As always, this year’s Fall List from Drawn And Quarterly is a joy in and of itself (new Clowes, Seth, Tomine, Beaton and Barry collected! More Nipper!), but there’s one book that I would like to draw your attention to in particular : The Adventures of Hergé, by Jose-Louis Bocquet, Jean-Luc Fromental and Stanislas Barthelemy. It is simply indispensable for everyone who is even remotely interested in Eurocomics, the influential ligne claire style or Tintin, as well as everyone who enjoys a clever, dare I say it, almost post-modern mix of history and fiction, of fabula and fact.
The Adventures of Hergé was originally published in 1999, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Tintin, by Les Editions Reporter, one of the more niche publishers in France, specialising in ligne claire and style atome books by the likes of Serge Clerc, François Avril and Yves Challand. As such, it would seem to have been created especially for a romanticized biography comic about the creator of Tintin, drawn by one of the best style atome artists of the moment (and one of the co-founders of L’association). In sixteen vignettes the book recounts the life of Hergé.
Ranging from one single page to six pages or more, the vignettes each single out a particular year featuring an important event in the development of Tintin, or of Hergé as an artist. The story starts in 1914, when at the age of 7, Georges Rémi develops an interest in drawing and art, and goes on to tell of Hergé’s first successes with Tintin, his encounter with Tchang Tchong-Yen, who taught him the virtue of verisimilitude, and the great Raymond Leblanc, who gave him the opportunity to start again after he had been accused of aiding the Nazi government during World War II (see here for a great translated interview by Toon Horsten with Leblanc on the blog earlier).
From the 1950s onwards the anecdotes largely focus on Hergé’s psychological and marital problems, which typically had their influence on the Tintin books. His affair and subsequent marriage to his collaborator, Fanny Vlaminck, resulted in the white-out of Tintin Au Tibet, which can be read as a philosophical search for friendship and innocence. His growing interest in modern art, and the feeling that he was trapped as a comic book creator and would never get recognition as a “serious” artist, were only some of the reasons why Hergé drew less and less as the years progressed. It is striking how the last few stories are all about his renewed contact with his old friend Tchang, and about his continued friendship with is first wife, Germaine.
The stories are meticulously researched, and all quotes and anecdotes can doubtlessly be referenced by numerous reference books. What differentiates this book from the numerous biographies and studies that have been devoted to Hergé and his creation, is the fact that the authors continuously pepper their story with elements from the Tintin books themselves. Hergé’s father and his twin brother, who are generally thought to have been Hergé’s inspiration for Thomson and Thompson, speak in a way that is not unlike their moustached counterparts, and Hergé’s adventure on the Lac Leman is presented in a way that is almost a copy of a similar scene in L’affaire Tournesol. Similarly, details in the background of almost every panel make the book a veritable Where’s Wally for the Tintin afficcionado.
Comics creators, as with everyone who is involved in creating stories that entertain others, are often asked where they get their ideas from. A common belief is that everything that happens to them, somehow ends up in their stories. This book, for once, turns the tables and decorates the life of the creator with tidbits from the stories he created. And the result is a lovely, endearing story that rings true, not only because it has been checked (and double-checked), but more in particular because it adds links and connections that explain one another, and add to the general understanding of one of the most important comics ever.
Oh, and one more thing. Once you finished this, why not teach yourself French and continue with Le Groom Vert-de-Gris by Yann and Olivier Schwartz, which at first glance is a romp of a story set in occupied Brussels, but also is a celebration of and a commentary on the traditional Franco-Belgian comic, how it came to be and why it functions the way it does. Like I said, indispensable.
The Adventures of Hergé by Bocquet, Fromental and Stanislas – due from Drawn & Quarterly, October 2011, available for pre-order from the FPI webstore now. Le Groom Vert-de-Gris by Yann and Schwartz – Dupuis, 2009
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