After the hullabaloo we saw in the world of comics in 1968, our new year of 1969 looks to be equally as interesting. Last year saw both Marvel and DC expand their lines—in Marvel’s case, doubling the number of comics they released—and we fans are lucky to see that diversity.
One of the breakthrough stars of ’68 was Jim Steranko, whose astonishing work on Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD provided some massive pop-culture thrills and energy. Steranko’s style feels like nobody else’s in comics, combining a pop-art, hyper-stylized approach with excellent storytelling and a massive dose of energy in his work.
Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #9 cover
Steranko’s successors on SHIELD don’t have the same flash, but journeyman cartoonists like Frank Springer and Herb Trimpe still bring the goods. The Christmas-themed issue 10 brings some special spy drama and a bit more energy than I’m used to from those artists.
Steranko left SHIELD, but 1969 dawns with an equally epochal run by him on Captain America, with writing as always by Stan Lee. One barely needs to look past the covers to see the energy Steranko brings to the page—see this week’s Cap cover for an example. Inside, the team has contrived to bring back Cap’s pal Bucky Barnes, dead since the end of WWII, and the twists and turns promise to be thrilling.
Amazing spread from Steranko's Captain America
Stan, of course, continues to write much of Marvel’s line, most notably on modern classics Amazing Spider-Man (now teamed with artist Jim Mooney), Fantastic Four and Thor (it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Jack Kirby drawing either). Spidey, in particular, has featured some great tales recently. Last year’s Kingpin tale was a show-stopper, while “Crisis on Campus,” cover-dated January 1969 and released in October, places Spider-Man firmly in the world of today, dealing with the fury and chaos of our complicated world.
Other Marvel books have taken on the modern world, too. Most surprising was probably Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, a book which would be as out-of-step with today as that Green Berets movie if not for the way writer Gary Friedrich tries to bridge the gap, as in January’s story of “The Peacemonger, ” in which a character voices empathy for the enemy and tries to find gray areas between the Allies and Japanese. It’s a bit ham-handed, but the attempt is interesting.
Moral ambiguity in the pages of Sgt. Fury
Maybe the nicest surprises from Marvel have been two-fold over the last year or so.
Stan and co. took a chance spinning the Silver Surfer off into his own series. I had my doubts whether the “Sky-Rider of the Spaceways” could support a title all his own—the character often seemed too self-pitying and dull in previous appearances. But my concerns were confounded. Stan installed artist John Buscema on the new title, and Big John brought the same majestic heroic splendor to the book which he has been demonstrating on Avengers. Silver Surfer #4, released in November, was an early Christmas gift for anyone looking to see gorgeous super-hero art.
Glorious John Buscema Silver Surfer art
The other nice surprise has been the move away from the dull, dutiful Wener Roth art in The X-Men. The aforementioned Mr. Steranko drew two mind-blowing issues before giving way to a young but promising tyro named Barry Smith. Smith copies Jack Kirby’s linework dutifully, but his art also shows the promise of an artist who might break out like Neal Adams recently did. Speaking of Adams, the fan press tells us that brilliant artist will be taking over X-Men starting next month, so I am on the edge of my seat waiting for that day to arrive.
Marvel still rounds their line out with a plethora of other super-hero mags (including Captain Marvel, Daredevil and Doctor Strange) as well as war comics, westerns and Archie-style books.
Over at National/DC, the company feels like it’s on the verge of embracing a 1970s mindset in their comics. I’ve written before about the evolution Batman comics took over the last year, from goofy camp to dramatic tales which fit the character’s long history. Frequently written by comic-strip vet Frank Robbins and neo-comics writer Denny O’Neil, there’s a vitality in Batman, Detective and Brave & Bold which fits our times. This month’s Brave & Bold, which teams Batman with the Teen Titans, and includes brilliant Adams art and a story which beautifully captures the generation gap causing chasms in so many American households today.
Lovely Adams art from Brave & Bold
O’Neil has also added vitality to another of National’s more stodgy titles, as his take on the Justice League of America has moved the book away from formula and towards a book with one foot in reality. JLA #69, for instance, is a fairly sober look at the rule against heroes killing, an interesting exploration of violence in an era when violence causes hell on Earth.
O’Neil also provides the writing chores for one of National’s most radical changes, in Wonder Woman. Recently editor/writer Mike Sekowsky took over chores on WW, one of DC’s most childish characters, and provided a radical shift in stories. Gone was the patriotic costume, transparent plane and magic lasso. Instead, we have “Diana Prince, The New Wonder Woman”, an adventure heroine in the style of Emma Peel or Tara King. The stories have their flaws—I could happily live without seeing Diana’s stereotypical Asian mentor I Ching again—but Sekowsky’s changes have a thrilling feeling similar to the Road Runner running off a cliff—it feels like these stories will crash, but it’s thrilling to stand on air.
Stunning Sekowsky Metal Men cover
Just this month, Sekowsky is leading perennial also-rans the Metal Men into their own revolution. In Metal Men #39, he has the robot heroes melted down and transformed into human form. This change is wild, unlike anything I’ve seen in comics other than the Wonder Woman transformation, and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.
And while the Superman comics seem as stuck in their rhythm as ever (though the Adams covers on those books are fantastic!), DC also has revitalized some of their other classic heroes. Aquaman, now by the Skeates, Aparo and Giordano, has lovely art and a thrilling exploration of underwater life. Jerry Grandanetti delivers surreal art for DC’s mystical hero The Spectre. And they have transformed House of Mystery from a comic with DC’s worst heroes to a standout horror anthology which is often better than that previous gold standard for horror comics. Warren Magazines’ Creepy and Eerie are having a down year, but thankfully DC has filled that void.
But National’s best comics in 1969 are new series. Beware the Creeper and Hawk and Dove come from the fruitful imagination of Steve Ditko and are offbeat heroic fun, strange action delivered in that delectable, indisputable Ditko style.
Splash page from Howie Post's Anthro
Anthro, by Howie Post—a rare example of one man providing writing and art skills for a DC comic—tells the story of a boy and his family during caveman times and is a thorough delight—full of fun characters, interesting action and a low-key comedy mood which makes it a treat each time a new issue is released.
The standout new DC title is called Bat Lash and has nothing to do with the caped crusader and everything to do with the new wave of western characters appearing on TV these days. Batton Lash is kind of an antihero, a rare western hero who would rather pick flowers than engage in a gunfight, a wizard with women and at the gambling table who nevertheless always seems to find himself in the middle of one crazy criminal scheme or another. With gorgeous art by Nick Cardy and great writing by Sergio Aragones of MAD fame (no, really!), this is as good as comics get.
Splash page from Bat Lash
A few other titles not to sleep on at National: despite the toy tie-in, Captain Action is a lot of fun and features art by Gil Kane and Wally Wood; Enemy Ace continues in Star Spangled War Stories, with some gritty, smart stories of WWI from the German standpoint; and even DC’s romance comics have caught up with the times and feature more contemporary-feeling tales.
Archie continues to be Archie, the comics your kid sister loves, while Harvey continues the kiddie comics and Gold Key their unexceptional comics line with the likes of Lost in Space, Three Stooges and The Flintstones. I always think of Gold Key comics as “emergency comics”: to pick up when nothing better is on the stands.
Alright, this Pat Boyette page is nice…
Sadly, Charlton comics are worse than that, usually unreadable despite their comics featuring The Phantom, Popeye and Flash Gordon—though Pat Boyette's art on Flash is dynamic. Their comics have a bottom-of-the-barrel feel to them. Worse, their comics actually smell weird, as if their publisher prints cereal boxes as well as comics.
So, overall, comics in 1969 seem in good shape. From top to bottom, there’s something for most everyone. If I can recommend one comic above all the others, it’s Bat Lash. I don’t think the series will be long for the world—it’s too good to sell well—so grab an issue when you can and you will thank me.
I have been spending a lot of time lately at the Institut Français, both for their interesting lectures and films, and because they have a comfortable reading room which is handy for the universities and museums. This means I have been perusing more than a few copies of the comic magazine Pilote when I’m in town for a lecture.
While Pilote, edited by René Goscinny of Asterix fame, has an excellent variety of styles and artists from Francophone Europe, it’s very rare for it to venture into science fiction.
However, this seems to be changing, with the introduction late last year of a new series, written by Pierre Christin and drawn by Jean-Claude Mézières: Valérian, Agent Spatio-Temporel. Although possibly it ought to be called Valérian et Laureline, for reasons I’ll explain below. So far we’ve had one complete story and one nearly-completed: Les Mauvais Rêves (Bad Dreams) serialised from 9 November 1967 to 15 February 1968, and La Cité des Eaux Mouvants (The City of the Shifting Waters), which began on 25 July this year and is clearly moving towards a climax.
There's robots. Did I mention the robots? Les Mauvais Rêves is more loosely sketched, in all senses of the word, than its sequel. The story takes place in the year 2720, when the instantaneous teleportation of matter through time and space has been achieved. The result is that that the inhabitants of Galaxity, the planet-spanning empire, have no need to work, except for a small cadre of bureaucrats and agents who are mostly charged with protecting society from time-traveling pirates and scouting for new resources on distant worlds. Everyone else entertains themselves through dreaming.
When people start having nightmares, it transpires that the former head of the dream service, Xombul, has sabotaged the dream computers and fled to medieval France in the year 1000. Agent Valérian pursues him there, where he finds that Xombul is disgusted by humanity’s softness and addiction to dreams. Having learned a set of spells from a medieval magician that will turn humans into monsters and make them follow him blindly (this is, shall we say, not a historically accurate representation of eleventh-century France), Xombul plans to return to the future and take over as emperor of Galaxity. With the aid of a local young woman, Laureline, Valérian must thwart his plans.
Valerian and Laureline enjoying the benefits of the leisure society.
In the second story, Xombul escapes from custody and flees again into the past, but this time, more cleverly, he has gone into the “Forbidden Zone” of 1986. We learn that the explosion of a hydrogen bomb in that year led to a four-century-long dark age on Earth, which the spatio-temporal agents are not supposed to visit. Valérian and Laureline, the latter of whom has now become a fully-fledged space-time agent, pursue him, of course, to a flooded mid-Eighties New York ruled by looter gang leader and free jazz enthusiast Sun Rae, but what Xombul is doing with his army of robots in the former UN headquarters remains a mystery so far.
