Hergé & Tintin original artwork II.

More beautiful original artwork by Hergé is presented this week at auction house 'Artcurial' in Paris, where an immense collection of classic comic artwork is being sold on November 16th. Have a look at these incredible pieces by Hergé below:

Dated August 7, 1971, Hergé's amazing original sketches of page 45 and 46 from 'Flight 714', Tintin's 22th adventure, published between 1966 and 1967 in 'Tintin' magazine. Estimated price for both is € 200.000,- 

For comparison, I put a scan below of the same two pages as they appear in the English translation of 'Flight 714':

Below is page 7B from 'The Castafiore Emerald', the 21st book published weekly between 1961-1962 in Tintin magazine. This half page is estimated at € 50.000 Euros. Again, for reference purposes, I posted the page as it was published in the English translated version below left. As you can see, a lot could change after Hergé had finished sketching his page, as the published version contains many more images, and spreads the story a little more beyond the upper half.

Below is a fragment that is left of page 46 from the same book, 'The Castafiore Emerald', with a pricetag of € 15.000 Euros. Again, check for the differences between the sketched page and the published version (reference below right).

Below, the only part left of the the 174th strip from 'The Secret of the Unicorn', which was published in newspaper 'Le Soir' on January 14, 1943. Very rare, as it doesn't appear in the published comic book today. If you have € 5000,- Euros you can kiss it all day long.

An original inked illustration by Hergé from 1976 for the occasion of the prepublication of 'Tintin and the Picaros' in the Danish magazine 'Billed Bladet'. It appeared on the cover on February 27, 1976. In the magazine, Hergé can be seen signing this cover illustration. 

A publicity drawing done for 'Publiart' in the 1970's and used for 'Salik Jeans'. Yes, I've never heard of them either. But apparently, they were popular in France back then. It is likely that this was done by Studio employees. Below is an original drawing of Professor Calculus.

Hergé & Tintin original artwork.

Some interesting original artwork from Hergé and his studio was recently presented among a collection currently sold through Piasa in France. Interested collectors may enter their bid online on December 1st. If not, well, at least enjoy a look at all this marvelous, classic artwork.

Below are three unpublished original drawings by Hergé which he created while designing Professor Calculus' shark shaped submersible, that would help Tintin in his search for Red Rackham's treasure in the comic book by the same title. The story, published in 'Le Soir' between February and September 1943 first introduced the professor in the series and continued the story that began in 'The Secret of The Unicorn' in 1943. Estimated at € 20.000 Euro.

Here is the original coloring for pages 33 and 34 of  'Tintin en Amérique' or 'Tintin in America', the third comic book in the series, first published in Black & white in 1932 after 'Le Petite Vingtieme' had serialised the story between September 1931 and October 1932. The story was partially redrawn and coloured in 1945 and published in color for the first time a year later.

Two orginal drawings from the story 'L'Île Noire' or 'The Black island, the studio drew for the animated cartoon series created by Belvision between 1959 and 1964. Ten of Hergé's comic books were adapted and serialised, producing an animated series consisting of 103 five minute episodes under direction of Ray Goossens (who also directed the animated feature 'Asterix the Gaul' in 1967). The series was written by popular Belgian artist Greg (Michel Régnier).

Several original sketches and dialogue written by Hergé for Belvision's animated feature 'Tintin and the Temple of the Sun' in 1969, adapted from the thirteenth and fourteenth comic books 'The Seven Crystal Balls' and 'Prisoners of the Sun'. Originally serialised in the Belgian newspaper 'Le Soir' between December 1943 and September 1944, the second part of the story was published in Hergé's official Tintin magazine between September 1946 and April 1948.

More original storyboards by studio members for the animated feature 'Temple of the Sun' and storyboard artwork for the original animated feature 'Tintin and the Land of the Sharks' produced under the supervision of Hergé in 1972, which was the only animated feature not based on any comic books in the series.  

One of several sculptures auctioned, this bronze statue of Tintin is six feet tall (180 cm) and was created in 1976 by Nat Neujean. After an attempted theft it was transferred from it's original spot in Park Wolvendael in Uccle, where it was inaugurated by Hergé, to the local Cultural Center. Estimated at € 180.000 Euros. To see more original work and view all lots, visit Piasa. To read more on Hergé and Tintin's first publications in 'Le Petit Vingtième' go here.

Hergé and 'Le Petit Vingtième'.

Above: covers of 'Le Petit Vingtième' issues 7 and 18 from February 13 and May 1st respectively, carrying Hergé's first Tintin comic adventure 'Tintin in the land of the Soviets'.

Before Georges Remi aka Hergé became famous as the artist and creator of 'Tintin', he worked for the Belgian newspaper 'Le Vingtième Siècle', creating illustrations to go with some of their articles. This was in 1925. Three years later, like so many other newspapers, 'Le Vingtième' started a seperate comics supplement called 'Le Petit Vingtième' and Georges became Editor-in-Chief.

'Le Petit Vingitième' was a small, eight page supplement and started publishing Hergé's first ever 'Tintin' story 'Tintin in the land of the Soviets' ('Tintin au pays des Soviets') in their 11th issue, on January 10, 1929. A year later the magazine would expand to 16 pages and Hergé's introduced his gag strip 'Quick & Flupke'.

