My comic book diary

Some tidbits gleaned from this morning's sessions at the "Strips of Knowledge," conference (en francais, mostly) on comics. (A part of Blue Met and organized by the ASTED):

- About half of Japan's 20 new millionaires are manga comic book artists.

- the space ships in Star Wars were... inspired... from the Valerian space-time agent comic books.

- The best selling tome of 2005 was not Harry Potter, and it was not The Da Vinci Code. It was the newest Asterix, which sold some 3 million copies. And it was the worst Asterix episode ever, noted one speaker.

Asterix, by the way, apparently sells more than Lucky Luke and -- warning, this part is offensive! -- more than Tintin.

- Bande dessinée nut Benoit Peeters (but more importantly for Oples, tintinologue extraordinaire), noted that Hergé, the creator of the intrepid reporter, was even more of a trailblazer than many realize. In the United States, comics writers and artists were cattle, seen as interchangeable and without any control over their own creations. (Thus, for example, even an American big shot like Stan Lee had to go to court just a few years ago to fight for the rights to his characters.) But Hergé, in Belgium, assumed he owned his characters and behaved as such. Hergé first drew Tintin in a newspaper, then sold the serialized tales to a publishing house. Himself! It was a big deal.

Hergé then started placing Tintin internationally. In Switzerland and Portugal, to start. In "The Cigars of the Pharoah," the artist welcomed his foreign readers by introducing a new and recurring character, the Lisbon-born traveling salesman, Oliviera da Figueira. Although it's not in the later hardcover version I own -- newer editions seem to have been relentless internationalized, and I mean that in the sense of removing some ethnicity -- Peeters says Tintin's dog, Milou, immediately extended his blessing: "Chic!" he wooffoured (how to describe Milou's pup-speech?). "Un Portugais! Tout les Portugais sont sympathiques!" (The Portuguese are cool!)

Only someone with real control could play to his audience in this way, and could thus begin to win their loyalty.