s Bobigny HLM, the two friends suddenly have an illumination: the Gauls! In two hours, they invent Asterix, Obelix, the village, the menhir… When the first issue of Piloton October 29, 1959, we discovered the first plates ofAsterix the Gaul and, in 1961, the eponymous album. It is this little world that we find today in the elegant blue box. The synopsis then the division, from the 1st to the 44th plate, are impressive. Not a single erasure or almost under the touches of the little Royal Keystone by René Goscinny elaborating, from 8 to 10 hours, the fight of Asterix and his gang against the Roman soldiers of Julius Caesar. As for Uderzo’s humorous drawings, all full and loose, they command admiration. An Asterix that can also be found in a cookbook published in support of Restos du coeur, Asterix: the 40 banquetsor even… at the Grévin museum and, in immersion, at the Atelier des Lumières (38 rue Saint Maur, 75 011 Paris).
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. Behind the scenes of a work 1, by Philippe Goddin. Editions Moulinsart & Prisma, 112 p., €19.95.
Asterix the Gaul. C65th birthday gift set, by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. Editions Albert René, 208 p., €25. Limited edition.
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