Sun Rae in apocalyptic New York.
The series as it currently stands shows a lot of promise. Unusually for a European comic, Galaxity is populated by people of all ethnicities who are represented without caricaturing or stereotypes: the same is also true of 1986 New York. There’s an explicit nod to the emerging sub-genre of African and African-American SF and fantasy in the character of Sun Rae, who is based on jazz musician and SF creator Sun Ra. He is portrayed as a shrewd political leader, who is possibly the only one in New York to have realised that the most valuable thing in the city is not the jewels and precious metals, but information and scientific knowledge.
The treatment of women is also exceptional: while there are only two women with speaking roles in the story, and while Laureline does tend to wear figure-hugging costumes, she is never a passive or helpless victim, and so far she has rescued Valérian from danger more times than he has rescued her. The relationship between the two, while affectionate, is also clearly professional, hence why I suggested that they might be regarded as co-protagonists rather than the male agent taking the most prominent position.
Laureline serving dinner with a soupçon of sarcasm.
There are also some interesting hints at the way in which the story might develop. Galaxity is plainly not the utopia it claims to be, if most of the population are simply dreaming their lives away: totalitarian though Xombul is, one can see why he finds it so frustrating. It also appears to be governed by small, petty bureaucrats with whom it’s difficult to sympathise. We have not seen any aliens so far, and one wonders if this is a universe with only humans, or if their absence hints at something darker. I’m not quite sure what to make of the apparently unproblematic existence of magic in the story, where medieval France is apparently full of wizards and monsters: whether it’s a confusing mixture of genres or a clever, New Wave, challenging of what we interpret as science.
The story also has a pleasing wit, for instance a rather delightful sequence in La Cité des Eaux Mouvants where Laureline explains how she got from Brasilia, where she arrived in the past, to New York, where her lighthearted narrative of borrowing a plane from the President and hiding it in the suburbs, is belied by the cartoon panels showing her stealing the craft and crashing it into a barn.
Sun Rae's first appearance…
So far, the most problematic aspect is the variable character art. While Mézières’ landscapes and cityscapes are beautifully rendered, whether a luxury pleasure-garden on Venus or an apocalyptic New York bleakly studded with advertisements, the characters are strange, often grotesque, and change shape from panel to panel. Sun Rae, for instance, gains a bewildering amount of weight between his first and second appearance in the comic. The writing, also, seems on firmer footing in the second story than the first, with Les Mauvaises Rêves involving a lot of plot conveniences and contrivances.
…and Sun Rae's second appearance.
Despite this, I certainly plan to keep following the series, and I hope an English translation will soon be forthcoming, to bring it to a wider international audience. Comics aren’t just for kids, and Valérian shows how the graphic medium can be used to build a sprawling spatio-temporal SF epic.
At an event at the Institut Français in London recently, I was able to see the newly-translated animated film Asterix the Gaul (made in 1967, but only released in English this year). While it’s not a great adaptation, it is nice to see a series that’s only growing in popularity in the French-speaking world getting wider exposure.
Asterix the Gaul movie poster
In case you’ve missed the Asterix phenomenon, some background. Asterix le Gaulois, or Asterix the Gaul, is a Franco-Belgian comic from the writing and drawing team of Goscinny and Uderzo, originally serialised in 1959, with the first album coming out in 1961. Since then it’s only become more and more popular, with the ninth album, Asterix et les Normands (Asterix and the Normans) reaching 1.2 million sales in its first two days of release earlier this year.
On the face of it, Asterix might seem an unlikely hit. The story is a humourous historical fantasy, starting with a “what if…” premise to the effect that, after Caesar conquered Gaul and, as any schoolchild studying Latin knows, divided it into three parts, a small Gaulish village remained unconquered, due to their druid having invented a magic potion that gives the drinker super-strength. Our protagonist, Asterix, is a diminutive but sharp-witted warrior; his best pal is Obelix, a giant who has permanent super-strength due to having fallen in a vat of magic potion as a baby. Together, they have adventures traveling around Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, resisting Romans and meeting interesting, if frequently ethnically stereotyped, people.
Asterix' pal Obelix is a menhir salesman. He's barely in this story.
However, if you have a chance to read the albums, you can see the appeal. The puns are thick, heavy and groanworthy (particularly as regards the character names: the Gauls all have names ending in -ix, meaning we get people called Assurancetourix and Abracourix, and the Romans in -us, giving us Humerus and Fleurdelotus), and the anachronism humour nonstop. Additionally Goscinny and Uderzo have a lot of affectionate fun with projecting stereotypes of modern European nations back onto their Roman past equivalents. The story of plucky, likeable people resisting an oppressor is one with relevance to all political stripes. The Romans are always comically stupid and the violence cartoonish, keeping the tone from getting too heavy for children.
Asterix and Panoramix resisting Roman oppression
The series has appeared in English translation twice before now, both times in English children’s comics (Valiant and Ranger) and on neither occasion faithful, transporting the action to ancient Britain in the apparent belief that British audiences would be incapable of sympathising with French characters. However, word at the Institut is that an approved translation by Anthea Bell is currently in production and should be released next year.
Our hero was described in one English translation as an "ancient Brit with bags of grit." No, really.
The film Asterix the Gaul is a 70-minute animation, apparently originally planned as a telemovie but instead winding up in cinematic release. The visuals are, for the most part, decently done, and it has a jaunty theme tune by Gerard Calvi. The English voice cast are for the most part adopting American accents (the main exceptions being Stopthemusix the Bard and Julius Caesar, who are both using British received pronunciation), which seems an odd decision as French comics popular in other markets, such as Tintin, don’t generally do well in the American sphere, and it might be better to try and sell to the wider English-speaking world.
The plot more or less follows that of the comic album Asterix le Gaulois, the first adventure in the series. Roman centurion Phonus Balonus (Caius Bonus in the original comic), wanting to know the secret of the Gauls’ super-strength, sends a spy into the village disguised as a Gaul. Upon learning that the secret is the potion brewed by druid Panoramix, the Romans kidnap him, with Phonus Balonus planning to use his strengthened legions to become Emperor. Asterix sneaks into their camp with a view to rescuing Panoramix, but, on finding his friend in good spirits and having fun winding up the Romans, Asterix surrenders and joins him, with the pair living a luxurious life at the Romans’ expense. Finally Panoramix pretends to give in, but in fact brews a potion which makes the drinkers’ hair and beards grow uncontrollably. Realising that they can’t keep the gag going indefinitely, Panoramix pretends to brew an antidote, while also secretly furnishing Asterix with a small amount of magic potion. When the pair make their escape, they run into Caesar himself, who has come to investigate the mysterious goings-on in person.
Julius Caesar does not approve of Panoramix's beard-growing potion.
The decision to adapt the first book in the series, and without the input of the creators, is arguably the film’s biggest problem. A lot of the running gags and characters which have contributed to the series’ appeal, such as Obelix’s tiny dog Idéfix and the ongoing feud between fishmonger Ordraflfabétix and blacksmith Cétautomatix, were worked out in later volumes, and the story feels thin without them. Although Asterix has never exactly been known for its female characters (there are exactly two women regulars, both stereotypes and only one having an actual name), in the film the village seems to be a homosexual commune, with no women or children at all. Goscinny and Uderzo were reportedly very unhappy with this movie, and it’s a shame they weren’t involved, as they could have revised their earlier story to include this later material.
The translation is generally serviceable. The punning names are retained and even arguably improved, with the bard Assurancetourix becoming Stopthemusix and Abraracourcix the chief becoming Tonabrix. The narration has a few heavy-handed gags like “Caesar had a lot of Gaul,” and there are more subtle jokes for those who remember their classics, like Phonus Balonus proposing to his second-in-command Marcus Sourpus that they form a triumvirate (not knowing that a triumvirate is, by definition, made up of three men). There’s a long and rather unfunny sequence with a singing ox-cart driver that feels like it’s just in to fill time, but there is also a blink-and-you-miss-it moment where Panoramix appears to be gathering marijuana in the woods.
That's some suspicious-looking smoke. Panoramix.
All in all, while it’s not the best introduction to the series, it gives English-speaking audiences a general flavour. It’s good to see a cartoon series where the main character lives by his wits more than his fists, and where bullies are shown as hapless incompetents who can be defeated by ridicule. Reportedly a new film is in production, based on Asterix et Cleopatre (Asterix and Cleopatra), with the creators’ full involvement, and I look forward to seeing if it is an improvement.
Regular readers of the Journey may remember that I occasionally visit Belgium, particularly the beautiful cities of Antwerp and Brussels, on business. Whenever I'm in Brussels, I try to find the time for a stroll along the Rue Neuve/Nieuwe Straat, the city's main shopping street and home to trendy boutiques, elegant movie palaces and luxurious department stores.
The Rue Neuve a.k.a. Nieuwe Straat in Brussels, looking towards Place de la Monnaie a.k.a. Muntplein.
The foremost of the department stores along the Rue Neuve and also the most beautiful is À l'Innovation (For Innovation), "Inno" for short. Built in 1897 by the famous architect Victor Horta, the À l'Innovation store is a stunning Art Noveau building with a glass-covered façade. Inside, the various departments are arranged around an open atrium that is crisscrossed by walkways and topped by a skylight.
The À l'Innovation department store on Rue Neuve in Brussels shortly after its opening in 1897.
The atrium of the À l'Innovation department store in Brussels with skylight.A more recent photo of the atrium of the À l'Innovation department store.
The last time I was in Brussel in April, I stopped at the Standaard Boekhandel book shop directly across the street from À l'Innovation to pick up the latest comics. The venerable weekly comics magazine Tintin has launched a slew of new strips to keep up with the competition of Spirou and particularly the French comics magazine Pilote. Several of the new series are promising such as Bruno Brazil, a James Bond inspired spy adventure by Greg a.k.a. Michel Régnier with artwork by William Vance a.k.a. William van Cutsem, Howard Flynn, a Horatio Hornblower style naval adventure set in the 18th century by Yves Duval and William Vance, and Bernard Prince by Greg and Hermann a.k.a. Hermann Huppen, which combines spy and sea adventures. Tintin even has a new science fiction comic called Luc Orient, also written by Greg with artwork by Eddy Paape, which seems to be inspired by the Flash Gordon comics of the 1930s.
