Great news for Herge fans: Fantagraphics will be reprinting his 1934 work Peppy and Virginny in Lapinoland- the first English language translation of the work in over 50 years: Tintin publishers Methuen previously released a version which was distributed in the UK in the 1960s. Due sometime next year, this will mark the first American publication of the book, which will be given the full colour, hardback treatment and is 56 pages in length. I’ll admit to never having heard of this before, but like many people, I’m a huge Tintin and Herge buff, so really very excited about this news.
Peppy and Virginny, our protagonists and haberdashers, seek out new clientele in the Wild West with the aid of their horse, Bluebell. The pair have multiple run-ins with evil bandits, Indian tribes and much more as engaging funny-animal characters (rabbits and bulldogs and bears, oh my!). Hergé’s clear line drawing style of the earliest vintage Tintin albums takes a walk on the farcical side that is hilarious and all-ages (as long as you explain the non-PC 1930s use of the word “Injuns”).
UPDATE: Garen informs me there was a second (equally rare) English language printing of the book in 1992, published by Mammoth under the title of Popol Out West, which makes Fantagraphics’ version the third English translation overall and the first one in 13 years. Phew! Thanks Garen!
November 6th, 2012 at 12:12 am
As you say, Methuen published ‘Popol Out West’ (the UK title) in 1969, but I have an English language edition published by Mammoth (an imprint of Mandarin – an imprint of Octopus – part of Reed International!) from 1992, so it has been around more recently.
November 6th, 2012 at 12:33 am
Thanks for that Garen- you are, of course, right. Was working from the information on the Fantagraphics site: they don’t seem to be aware of the second printing, though it does seem quite obscure!( Were Mammoth the Reed imprint that took over Methuen’s children’s list before it moved on to Egmont?)
November 6th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Great news indeed!
And I hope they will also do the reprinting of the long forgotten KAPROEN – THE MOVIE SCRAPBOOK:
http://www.tintinperdu.blogspo.....p-dvd.html
January 3rd, 2013 at 11:08 am
Great post Zainab, you got some excellent articles, I’ve been reading quite a few, will definitely be back, thanks.