Classic European comics

[Roquefort Raider]

France and Belgium have a long tradition of excellent comics, not all of which are that well known in the Anglo-Saxon world. This tradition is built partly on a very old legacy of illustration (who hasn't been awed by the work of Gustave Doré?), but also on the very fortunate encounter between American and European sensibilities when the art of the bande dessinée was being set up in the first half of the XXth century.

During WWII and the German occupation, American comic strips were obviously banned in occupiued Europe. Many future greats provided their own versions of Tarzan or Flash Gordon, honing their skills for what was to come later. A few years later, creators like Goscinny, Morris or Mézières would spend considerable time in the U.S. (Mézières was a cowboy in Utah!); meanwhile, people like Albert Uderzo would change a Walt Disney-looking style into their own.

A big difference between the Franco-Belgian comics and American ones is that the former were not distributed as a periodical pamphlet. For many decades, they were serialized in weekly journals (Coeurs Vaillants, Pif, Mickey, Tintin, Spirou, Pilote). They were also frequently not meant as pure entertainment; Coeurs Vaillants, for example, was a catholic publication and it's not surprising that the stories it featured would contain some didactic or moralistic material (and that's not necessarily a bad thing)! The stories would later be collected in books, usually hardcovers, which means Franco-Belgian comics were early on trated as "real" books and available in regular bookstores. This granted them a certain respectability and a wider readership than if they had been confined to specialty shops.

In this thread, I will cover series that are maybe not as widely known as they deserve (or just some tat I find cool). With the advent of new technology that makes dissemination of printed work easier, maybe they'll all be available in several languages some day.

The first one is a historical series going back to 1948 : Alix. It depicts the many adventures of a young man during the last days of the Roman Republic, which serves as a very rich background and an endless source of revoltin' developments!

Alix was born in Gaul, and as a small boy ended up in the eastern part of the Roman world. (Alix' father was a soldier in a Gallic corps fighting the Parthians for Rome; of his mother we know nothing). Captured and orphaned at a young age, he was a slave to the Parthians in Khorsabad until the city fell to the Romans.



This is the first images from my 1956 copy of Alix l'intrépide, the beginning of the series. The art is still a bit stiff, very classical-looking, but we can see that much research has been invested in getting the architecture, the clothes and the uniforms right. The plot is a little Ben-Hur (well... make that a LOT Ben-Hur) but since that's before the Charlton Heston movie I'm sure that can be forgiven.

Alix would be adopted by a respectable Roman in this story and so become a Roman citizen. He'd also gain the friendship and gratitude of Caesar, who was getting ready for what would be the siege of Alesia (and the final conquest of Gaul).

[Roquefort Raider]

The Alix series is now more than 60 years old. Its creator, Jacques Martin, belongs to the clean line school that prevailed in the 40s and 50s and his studio formed generations of talented creators (some of whom continued the series after Martin reduced his own contribution for reasons of age).

As with many such long-lived series, quality would vary depending on the period studied. The first 30 years (which is REALLY impressive!!!) deserve to be read by everyone, as they give a fun and instructive view of the Roman world circa 50 BC. Historical events are often the starting point of an adventure, even if they happened a long time before 50 BC. For example, in the story "the lost legions", reference is made to Brennus' siege of Rome in 390 BC. (That's the famous episode of the capitol geese)!



And why deny us the pleasure of a famous citation or two?

[Roquefort Raider]

Later books (say, from the 80s to today) underwent the same process as series such as the Fantastic Four : a few attempts to re-use an old successful plot or old characters; sending the characters in places they haven't been before; resurrecting past popular villains... That's why I consider the "essential" period of Alix to have ended in the 70s.

But what a period that was, stretching from the late 40s to the 70s. The art, for starters, got better and better... it really conveyed a sense of authenticity, as in this view of Rome :



Careful research also gave rise to interesting parenthese, as in this example where a character explains the evolution of the Ammon-Moloch-Baal divinities in the near east (and segues into the siege of Carthage by its own mercenaries at the end of the first Punic war)!

[Roquefort Raider]

Classic scenes from literature were also frequently depicted. The fall of Alesia and the surrender of Vercingetorix in the second graphic novel; the terrible scene of the Carthaginians immolating their own children to their god Moloch-Baal (also seen in Gustave Faubert's novel Salammbo).

[Roquefort Raider]

The series reached truly epic levels from time to time, as in the book "The last Spartan" (that's more a graphic opera than a graphic novel)!

Here we learn that after the fall of Greece to the Romans, a fortified city of Spartans continued living in secrecy, preserving their independence, and sometimes capturing shipwrecked travelers to use as slaves.



To save his young ward, Alix will infiltrate the city but end up captured. His relation with the city's queen will be ambiguous and tragic. She respects his courage and honesty and wishes him to act as her son's teacher; at the same time, she fears him because in a dream she saw he would doom her city. (At the same time, she suspects he may be the only one who can save her son should her dream proves true).

[Roquefort Raider]

Alix is torn between his word to the queen and his responsibility to his ward and the other slaves of the city (most of them Roman citizens). When escaped slaves manage to bring back a Roman army to besiege the city, the slaves are marked for death and the die is cast; Alix leads a revolt.



The Spartans are no match for the invading army, but rather than be defeated, the queen and her guard prefer to perish with their city -after the queen asks Alix to see after her son.

This is drama with a capital D, here. Wagnerian stuff.





The series was adapted as a TV cartoon, with fairly faithful adaptations. I'm afraid however that there's no way a typical TV animation can do justice to Martin's lush and expansive decors.

A great series, well worth reading.