A selection of recent issues of Tintin.
A page of Bruno Brazil.
After I bought the comics, I headed across the street to À l'Innovation for a stop at the marble-tiled bathrooms. Then I went to the top floor restaurant to flip through my new purchases under the Victor Horta designed skylight, while enjoying a remarkably good meal for a department store restaurant. Little did I know that this would be the last time I'd ever see this store.
The neon sign on the expansion of the À i'Innovation store, "Inno" for short.
Smoke over Brussels
Smoke from the burning Inno store rises into the sky over Brussels
For when I switched on the evening news on May 22, I was greeted by footage of the rooftops of Brussels engulfed in smoke. A massive fire had broken out around lunchtime at the À l'Innovation store and completely gutted not only the beautiful Victor Horta building, but the neighbouring Priba supermarket and the entire city block as well. The final death toll is not yet known, as firefighters are still combing through the wreckage and many victims are still fighting for their lives in Brussels hospitals, but more than three hundred are feared dead.
In the end, the beautiful Art Noveau architecture, which I had always admired so much, was what doomed the building and the more than three hundred souls who perished. The polished wooden floors and wall panelling not to mention the merchandise, much of which was flammable, burned like tinder, while the stunning atrium acted like a chimney and fanned the flames. And since the building was seventy years old, it was not equipped with modern fire-suppression measures like a sprinkler system. There were fire extinguishers, of course, and standpipes, but the standpipes did not function and the fire extinguishers were not sufficient to stop the fire. And so the grand staircase with its ornate banisters, which I had walked up and down so often, was engulfed in thick black smoke within minutes, making escape impossible for those on the upper floors.
The burning À l'Innovation store, seen from the Rue de Pont Neuve.
The blazing À l'Innovation store and the firefighters, viewed from the upper floors of a building across the street.
The Brussels fire brigade was quickly on site and more than 150 firefighters risked their lives to fight the flames and rescue those trapped inside the burning building. However, there were many challenges such as the non-functioning standpipes or the fact that the Rue Neuve is a narrow street, which makes manoeuvring difficult for large fire trucks, particularly the ladder trucks that were so vital to saving those trapped on the upper floors.
Firefighters attacking the blaze inside the Inno department store.
Two firefighters walk along a ledge outside the burning À l'Innovation store.
Brussels firefighters tackling the blaze inside the À l'Innovation store.
The blazing ground floor of the À l'Innovation store seen from the relative safety of a shop across the road.
Scenes of Horror
Eye witnesses describe horrifying scenes. People burst out of the exits with clothes and hair on fire, molten synthetic fabric fused with their skin. A woman who had been shopping with her young daughter grabbed the girl's hand and ran for the exit. She managed to escape, but once she stumbled onto the Rue Neuve, she turned around and realised that the child whose hand she was clutching was not her daughter at all.
Young children are evacuated from the in-store nursery of the À l'Innovation department store.
The most terrible scenes, however, happened on the upper floors, where hundreds of shoppers and staff were trapped by fire and smoke, unable to escape. In desperation, people broke the window panes of the glass façade on their quest to flee the flames. Many were rescued by firefighters with ladders, but others fell or jumped to their deaths, including a woman and her three young children. A few lucky souls managed to make it to the roof of the store and scrambled to the safety of neighbouring buildings, from where they could be rescued.
People waiting for rescue on the upper floors of À l'Innovation.
People scrambled to safety onto the roof of the burning À l'Innovation store.
Firefighters evacuate people trapped on the upper floors of the blazing Inno store.
Firefighters escort an elderly lady to safety.
In spite of the best efforts of the Brussels fire brigade, the blaze also spread to the neighbouring shops, which had to be evacuated as well. Robert Dehon, a clerk at the Priba supermarket next to Inno helped survivors to safety and only narrowly escaped himself, when the fire reached the supermarket. Meanwhile, the staff of a furrier's shop desperately tried to save their merchandise from the flames, throwing expensive fur coats from the upper floors to the Rue Neuve below, into the waiting arms of fire fighters and civilian helpers.
A man holds on to a young woman who is precariously dangling from a ledge.
A woman is hanging from a wire, which some of the people trapped inside the burning store used to escape the inferno.
A man sliding down a wire to escape the fire, while an injured woman is carried to safety.
A man is holding on to a wire, while a woman jumps from a window of the burning building. She survived and is now being treated in a Brussels hospital for a broken leg.
Because the fire broke out around lunchtime, the top floor restaurant under the glass skylight was bustling with shoppers and diners. The fire alarm was not heard by many people in the busy restaurant or they were reluctant to leave the food and drink they had paid for behind. And by the time the smoke and fire reached the restaurant it was too late for most. In fact, it was here – in the very restaurant where I had lunch while flipping through the latest comics barely a month ago – that many of the victims died.
Firefighters rescue injured people from the upper floors of the burning Inno store.
The remains of the À l'Innovation restaurant, viewed from the Rue de la Roses. This part of the building completely collapsed.
Protests and Sparks
So far, it is not certain what caused the fire. In fact, is not even certain, where it started. There are conflicting reports by survivors and since the building was completely gutted, fire investigators have difficulties locating the exact ignition source. Most survivors agree that the fire was first spotted in the children's department on the first floor, though some also claim that it started in the camping department on the third floor and that exploding butane gas cylinders fuelled the flames. Yet others report that the fire started in the kitchen of the top floor restaurant
After the fire, only the steel frame of the Victor Horta facade is left standing.
A look up at the burned out atrium of the À l'Innovation store.
The entire interior of the store was gutten by fire.
A look down Rue Neuve at the burned out Inno store. To the left, you can see the Priba supermarket, which also was destroyed.
Inside the burned out offices of the Priba supermarket.
In the ruins of the À l'Innovation store, a staircase leads to nowhere.
But no matter where exactly the fire started, a very dark picture is beginning to emerge regarding its cause. For though the Brussels police and fire brigade are investigating all possibilities, including a gas leak, an overheated light bulb or faulty wiring in the old building, there is a good chance that this devastating fire that cost the lives of more than three hundred people was due to arson.
In early May, À l'Innovation launched a special promotion called "US Parade", where American products such as jeans, barbecue equipment and toys were offered for sale. Such promotions are nothing unusual, many European department stores run them to showcase products from a specific country. They are also popular with shoppers, because it is a chance to purchase international products that you cannot normally get.
Firefighters enter the burning À l'Innovation department store. The stars and stripes decoration for the "US Parade" promotion which so incensed the protesters is clearly visible.
The stars and stripes decoration in the display windows of the À l'Innovation store on fire.
However, the US is not exactly popular in Europe at the moment due to the ongoing war in Vietnam. As a result, some people viewed a promotion campaign called "US Parade" not as an exciting shopping opportunity but as a provocation. And so anti-war protesters took to picketing the store and distributing pamphlets. Why those protesters felt that picketing a department store selling American goods would be more effective than protesting outside the US Embassy only four Metro stations away is a question only they can answer.
The overwhelming majority of those anti-war protesters were peaceful, if noisy. And indeed, most of the young protesters were horrified at the scenes unfolding before them, as the store went up in flames. Some protesters had firecrackers, which according to Inno staff members kept going off on the Rue Neuve outside and sometimes even inside the store. In fact, a surviving sales clerk later reported that she had become so used to the cries of protesters and the sound of firecrackers in the street that she initially mistook the cries for help and the crackling of the fire for yet more firecrackers and yelling protesters.
Burning mannequins and collapsed letters spelling out "US" inside the À l'Innovation store
As everybody should know, firecrackers need to be handled carefully and kept away from flammable materials. Did one of the protesters enter the store, ignite a firecracker and accidentally set the building ablaze? Or – worse – did someone deliberately set the fire inside the store? At any rate, survivors report seeing a man inside the store crying, "I'm giving my life for Vietnam," when the fire broke out. Furthermore, store manager Willy Bernheim reported that À l'Innovation had been receiving bomb threats.
As someone who opposes to the Vietnam war, I agree with the message of the protesters, if not their methods, since harassing shoppers and department store employees will certainly not stop the war in Vietnam. Therefore, I was horrified when I first heard about speculations that the fire my have been due to arson.
"Surely it was an accident," I thought, "An idiot playing with firecrackers, who intended to cause a small nuisance and had no idea what he or she wrought. Surely nobody dedicated to peace would deliberately burn down a building filled with hundreds of people."
And then I saw the latest pamphlets published by the Kommune 1…
The Kommune 1 and Their Shocking Lack of Empathy
The Kommune 1 is a group of leftist activists who believe that the nuclear family is the root of fascism and therefore want to experiment with alternative forms of communal living. This group–eight young men and women, as well as two of their children–moved together into an apartment in West Berlin earlier this year.
Members of the Kommune 1 during a sit-in.
This experiment in alternative living was political from the start and so the Kommune 1 quickly became notable for their creative but also extreme protests such as scaling the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church to throw pamphlets and Mao Bibles onto the street below or the plan to hurl pudding at US Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey during his visit to West Berlin last month, which brought them to the attention of the police.
Kommune 1 member Rainer Langhans is arrested by the West Berlin police, following the foiled plot to throw pudding at US Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey
The members of the Kommune 1 claim to have been in contact with the organisers of the protests in Brussels, a Maoist group named "Action for Peace and Friendship between Nations", and their spokesperson Maurice L. And so a pamphlet published by the Kommune 1 two days after the fire quoted Maurice L. who admitted not only to organising the protests, but also to setting off firecrackers inside the store to "accustom the staff to explosions and screams" and sending bomb threats to the store management to gauge police response. In fact, the pamphlet implies that the fire was no tragic accident, but a meticulously planned attack.
All this is very disturbing, but even more disturbing is the reaction of the authors of the pamphlet (credited to Dagrun Enzensberger, former wife of writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger and mother of a nine-year-old daughter, and her former brother-in-law Ulrich Enzensberger) who fail to show any empathy at all for the more than three hundred victims of the fire. Instead, the pamphlet proudly notes that the effect of the "great happening", which is how they refer to the protest, exceeded expectations.
The disgusting pamphlet published by the Kommune 1 two days after the fire.
The next pamphlet, published on the same day, was even worse. Herein, the Kommune 1 explicitly cheers about the deaths of more than three hundred people (referred to as "overfed bourgeois consumers"), because "a burning department store with burning people will provide – for the first time in a European metropolis – that prickling Vietnam sensation (being there and burning) that we in Berlin are still missing."
To say I was disgusted is putting it mildly. In fact, the members of the Kommune 1 should count themselves lucky that I only received the pamphlets in the mail from a friend who lives in West Berlin (and was just as horrified by their content as I was), because otherwise I might well have rung the doorbell of the apartment on the corner of Stuttgarter Platz and Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße and punched whomever opened the door in the face.
At home with the Kommune 1. Hard to imagine that these people can cuddle their own children, while cheering the deaths of other young children in Brussels.
But it gets even worse, because the Kommune 1 did not stop at cheering about the deaths of more than three hundred people, they apparently enjoyed the horrifying TV footage of the fire so much that their next two pamphlets explicitly call for setting department stores in West Berlin on fire or maybe blowing up a military base or causing the collapse of a stand in a sports stadium filled with spectators. There were also threats against the Shah of Persia, who will be visiting West Germany in early June.
Now I have sympathy for the frustration felt by anti-war protesters that their peaceful protests seem to have little impact, though more and more people around the world are turning against the war in Vietnam. However, violence is not the answer, let alone violence on such a horrifying scale as what happened in Brussels. And calling for violence, even if meant satirically, as the Kommune 1 claimed once the West Berlin police knocked on their door, is utterly despicable, especially since someone might take those calls seriously and cause the next large-scale fire.
Let's be clear, so far no one truly knows what happened at À l'Innovation and what caused the fire. It's quite possible that the mysterious Maurice L. is blowing hot air or that he is merely a figment of the Kommune 1's imagination.
However, no decent human being, let alone someone who considers themselves on the left or anti-war, should ever cheer about the deaths of others. And make no mistake, the more than three hundred people who died at the À l'Innovation were innocents. They were people who were at work or shopping or having lunch. Many of them may well have been opposed to the war in Vietnam themselves. Several of the dead were young children, about the same age as the daughter of Dagrun Enzensberger, or even younger.
This whole thing is utterly disgusting and I do hope that the broader Left will make it very clear to groups like the Kommune 1 or the ironically named "Action for Peace and Friendship between Nations" that such behaviour is neither acceptable nor welcome. I also hope that if the À l'Innovation fire was indeed due to arson, the perpetrators will be caught and brought to justice soon.
Twisted steel beams after the À l'Innovation fire.
[Every so often, one of our readers submits a guest article. We're always delighted to receive such unexpected bounty, and this one is particularly fun and relevant.
Aaron Grunfeld is a former journalist and dramaturg. In the past he has worked with playwrights and theaters on and Off-Broadway, and written for publications like Playbill. Aaron lives in New York City with his wife and daughter, and he’s preparing to teach high school English this fall.
As a science-fiction fan, Aaron is enjoying Adventure Comics, where Edmond Hamilton is currently writing a light-hearted space opera starring Superboy and a team of teen super-pals in the 30th century. Highly recommended!]
Batman may be the biggest superhero of 1966, but his pal Superman can still draw a crowd. This past spring, the Man of Steel was featured in a brand-new Broadway musical with a tongue-in-cheek title: It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman! But a marriage between the Great White Way and the Funny Pages isn’t as strange as it sounds. Television, comic books, and American musicals are all forms of ‘pop art,’ the trendy term for work that’s meant to be popular, mass-produced, and ephemeral. That definition clearly applied to Superman’s show, which only ran for four months. It was a flop by most measures, but not the one that counts: the producers recouped their costs.
Onstage at the Alvin Theatre, Superman faces a mad scientist who’s teamed with a gossip columnist at the Daily Planet; together they hope to ruin the superhero’s reputation. The newsroom is also the setting for the comic’s legendary love triangle, with reporter Lois Lane at its apex and Superman as his own rival. This angle is played as romantic comedy, and as a result, Superman feels less like a comic-book adventure than a generic musical with a superheroic twist.
All the action takes place in Metropolis, which is identical to Broadway’s vision of New York—a cynical, seen-it-all borough that breaks into song & dance every so often. Superman floats gently into the chorus of hoofers like he’s gliding off the movie screen at a Saturday matinee. He’s just as earnest and good-natured as he ever was, and his fellow citizens can’t take him seriously in the red cape and blue tights.
Neither can the show’s creators, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, who had a hit a few years ago with Bye Bye Birdie. Strouse and Adams have developed Superman with book writers David Newman and Robert Benton and director Harold Prince (Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster originated the concept in 1938). Their Superman is a galoot with a big heart, and their impulse is to mock him. His super-feats are played for knowing laughs; when Superman swoops in on wires, he strikes a pose like Mary Martin in Peter Pan. I’m not sure why Strouse and Adams wrote a musical about Superman, rather than, say, Li’l Orphan Annie. I’m not sure they know either.
The actors are uniformly better than their material, and many received acclaim for their efforts. Bob Holiday plays the dual role of Clark Kent and Superman as so essentially decent that the show’s mockery just bounces off him. In the second act, he laments, “Why can’t the strongest man in the world | Be the happiest man in the world?” and for a moment, it seems like he’ll reveal his secret identity to Lois. Wouldn’t that be a twist!
Those who remember Lois Lane from the radio, or those incredible cartoon shorts during the war, will be disappointed that the musical’s newshound is more focused on wedlock than journalism. It’s a retrograde portrayal that feels out-of-step with the current decade; I’d like to think Lois is still reporting on civic corruption and civil unrest, not that she’s writing the Daily Planet’s advice column. However, the audience enjoyed her romantic antics, as executed by Patricia Marand, and, if her Tony nomination is anything to go by, so did her peers.
I found the show’s two villains more lively. Michael O’Sullivan plays a generic mad scientist, a “ten-time Nobel loser” who blames Superman for his failures. A veteran of vaudeville, O’Sullivan mugs and hams his way through the show like a cut-rate Bert Lahr. He’s at his best opposite Jack Cassidy, who plays a Walter Winchell type and goes for every laugh he can find. They’re a pair of old-fashioned entertainers who give the audience what we paid for: Broadway schtick done slick. For that, both men also earned Tony nominations. None of the show’s performers won their categories, but all three are professionals enjoying their work, and in the theater, that feeling is infectious.
The spotlight, however, is stolen by an up-and-comer named Linda Lavin. She plays a secretary who flirts with Clark Kent in a number called “You’ve Got Possibilities.” The lyrics suggest she views the mild-mannered reporter as a fixer-upper, a groom to be groomed. But in performance, Lavin’s character finds Kent genuinely, carnally attractive, and she’s not afraid to say so. “Possibilities” is the show’s strongest number, and Lavin uses it to make a big impression. All the critics agreed, Lavin is Superman’s high point. I’ll go further: Lavin is the only modern, original part of the entire Superman musical.
In its cultural attitudes, Superman is a throwback to the era between the War and Kennedy’s assassination. This is clearest in its treatment of Lois Lane, but it permeates the show. Lavin’s character, by contrast, doesn’t want to marry Superman, or even Clark Kent. She enjoys her independence, and she’s too busy living her own life to bother with the heroic melodrama of Superman. Lavin’s creation is looking forward, not back, and her moments onstage elevate the Superman musical from light entertainment to pop art.
Wembley, one of the main venues for the world cup matches.
World Cup excitement seems to have hit fever pitch in the UK. For the first time the international tournament is to be held in England and even non-sports fans, like me, are finding themselves caught up in the drama.
Pickles the Dog being rewarded for the return of the World Cup trophy
It has certainly been an eventful run up. Whether it be the trophy being lost and then found by a dog, or the CAF refusing to play over the number of pre-agreed qualifiers, it seems like there is always a new twist in the story.
Whilst, obviously, I am hopeful that England will do well, I personally expect it will be West Germany that will retake the title. However, the Soviet Union are not ones to count out, with a lot of expectation for them to do very well this time around.
World Cup Willie plays a football match against The Martians
There are the even adventures of the mascot World Cup Willie appearing in TV Comic. This is not the only change happening right now in the world of British comics.
The Next Shift
Sometimes it seems the only constancy in British comics is change. Whilst there are some long running strips like Garth, Dan Dare and Roy of the Rovers, the contents of most magazines are largely revised every few years, whilst new comic books spring up and others merge.
Recent excellent new publications Ranger and Champion are both coming to an end, being incorporated into Look and Learn and Lion respectively. Whilst in Lion itself, the excellent long-running dystopian series, Vic Gunn, has been wrapped up, with Emperor Rudolph imprisoned in exile and democracy restored to Britain.
But rather than talk about what is disappearing I want to talk about a new trend that seems to be appearing. The return of British superheroes.
Super Absences
Just a few of the many short-lived British superhero comics, with plenty of WHAM! for your sixpence
Following the arrival of American superhero comics on British shores (and their subsequent disappearance) there was short lived explosion British superhero comics. However, most did not last more than a few issues.
Some of the Marvelman titles
One of the few that stuck around was Mick Anglo’s Marvelman. Starting in 1954 , it was an intentional copy of Captain Marvel, designed to continue after the collapse of Fawcett comics in the US. However, even this ceased publication in 1963.
So, what remained of these kinds of marvels? Whilst British adventure comics moved to a mix of War, Crime, Sport, Science Fiction and Spy Stories, there are some which border on the superheroic.
The Steel Claw’s power, becoming invisible via electrocution!
The biggest are more anti-heroes than heroes. Louis Crandell is The Steel Claw, who after he had a series of accidents, became able to turn invisible if electrocuted. After originally becoming a criminal for a time, he has now begun to work for The Shadow Squad of the British secret service. Another is The Spider, a technologically advanced supervillain, who often battles other violent supervillains but more for control than out of a sense of altruism. Neither strip feels much like a typical American style superhero tale.
Robert – The Iron Man surviving ray gun attacks
There are also some incredibly powerful robot titles such as Robot Archie and The Iron Man. In these the robot hereos will sometimes battle supervillains and display unusual powers.
Brassneck – “The funny adventures of a metal schoolboy”
However, these feel as much science fiction and colonial adventure tales as superhero stories. Also, robots are generally a pretty common feature of British comics, even starring in schoolboy humour series, like The Tin Teacher or Brassneck.
Kelly demonstrating his invincibility by smoking a stick of dynamite like a cigar.
The closest hang-overs are probably Kelly’s Eye and Garth. In the former, Kelly has an amulet that makes him invulnerable while wearing it, allowing him to do outrageous deeds such as sitting on a lightning rod for charity. The stories are fairly repetitive and dull though, as they have to keep finding excuses to lose the eye temporarily, as a way of maintaining the tension.
Garth uses his sword to fight a sea monster on an alien world
In the latter, Garth is sometimes referred to as a superhero due to him being extremely strong, but his adventures tend to be more cosmic, much closer to a Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers character than Superman or Green Lantern.
Whilst there a few that could count, this set would make a very paltry Justice League of Britain. But we have just recently started to see the arrival of a new wave of British superheroes, who I am going to attempt to match with their American counterparts.
New Heroes
Ads for Batman and The Hulk comic strips in Smash!
Smash! comic was designed to be primarily another humour comic building off the success of superstar artist Leo Baxendale’s Wham!, combining cheap parodies like The Man from B.U.N.G.L.E. and Danger Mouse, with rip-offs of D. C. Thompson characters such as Bad Penny and The Swots and the Blots. But recently there has been more of a shift. First off, they have started reprinting US superhero comics which are hard to come by on this side of the Atlantic. Secondly, they have also produced their own superhero strip, Rubber Man:
Britain’s Elongated Man – The Rubber Man
Cursed by an Indian Fakir, Jim Hollis finds himself able to stretch himself like rubber. The series has only just started but seems to be following the standard superhero formula, as we follow Jim becoming Rubberman and facing off against Jonas Sleech, a super strong villain.
Apparently, these kinds of stretchy superheroes have been common in the US since Plastic Man appeared in the 1940s. However, I am reminded of the character I am most familiar with, National Comics Elongated Man, who appears in the pages of The Flash, with similar powers and even a similar look.
Britain’s Hourman – Thunderbolt The Avenger
Mick Riley is a police constable considered too wimpy by his colleagues and consigned to desk duty. When escorting a Professor Markham he is given a wristwatch will give him a wide range of superhuman abilities but only for a period of 2 hours. With it he adopts the secret identity of Thunderbolt, a masked superhero.
Thunderbolt seems most analogous to Hourman, recently revived in Showcase. He has his own source of power which gives him superhuman abilities for an hour. I would not be surprised if he was an inspiration on the Thunderbolt strip.
Britain’s Mera – Marina Girl of the Sea
Marina Girl of the Sea is a prequel to the Stingray TV series run in the Lady Penelope comic. Ostensibly we are told this will be the story of how the titular Marina became non-verbal, but it is more of a fantasy undersea epic about the Princess of Pacifica dealing with an invasion of her kingdom.
It could be argued whether this counts as a superhero tale, but I am definitely reminded of Mera in the Aquaman comics. These both share a sense of adventure and the mix of fantasy and undersea politics.
Britain’s Atom – The Mini-Men
The two Mini-Men are secret agents Pete Stevens and Tim Bailey, shrunk by shrinking gas to only two inches. They are sent into Scarvia to rescue Professor Hannah from the dictator general Borgos, who is forcing him to work on deadly mechanical rodents.
These two bring to mind National Comics' own shrinking hero The Atom. Although he tends to be more focused on crimes than spy missions, these kinds of scientifically focused tales are very much part of his repertoire.
Britain’s Kid Flash – Billy Whizz
More of a humour strip than a straight superhero adventure, Billy Whizz follows the comical antics of an incredibly fast boy dealing with ordinary life and its travails.
Whilst he is slightly older, I am definitely reminded of the Wally West as Kid Flash, appearing in back up strips in some issues of The Flash. These have often emphasized his youth and sometimes show him dealing with real-life problems in the midst of heroics.
Britain’s Beast Boy – The Amazing Jack Wonder
Jack Wonder is the result of another scientific experiment. The evil scientist Varan uses him as a guinea pig and the result allows Jack to transform into any object, whilst still retaining his sentience. As a “freedom loving adventurer”, he uses his power to fight the evil dictator Quantro.
Jack Wonder most reminds of The Doom Patrol’s Beast Boy. Rather than being able to transform into any object, Beast Boy can transform into any animal. Both also have rather a great sense of fun and make their adventures a joy to read.
Britain’s Thor – The Phantom Viking
New magazine Champion has produced some really innovative strips such as Return of the Stormtroopers and Hunters Without Guns. One less inventive creation is The Phantom Viking. Here mild-mannered school-teacher Olaf Larsen discovers an ancient Viking helmet. When he puts it on, he transforms into a superhero with superhuman strength and the ability to fly. He decides to use this power to confront evil.
Anyone vaguely familiar with North American comics will probably be aware of how similar this is to the Marvel character of Thor. In fact, the Marvel readers I have shown the strip to have commented how much it looks like they resemble Jack Kirby’s illustrations. But then, I guess if you are going to copy, why not copy from the best?
Britain’s ???? – Sugarman
Finally, from the unoriginal to the decidedly unique, this one coming from The Long-Hair Times, the recently launched alternative magazine filled with discussions of drugs and sex. In the centre of it we have the comic strip adventures of Sugarman. Here journalist Brad Calworthy goes into a fashionable boutique to try to find some hip new clothes. After ingesting a sugar cube left over from the night before he finds himself as Sugarman travelling through the cosmic consciousness. At the same time, we learn of an evil plan being brewed by Harry The Nit (who appears to be modelled on Harold Wilson) and his secretary (who seems to be Charlie Brown from the Peanuts strip).
I am not sure what to compare this to as it is probably the most bizarre use of the comic book format I have ever seen. Also, it is hard to get a handle on where it is going when I have only been able to acquire one issue of The Long-Hair Times so far. Perhaps more will be revealed as future publications come out? Alternatively, it could just be a single piece of bizarre satire, but still an engagingly made one.
Super Staying Power?
With these new heroes, I am sure Britain is much safer against alien super menaces, not just having to rely on Dan Dare, Jeff Hawke and other space pilots. The question remains whether these heroes will stick around in these pages or disappear as we get more of the American originals arriving?
For now, I will keep reading both the import and homegrown caped crusaders.
Tune in to KGJ, our radio station! Nothing but super hits!
The phone rang insistently on my desk, waking me from my nap. I dropped my comic book and spilled coffee all over the galleys for the next article. On the other end of the line was a voice, a woman's voice, heavily accented in German.
"Is something wrong? We didn't receive our shipment of Galactic Journey!"
That woke me up faster than a cup of pure zavarka. Stealing a glance at the calendar, I saw that it wasn't the 22nd but the 23rd. For the first time in two years, we'd missed a deadline.
"Uh, no! Everything's fine! We're just doing a special edition. Building suspense-like. Don't worry. I'll call the vans and make sure they bring you your inventory."
The L.A. Times' Lester Rodney, not me…but close enough
Hanging up before my stunned caller could reply, I took stock of the situation. Our beautiful next article was a sopping mess, completely useless. I couldn't even see what the subject had been — a new book? Skinny on Star Trek, debuting in September? Candid photos of Tony Randall in swim trunks?
Whatever it had been, it was melted shreds now. I had to put up something, and fast. But what? How could I possibly fill the slot, 24 hours late, no less!
My eyes lit upon the comic book at my feet, Fantastic Four #53.
God bless Stan Lee (and Jack Kirby)!
Of course, I didn't have time to write a full article. That takes hours, research, several fingers of rum. I didn't even have coffee in me!
Then I remembered that a picture is worth a thousand words. And we have a limit on article length at the Journey: always try to keep things shorter than 2000 words, I say.
Two comic book panels would be enough. Heck, eight would be sheer luxury!
So, with very little introduction (far less than he deserves), meet the newest Marvel Superhero: Black Panther!
This is the King of Wakanda, a highly advanced country somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. He's invited the Fantastic Four to his nation for… some reason.
Turns out, it was to beat all four of them pretty handily.
But why? He's no villain. He's a noble hero! Turns out, the "Great Hunt" was really just the equivalent of a Wakandan handshake. I mean, fighting is superhero foreplay, right?
So why did he really invite the FF to his swingin' super-sciencey jungle pad?
Sadly, when I got FF #52 last month, that ish left me on a cliffhanger, and it wasn't until this month I got the answer.
Seems the evil organization, Klaw, had attacked Wakanda. In the process, the King was killed, leaving his son to grieve… and avenge.
Needless to say, FF #53 details the defeat of Klaw's minions at the hands of the grown-up prince. But though his pledged duty be done, there's always more injustice to be fought.
And so, the Marvel universe not only gets a new hero (and one of the most powerful in the pantheon) but our first black hero to boot! Black Panther is not quite the first foreign hero to grace a Marvel Mag, now that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have joined the Avengers, but it's still nice to see villain-busting become an international affair.
All I gotta say is, Make Mine Marvel!
(and thanks for bearing with the delay and this makeshift slot-fill. I promise it won't happen again…for at least another 24 hours! Next time, I'll lay off the sauce…)
[Our comics coverage has spanned much of the globe, but one region has remained unexplored by the Journey…until now. With this article, we welcome Erica Friedman to the ranks of the Journey's associates!]
by Erica Friedman
If you joined us for the Journey Show last October, you were able to learn about the newest popular TV medium coming from Japan. Japanese cartoons are making their mark with themes of nature versus man's drive to develop technology, frequently exploring what truly makes us human…and some lucky American viewers have already had a chance to see some of these cartoons on television. But what you may not know, is that many of these cartoons were already popular in Japan in the form of comics which are called "manga."
What are Japanese Manga?
"Manga" is a word that means "loose drawing," i.e., a sketched image. The word manga was coined in the late 18th century, but the painter Hokusai made it famous with his sketchbooks, Hokusai Manga, which were first published in 1814.The British Museum goes so far as to ask if maybe Hokusai himself is the father of manga, but I think it is a bit much to assume that no other artists before him ever did a sketch, don't you think?
Katsushika Hokusai Buddhist monks, from Hokusai manga, 1814
Japanese comics really took off after the war. One of the first truly breakout manga was Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island) by Osamu Tezuka, based on Robert Louis Stevenson's rollicking tale. Published in 1947, this comic launched a new age of comics in Japan. You might also recognize Mr. Tezuka's name from our conversation about Japanese cartoons. Mr. Tezuka is a very busy and successful creator and his name will come up again and again as we talk.
New Treasure Island, by Osamu Tezuka
Magazines Full Of Comics
When we think of comics, probably what comes to mind first is superheroes like Batman and Superman. One of the things that makes Japanese comics unique is – like comics here before the Comics Code – there are manga for all ages and sexes. Not only are there comics for girls and boys, even adults read manga. Whole magazines that are nothing but serialized comics stories are sold in Japan. People can even rent a magazine for a few cents, then return it, just like a library. Imagine a magazine where you could get the latest issue of all your favorite superheroes at once. These manga magazines in Japan are targeted to different ages and sexes, but its pretty easy to tell who reads which magazines.
Shoten Magazine 1966 featuring Shotaro Ishinomori's Cyborg 099.Nakayoshi, January 1966. Cover by Macoto Takahashi.
Here's an interesting question for you to ponder. Of these two magazines, which one had a comic by Mr. Tezuka running in it? You might be tempted to answer the top one, Shoten Magazine, because Mr. Tezuka's comics seem to be about robot boys and other adventures. You probably can guess where I'm going with this…Mr. Tezuka's comic Princess Knight runs in the girl's magazine, Nakayoshi. And that's just one of the amazing things about these magazines. You might see a comic by our Mr. Tezuka in a magazine for girls or boys or adults. Because he and Mr. Ishinomori are are so prolific, you might see them both in multiple magazines at the same time.
Just as we have comic strips in our newspapers, Japanese newspapers have comic strips, too. They are read from top to bottom, but like Nancy and Blondie in any American paper, the average Japanese mom or pop can read the daily adventures of Mrs. Sazae, an award-winning comic by Miss Michiko Hasegawa. This comic has been one of the most popular series in all of Japan since it was first published in 1946.
Sazae-san, Mrs. Sazae, by Michiko Hasegawa,
I mentioned that Miss Hasegawa received an award for her comic strip. In fact, there are a number of awards given to comic art, where we only have the Alley Awards from the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors. The Bungeishunjuu Manga Award was given to Miss Hasegawa, but you've already heard some names here of other award winning creators including Mr. Tezuka and Mr. Ishinomori, who is this year's award winner of the Kodansha Children's Manga Award for his story we saw up above, Cyborg 009.
Popular Japanese Comics
Some of the animated series we talked about in our Journey Show, are also popular manga stories.
Jungle Emperor Leo, which has that amazing full-color animation, is another series by Mr Tezuka. Notably, this story is very pro-nature and anti-technological development, a theme you can find in many of his works. Also notable in a story for children, the complexities and harsh realities of adult life aren't hidden away from young eyes. The world Leo exists in is cruel – and the law of man is much crueler than the laws of nature.
Jungle Taitei Leo by Osamu Tezuka, published by Shogakukan
Mr. Tezuka is also writing comics for other series we talked about in the show, like Big X, Wonder 3 and the above-mentioned Princess Knight. These all run in different magazines!
Big X, by Osamu TezukaRibon no Kishi, aka Princess Knight , by Osamu Tezuka
Not everything is so serious in manga, though. Magical girls are a new trend that is very fun. We have Bewitched on our TVs (and you might not be aware of this, but it is a comic book, as well) and Japanese comics fans have The Secrets of Miss Akko. Where Samantha wiggles her nose to make magic, Miss Akko uses a magical mirror. Girls all over Japan love this series and I expect we'll be seeing many more like it.
Himitsu no Akko-chan by Fujio Akatsuka.
In the beginning I mentioned that we probably think of Batman or Superman when we think of comic books today. Well, the Japanese manga fan can also enjoy a Batmanga of their very own. But don't tell DC! I'm not sure they have permission.
The Future of Japanese Comic
Even as TV continues to gain in popularity and more animation appears, I think we won't see a slowdown in manga for a long while. And remember, those children who grew up reading comics are likely to become the manga artists of the future. It will be very interesting to tune back in five years and see what's hip and new in manga in Japan.
Winter has come to GermanyA truck frees a tram stuck in the snow in Berlin.
Germany is experiencing an uncommonly early winter and the entire country is currently buried under a blanket of snow. Time to settle down by the fireplace and listen to records such as Neue Songs der Welt by Israeli folk duo Esther and Abi Ofarim, which currently sits at the top of the West German long-play charts.
The comics heart of Europe undoubtedly beats in France and Belgium. For here, comics are considered not disposable entertainment for kids, but a genuine art form. Belgian comics artist Maurice De Bevere, better known as Morris, referred to comics as "the ninth art".
Maurice de Bevere a.k.a. Morris, creator of Lucky Luke
US comic books only focus on a single character or group. The French-Belgian industry is different, since it focusses on anthology magazines, which contain several different serialised comic strips. The most popular comics are later collected in books known as albums.
Three comic magazines dominate the French-Belgian-Dutch market. The Belgian magazines Spirou (Robbedoes in Flemish) and Tintin (Kuifje in Flemish) and the French magazine Pilote. All three have their own distinct style and voice.
Belgium is a multilingual country. The northern part speaks Flemish (a variation of Dutch), the southern part speaks French and a small area near the German border speaks German. As a result, Belgian comic magazines routinely appear in both French and Flemish. And since Flemish and Dutch are so similar, the Netherlands regularly get the Flemish versions of Belgian magazines. Therefore, France, Belgium and the Netherlands largely read the same comics.
De Meir, main shopping street of Antwerp, BelgiumThe Leysstraat in Antwerp, Belgium
Several Franco-Belgian comics have been translated into German. However, since I live only one and a half hours from the Dutch border and about three hours from the Belgian, I frequently pick up comics that haven't yet been translated there.
Humour, dynamic art and big noses: Spirou
Of the three Franco-Belgian comic magazines, Spirou is the oldest, dating back to 1938. Though Spirou also publishes comics with more realistic art, it specialises in zany humour and a dynamic, cartoony art style that has been dubbed the "Marcinelle school", named after the Belgian town of Marcinelle, where the magazine has its headquarters.
The title character has a tangled history. Created by French cartoonist Robert Velter a.k.a. Rob-Vel, Spirou originally was an elevator operator at a luxury hotel. After Rob-Vel joined the Belgian army and was wounded in World War II, the series went through several hands, until the young Belgian cartoonist André Franquin took over in 1947 and made the strip his own. The character Spirou acquired a pet squirrel named Spip and a best friend in the reporter Fantasio. Spirou eventually changed careers and became a reporter as well, though he continues to wear his red bellhop uniform. Together, Spirou and Fantasio travel the world and have many adventures. They also adopted a strange jungle creature known as the Marsupilami.
Spirou and Fantasio meet the Marsupilami
In 1957, a young man named Gaston Lagaffe (literally Gaston the blunder) wandered into the office of the newspaper for which Spirou and Fantasio work. Even though Gaston is terminally lazy and fails at pretty much everything, he was hired as an office boy. Gaston initially appeared as a supporting character in Spirou and Fantasio, but eventually got his own gag strip and became one of the most popular characters in the magazine, though he mostly does nothing at all.
However, the most popular comic published in Spirou is undoubtedly Lucky Luke. A cowboy in the Old West who is known as the man who shoots faster than his shadow, Lucky Luke doesn't shoot to kill, but only to disarm his foes. His constant companions are Jolly Jumper, the smartest horse in the world, and Rantanplan (a parody of heroic film dog Rin Tin Tin), the stupidest dog in the universe. In his adventures, Lucky Luke meets many real life historical figures. His sworn enemies are the Dalton Brothers, bandits and cousins of the historical Dalton Gang. No matter how many times Lucky Luke sends the Daltons to prison, they escape again and again. Created by the above mentioned Maurice de Bevere a.k.a. Morris in 1946, Lucky Luke is very much a parody of American westerns. Spirou also publishes the serious western comic Jerry Spring, written and drawn by Spirou editor-in-chief Joseph Gillain a.k.a. Jijé, but the humorous western adventures of Lucky Luke are a lot more popular.
Rantanplan tries to sniff out the Daltons, while Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper look onLucky Luke spanks Billy the Kid
Another hugely popular series that originated in the pages of Spirou are Les Schtroumpfs a.k.a De Smurfen in Flemish a.k.a. Die Schlümpfe in German. These small blue gnomes were created by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Gulliford a.k.a. Peyo and initially appeared as supporting characters in Peyo's comic Johan et Pirlouit about the adventures of the medieval squire Johan and his diminutive friend Pirlouit (Pirrewiet in Flemish) in 1958. The little blue gnomes, who live in a village of mushroom shaped houses in the forest and tangle with the evil wizard Gargamel and his cat Azrael, quickly became popular and got their own comic in 1959. Just this year, the German toy company Schleich began producing collectible Smurf figurines.
Johan and Pirlouit before they met the Smurfs.
A collection of toy Smurfs
Other popular comics to appear in Spirou include the realistic aviation strip Buck Danny by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Hubinon, the detective strip Gil Jourdan by Maurice Tillieux and Boule et Bill, the story of a young boy and his dog by Jean Roba and Maurice Rosy.
Aviation hero Buck DannyA gothic adventure for detective hero Gil Jourdan
Clear lines and great adventures: Tintin
Tintin, the other big Belgian comics magazine, was founded in 1946, though its flagship series has a much longer history. For the intrepid young reporter Tintin and his dog Milou first appeared in the newspaper Le Petit Vingtième in 1929. Created by Belgian artist Georges Remi a.k.a. Hergé and drawn in the so-called ligne claire (clear line) style, Tintin and Milou travelled the world in search of adventure and acquired a sizeable supporting cast, including Captain Haddock, a hard-drinking and swearing sailor, Professor Tournesol, an absentminded genius, Dupont and Dupond, a pair of identical looking and not very competent police detectives, and opera singer Bianca Castafiore, who has taken a shine to Captain Haddock.
Tintin visits the Temple of the Sun.
World War II paper shortages eventually put an end to Tintin's newspaper career, but in 1946 the intrepid young reporter returned for new adventures in glorious colour in the pages of the newly founded Tintin magazines. Though his adventures are mostly set in the real world, Tintin does venture into fantasy and science fiction on occasion, including a remarkably realistically rendered trip to the moon in 1950.
Tintin on the Moon
Suske en Wiske (Bob et Bobette in French), another popular strip in Tintin magazine, also predates the founding of the magazine. Created by Flemish cartoonist Willy Vandersteen and drawn in the ligne claire style, the two mischievous children Suske and Wiske and their Aunt Sidonie first appeared in a daily comic strip in the Belgian newspaper De Standaard in 1945 and moved to Tintin magazine in 1948. Suske and Wiske quickly acquired a supporting cast consisting of the brilliant inventor Professor Barabas, the strongman Jerome and Lambik, part-time detective, part-time plumber and full-time comic relief. Initially, the adventures of Suske and Wiske were largely realistic, but fantasy and science fiction elements soon appeared. And because the inventions of Professor Barabas include a time machine, Suske, Wiske and their friends also frequently go on adventures throughout history.
Suske and Wiske attempt to rescue Wiske's beloved ragdoll from being burned at the stake.Suske and Wiske and Lambik in spaceLambik goes James Bond, while Aunt Sidonie dances with a chimp.
Suske and Wiske are hugely popular in Flanders and the Netherlands. The enterprising Willy Vandersteen also created several comic series for other publishers such as De Rode Ridder (The Red Knight), a medieval adventure series which first appeared in 1959 and Bessy, the adventures of a heroic dog in the Old West, which first appeared in 1952.
The Red Knight visits AtlantisBlake and Mortimer visit Atlantis
Blake and Mortimer by Belgian artist and writer Edgar P. Jacobs debuted in Tintin magazine in 1946. Professor Philip Mortimer, a brilliant Scottish physicist, and his best friend and protector Captain Francis Blake, a Welsh MI5 officer, have many adventures and tangle with their sworn enemy Colonel Olrik. Both Blake and Mortimer were modelled after friends of Edgar P. Jacobs, while the villain Olrik is a self-portrait of the artist. Though nominally a spy series, Blake and Mortimer's adventures often takes them into the realm of science fiction. Among other things, Blake and Mortimer have visited Atlantis, travelled through time and thwarted an attempt to destroy the Earth via guided meteorites. The series is a true delight for science fiction fans.
Blake and Mortimer tackle the Yellow Mark.Blake and Mortimer have dinosaur trouble
Another strip which has appeared in Tintin since the beginning is Corentin by Belgian artist Paul Cuvelier. The titular character is a Breton orphan who runs away to sea and is shipwrecked. A mix of Tarzan and Robinson Crusoe, Corentin has adventures all over the world with a group of human and animal friends and occasionally ventures into the realms of fantasy as well. Cuvelier started out as a fine artist and Corentin is one of the most beautifully drawn Belgian comics.
Alix, the adventures of a young Gaul slave adopted into Roman nobility around the time of Julius Caesar, was created by Jacques Martin and debuted in Tintin in 1948. Other comics to appear in Tintin magazine are Michael Vaillant, the adventures of a formula one driver created in 1957 by Jean Graton, and Ric Hochet, yet another heroic reporter created by cartoonist Gilbert Gascard a.k.a. Tibet and mystery writer André-Paul Duchâteau in 1955.
Alix the IntrepidAlix fights the Black ClawMichel Vaillant on the racecourse of fearReporter Ric Hochet on the run.
Adventures for an older audience: Pilote
The Pirate Barbe-Rouge on the cover of Pilote
Spirou and Tintin are aimed at children (which explains why there are so few female characters, because Belgian youth protection laws forbid even the slightest hint of sex), though many adults read and enjoy them, too. Meanwhile, the French upstart Pilote was aimed at an older audience from its start in 1959 on.
Pilote's most popular strip is undoubtedly Astérix, which premiered in the first issue of the magazine, written by Lucky Luke co-writer René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. The titular character is a Gaul warrior living in a small Breton village, which is resisting Roman occupation during the time of Julius Caesar. Loosely based on historical Gaul chieftain and French national hero Vercingetorix, Astérix is short but shrewd. His best friend Obelix is big, strong and not very smart. Obelix carries around menhir, which he likes to hurl at Romans, and has a dog named Idefix. Astérix and Obelix always remind me of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, though I have no idea if Goscinny and Uderzo are familiar with that series. Together, Astérix, Obelix and the rest of their village run rings around the Roman would-be occupiers, also thanks to a superstrength potion developed by the village druid Panoramix. But Astérix and Obelix are not content to remain in Gaul. Instead, they have adventures all around the Roman empire. They just visited Egypt and met Cleopatra, who looks remarkably like Elizabeth Taylor in the recent movie.
Astérix the Gaul and his friend Obelix
Whereas the above mentioned Alix treats the subject of the Roman occupation of Gaul seriously and shows its hero as torn between his Gaul and Roman identity, Astérix uses the same historical material for comedy and satire. The series is full of puns and allusions to contemporary French politics. It's also hilarious – at least in the original French. For the German translation, publisher Rolf Kauka renamed the heroes Siggi and Babarras and replaced the allusions to contemporary French politics with allusions to contemporary West German politics. Unfortunately, the Kauka translations are not at all funny and also managed to slip in antisemitic stereotypes, which did not appear in the original. René Goscinny was not at all amused and withdrew the translation license from Kauka, which led to a lawsuit that is still ongoing. I sincerely hope that Astérix will eventually get the German translation it deserves.
Astérix and Obelix meet Cleopatra
The other breakout comic to debut in Pilote is the western comic Blueberry, created by the Belgian writer Jean-Michel Charlier and the young French artist Jean Giraud, who occasionally also goes by Moebius. The comic initially appeared as Fort Navajo in 1963, but the unlikely named US Cavalry Lieutenant Mike Steve Blueberry became so popular that he took over the comic. Unlike the clean-cut heroes of other western comics, Blueberry is rough and unshaven, more reminiscent of Clint Eastwood in the recent Italian western Per un pugno di dollari than of John Wayne. Blueberry cares deeply about justice and abhors racism, whether it's aimed at Blacks or Native Americans. The comic would be good either way, but it's Jean Giraud's brilliant art which turns it into something truly special.
Fort Navajo, the first adventure of Lieutenant Blueberry
Other comics to appear in Pilote include the pirate adventure Barbe-Rouge by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Huginon, which debuted in 1959, the aviation series Tanguy et Laverdure by Jean-Michael Charlier and Albert Uderzo, which also debuted in 1959, and the gag strip Achille Talon, created by Michel Regnier a.k.a. Greg in 1963.
Going Dutch
The Dutch mostly read the Flemish editions of Franco-Belgian comics. However, they also have some titles of their own. One feature that's unique to Dutch comics is that they have no speech bubbles, only captions.
The typical Dutch comic format, here seen in a page of Eric de Noorman.
One of the most popular Dutch comics is Eric de Noorman (Eric the Norseman) about the adventures of a Viking warrior and his family. Created in 1946 by Hans G. Kresse, Eric de Noorman first appeared in the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. The strip was picked up by other newspapers and also published in the oblong piccolo format from 1948 on.
Hans G. Kresse's artwork for Eric de Noorman
Another popular Dutch comic strip is Paulus de boskabouter (Paulus the Woodgnome). Created by Jan van Oort a.k.a. Jean Dulieu in 1946, the adventures of Paulus and his animal friends first appeared in the newspaper Het Vrije Volk and also spawned a series of popular radio dramas.
The adventures of Paulus the Woodgnome
Kapitein Rob is a fascinating mix of sea adventure and science fiction, because De Vrijheid (Freedom), the sailing ship helmed by the titular captain, can also travel through time as well as space. The strip was created by writer Evert Werkman and artist Pieter Kuhn and debuted in 1945 in the newspaper Het Parool.
A science fictional adventure for Kapitein Rob
However, the most highly regarded comic in the Netherlands is a funny animal comic named Tom Poes (Tom Cat). The adventures of the anthropomorphic cat Tom Poes and his best friend, the aristocratic bear Olivier B. Bommel, first appeared in the newspaper De Telegraaf in 1941. Tom Poes started out as a children's comic, but quickly became popular among adults due to the satirical allusions and idiosyncratic language use of its creator Marten Toonder. Like Erika Fuchs, the brilliant German translator of the Donald Duck comics, many of the expressions and neologisms Marten Toonder introduced in Tom Poes have become part of the Dutch language.
Tom Poes Weekly
The erotic space adventures of Barbarella
Delightful as the French-Belgian-Dutch comics are, female characters are sadly rare in those strips and female main characters are even rarer. However, there is one exception and it's even a science fiction comic.
Created by Jean-Claude Forest, Barbarella first appeared in the French periodical V Magazine in 1962. The protagonist is a young female space explorer who happens to be a dead ringer for French movie star Brigitte Bardot. Barbarella travels from planet to planet, meets various aliens with whom she engages in rather intimate first contact. Barbarella also loses her clothes a lot.
Barbarella on the cover of her scandalous first album.Barbarella with her clothes on for once.
As long as the strip appeared only in V Magazine, which is similar to Playboy in the US, no one minded. But when the album was released last year, it caused a minor scandal and was banned as pornographic, which only served to make Barbarella even more popular.
Jean-Claude Forest also illustrates covers for French science fiction magazines.
Hard as it may be to imagine, this article only offers a brief glimpse into the wide and wonderful world of Franco-Belgian-Dutch comics. Many of these comics are not yet accessible to English speaking readers, but I hope that will change eventually.
Here at the Journey, we occasionally visit the wonderful world of comic books, mostly from the US but also from the UK. However, comics have long been a global phenomenon and so I'm presenting you the comics of East and West Germany.
Superheroes may rule in the US, but in West Germany, you will have a hard time finding American superhero comics, unless you have befriended an American GI who can hook you up with the latest US comics.
Erika Fuchs, the brilliant Germany translator of the Donald Duck comics
Instead, the most popular US comics in West Germany are none than the Disney comics featuring Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and friends. A large part of the reason why the Disney comics are so popular in West Germany is the brilliant work of translator Erika Fuchs, who introduced inventive wordplay and allusions to classic literature into the comics and thus gained a large adult fanbase. The various linguistic "donaldisms" created by Erika Fuchs have even entered the regular German language by now.
Inspired by the success of the Disney comics, in 1953 West German artist Rolf Kauka created his own comic magazine called Till Eulenspiegel, named after a popular trickster character from German legend. However, a pair of clever foxes named Fix and Foxi quickly became the most popular characters and in 1955, the magazine was retitled as Fix und Foxi. The two foxes quickly adopted a whole menagerie of animal friends such as the wolf Lupo and his cousin Lupinchen, the mole Pauli and the sister Paulinchen, the raven Knox, the hare Hops, the hedgehog Stops and the mouse Mausi. Other characters to appear in the magazine are "Tom and Klein Biberherz" (Little Beaverheart), a cowboy character and his indigenous friend, and "Mischa im Weltraum" (Mischa in Outer Space), a humorous science fiction comic. Those who have read the Archie comics will find that Mischa looks very familiar.
Fix and Foxi and friends"Mischa in Space" on the cover of Fix and Foxi. Mischa looks very reminiscent of US character Archie.
Mecki: The Amazing Adventures of a Little Hedgehog
Fix and Foxi are not the only anthropomorphic animals in West German comics. There is also Mecki the hedgehog, whose tangled history predates the two foxes. Mecki first appeared in 1938 – still nameless and not in comic format at all, but in an animated puppet film adaptation of the Grimm fairy tale "The Race between Hare and Hedgehog". The film spawned a series of picture postcards featuring the clever little hedgehog.
Mecki debuts on the cover of Hör Zu! No. 43 in October 1949
In 1949, one of those picture postcards landed on the desk of Eduard Rhein, Renaissance man (in now 65 years, Rhein has been a Zeppelin engineer, inventor, technical writer, violinist and novelist) and editor-in-chief of the radio listings magazine Hör Zu! (Listen!). Rhein was looking for a mascot for the magazine, a character who would offers snarky commentary on the program listings. He promptly adopted the hedgehog and named him Mecki. The character debuted on the cover of issue 43 of Hör Zu!, still as a puppet character in a pre-war picture postcard. When Rhein ran out of picture postcards to reprint, he recruited cartoonist Reinhold Escher to draw new adventures of the brave little hedgehog.
Mecki and Micki get married with all their friends in attendanceA Mecki comic page from 1951
From 1951 on, one page Mecki strips appeared in Hör Zu!, initially as standalone stories and later as serialised adventures. Mecki also quickly acquired friends and family, including his wife Micki and the two children Mucki and Macki, the penguin Charly, the Schrat, a permanently sleepy gnome, the seven Syrian hamsters, the seaman Captain Petersen, the cat Murr and the duck Watsch. Together, these characters travelled the world, ventured into various fantasylands and even conquered the Moon and Mars as early as 1953.
Mecki and friends visit the moon in glorious colourMecki and friends visit a lunar inn
Beginning in 1952, Mecki's adventures also appeared in full colour picture books. The first book, Mecki im Schlaraffenland (Mecki in Cockaigne) was written by Eduard Rhein and illustrated by Reinhold Escher, but from book two on, Wilhelm Petersen illustrated the Mecki books and later also shared artist duties with Reinhold Escher on the comic strip. Reinhold Escher's style is more cartoony, while Petersen's is more naturalistic, but both of them are highly talented artists. As a result the Mecki strips and particularly the picture books look gorgeous.
Mecki and his extended family eventually returned to the medium that birthed him for a series of eighteen short puppet movies. The toy manufacturer Steiff also produces dolls of Mecki and his family. I got the complete set of Mecki, Micki, Macki and Mucki as a birthday gift some time ago and treasure them.
The Mecki family toys as produced by Steiff
In spite of Mecki's popularity, his future is uncertain, for his creator Eduard Rhein left Hör Zu! last year – not voluntarily, it is rumoured. And Rhein's replacement shows little interest in Mecki. The comic strips continue to appear in Hör Zu!, but the annual picture book has been cancelled. Nonetheless, I hope that the friendly little hedgehog and his friends will continue to delight readers for a long time to come.
In the News: Nick Knatterton and Bild Lilli
Daily comic strips can be found in many West German newspapers. However, most of these are reprints of American comic strips such as The Phantom, Blondie or The Heart of Juliet Jones. Homegrown German comic strips are rare.
One exception is the square-jawed private detective Nick Knatterton, whose adventures appeared between 1950 and 1959 in the magazine Quick.
Box art for the Nick Knatterton boardgame
Nick Knatterton's real name is Nikolaus Kuno Baron von Knatter. His mother Baroness von Knatter was an eager reader of murder mysteries. Inspired by her, Nick Knatterton decided to become a private detective and changed his name, so as not to embarrass his aristocratic family. Knatterton was a confirmed bachelor for many years, until he met and eventually married the heiress Linda Knips.
Nick Knatterton was created by Manfred Schmidt, a cartoonist who hails from my hometown of Bremen. Shortly after World War II, Schmidt came across a Superman comic. Inspired by this new to him medium, he created Nick Knatterton. Other inspirations for the character were Sherlock Holmes as portrayed by Hans Albers in the 1937 movie Der Mann der Sherlock Holmes war (The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes) as well as the American dime novel hero Nat Pinkerton, whose adventures a young Manfred Schmidt had devoured in the 1920s.
Hans Albers as not Holmes and Heinz Rühmann as not Watson in "The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes" (1937). Note the resemblance to Nick Knatterton.
What makes the Knatterton comics so amusing are not just Schmidt's crisp drawings, but also the political satire that Schmidt, who considers himself a Communist, inserts into the strip.
Whereas Nick Knatterton is very political, Bild Lilli, another homegrown West German comic strip character, is not overly political at all. Created by cartoonist Reinhard Beuthien for the tabloid Bild, the attractive Lilli is a ditzy young woman who works as a secretary, but dreams of catching a wealthy husband. The mildly risqué Lilli strip was popular enough to spawn a Lilli fashion doll and a line of matching outfits. But sexist humour fell out of favour and so the strip was cancelled in 1961.
This could have been the end of Lilli, but instead she continued her career under a different name. For in 1958, an American tourist named Ruth Handler purchased a Bild Lilli doll and was so impressed by the idea of a fashion doll that she created her own version. Named Barbie after Mrs. Handler's daughter, this doll became a huge worldwide hit.
Separated at birth: Bild Lilli on the left and Barbie on the right
Heroes to Carry in Your Pocket: Sigurd, Falk, Tibor, Jörg and Nick
One of West Germany's foremost comic publishers is the Walter Lehning Verlag, which started publishing comics in 1953, beginning with reprints of Italian series such as the jungle hero Akim and the western hero El Bravo. Those had been originally published in the so-called piccolo format, small and wide booklets in horizontal format that look like individual newspaper strips stapled together, so the German editions used the same format.
Sigurd the noble knight
The advantage of the piccolo format was that at twenty pfennig apiece, the comics were cheaper than those published in regular magazine format. As a result, the reprints of Italian action comics were so popular that Lehning commissioned Swiss German artist and writer Hansrudi Wäscher to create several new series in the same format.
Sigurd fights monsters
Wäscher's first creation for Lehning was Sigurd, a medieval knight who had more than three hundred adventures between 1953 and 1960. Sigurd was a big success and was quickly followed by Falk, another knightly hero, Tibor, a jungle hero in the mould of Tarzan who was created as a replacement for the Italian Akim character, Jörg, a young nobleman who experiences adventures during the thirty-years-war, and Nick, der Weltraumfahrer (Nick the Spaceman), a science fiction comic.
Falk, yet another noble knightTibor, son of the jungleThe science fictional adventures of Nick the SpacemanJörg experiences the horrors of the Thirty-Years War
However, the prolific Hansrudi Wäscher also worked for other comic publishers. He created Nizar, yet another jungle hero, for the publisher Kölling Verlag as well as Titanus, a science fiction comic, for the Gerstmayer Verlag. The Titanus comics had a special gimmick, because they came with 3D goggles.
Terry Starr, the blond and square-jawed hero of Titanus.
Adventures Behind the Iron Curtain: Mosaik
Western comic books also found their way across the iron curtain, to the delight of East German youths and the despair of the Communist authorities. And so in 1955, the East German publisher Verlag Neues Leben created their own comics magazine called Mosaik. Initially, the magazine appeared quarterly and switched to a monthly schedule in 1957. Due to the vagaries of Socialist paper production, Mosaik issues are not easy to find on the newsstands of East Germany and always sell out quickly, unless you know someone who will reserve a copy for you.
The Digedags travel into space
The stars of Mosaik are three cobolds named Dig, Dag and Digedag. The Digedags, as they are collectively known, have amazing adventures in time and space. So far, they have fought pirates, founded a circus, travelled to ancient Rome and into outer space and meet various important historical figures. Their latest adventure has taken them to the Middle Ages, where they picked up a new travelling companion in the clumsy knight Ritter Runkel.
The Digedags fight pirates.
So how Socialist are the Digedags? The answer is, "It's complicated." During their epic space adventure, the Digedags were dragged into a conflict between the Republican Union, a Socialist utopia, and their sworn enemies, the Großneonian Reich, an expansionist capitalist hell state ruled by people dressed in what looks like SS uniforms. But while the space saga wore its Socialist heart on its sleeve, the following inventor cycle was the opposite. For the inspirational inventors from history the Digedags encountered include not just East German hero Otto von Guericke, 17th century scientist and mayor of Magdeburg, but also capitalists such as James Watt and even Werner von Siemens, aristocrat and capitalist, whom the Digedags meet as a young lieutenant in the Prussian army.
The uniform worn by the villainous commander of the Großneonian space station does look strangely familiar.
However, the main objective of Mosaik is apolitical fun, which is also why the magazine is so much more popular than other publications from the same company such as Die Trommel (The Drum), the official magazine of the Ernst Thälmann Young Pioneers, which includes such thrilling comic strips as "The Girl from the Soviet War Monument" or "The Red Climbers".
"Das Mädchen vom Ehrenmal" (The Girl from the Soviet War Monument), an inspirational comic strip from "Die Trommel" (The Drum), the official magazine of the Ernst Thälmann Young Pioneers.
The Digedags were the creation of cartoonist Hannes Hegen, but in true Socialist fashion the comic is created by a collective of writers and artists. The current head writer is Lothar Dräger. The main artist is Lona Rietschel, one of the few women to work in German comics.
And that's it for the comics of East and West Germany. Next month, I will introduce you to the comics of Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
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