The first nine stories of Tintin were published in 'Le Petit Vingtième' until publication of the magazine was halted after May 9th 1940,  when the Nazi's invaded and occupied Belgium. Publication of the last story, 'Land of the Black Gold' ('Tintin au pays de l'oir noir') was never finished.

After the war Tintin got his own comics magazine, which would publish the many other stories Hergé and his studio would create. Studio Hergé was founded in 1950 and it is no secret that much of Tintin's later adventures was drawn by his assistants, Belgian comic masters such as Edgar P. Jacobs and later also by Jacques Martin and Bob de Moor.



Above: After finishing the publication of Tintin's first adventure, the magazine left their fans guessing where Tintin would go next, but a week later showed Tintin amidst the African Jungle. Covers of issues 21 and 22 advertising the start of Herge's second comic story 'Tintin in the Congo', which started in issue 23 of June 5, 1930. In comicbook form, this story would later be renamed 'Tintin in Africa'.

'Flup, Nenesse, Poussette et Cochonnet'.

While Hergé published his first Tintin adventure, he also created a twenty page short story titled 'Flup, Nenesse, Poussette et Cochonnet'. The comic was written by the sports editor of 'Le Vingtième' and was published in the premier issue of the comics supplement, on November 1, 1928 until March 7, 1929.

I had never seen it before and recently stumbled upon this story, at a great French website containing many archived works of Hergé. Unfortunately the owner, Daniel Bellier just recently passed away. If you want to check out or read the original editions of Hergé's comic newspaper publications check out his site http://www.bellier.org (hit the 'entrée' button once you're there).

With gratitude to Bellier's site, check out one of Hergé's first comics below. It's twenty pages (in French), although pages 15/16 are omitted and have not resurfaced yet. Make sure to click the images for a much larger view:

Second Tintin trailer!

Check out the new trailer for Spielberg's Tintin animation 'The Secret of the Unicorn' which has just been released! It's much longer than the teaser and gives a better look at what must have taken hundreds of manhour in 3D animation!

The movie looks great and shows excellent craftsmanship, but will it be true to the art of Hergé? You decide for yourself ! It opens here in Europe on October 26th, the US have to wait for Christmas! Check out more on 'The Secret of the Unicorn' right here.

Tintin movie posters unveiled!

Just in today at ImpAwards: the first official posters for the Peter Jackson/ Steven Spielberg production of 'The Adventures of Tintin: The secret of the Unicorn.' It's their first in a series of digitally animated Tintin movies, beginning with Hergé's eleventh comic book, 'Le Secret de la Licorne' (which in my opinion is the strongest story), originally published from June 1, 1942 to June 14, 1943 in the Belgian newspaper 'Le Soir'.

The script for the movie is actually based on three Tintin comics: 'The Crab with the Golden Claws', 'The Secret of the Unicorn' and it's sequel 'Red Rackham's Treasure' (see above). British scribe Anthony Horowitz has confirmed he'll be drafting a script for the sequel, based on 'Prisoners of the sun', Hergé 's 14th comic book.

The movie is slated for a December 23th release in the USA, so just in time to snuggle up with some corn at your local cinema during the Christmas holidays. The European release is set to take place in October / November, so much earlier! Tintin is played by Jamie Bell, known from Jackson's previous movie 'King Kong' (2005). Cast to play Captain Haddock is Andy Serkis, also known from Jackson's previous movies. He played Gollum in the three 'Lord of the Rings' movies.

Daniel Craig plays Red Rackham, the pirate that battles sir Francis Haddock, Captain Haddock's ancestor. Shooting happened in 32 days, in January - March 2009, with six weeks additional motion capturing in July. The rest of the time Jackson used to create all the digital animations with his company Weta Digital.

Guess what's for dinner?

Doing some late night shopping, trying to get something decent on the table, I found myself lurking around the local comics shop, looking for a classic story. Although not my initial destination, I did find something  that would serve well with some chiante.

It’s a little gem from 1968, a first edition Cuvelier, which he created while still working for 'Le Journal de Tintin', the Tintin comic magazine, published in both French and Dutch between 1946 and 1993. Entitled 'The Devil’s Canyon' ('De Duivels Kloof' in Dutch) this comic was Cuvelier’s second comic featuring the female character 'Line' (or 'Dientje'as she was called here). In all, five books were published between 1966 and 1982, written by Michel Regnier aka Greg, the Belgian comic author who had worked with Franquin and wrote his scripts for 'Spirou'. Above: front and back cover of 'The Devil's Canyon')

Paul Cuvelier (November 22, 1923 - July 5, 1978) started out in comics for Belgian comic magazine 'Bravo' in 1946. Bravo magazine was a 16-page Dutch/Belgian weekly comic magazine founded by Belgian author Raymond De Kremer aka john flanders or Jean Ray and published by Jean Meuwissen between May 1936 and April 1951.

De Kremer (1887-1964), also wrote the French novel 'Malpertuis' in 1943, which was turned into a movie in 1973 starring Orson Welles, director of 'Citizen Kane', which, according to AFI (the American Film Institute) is still the #1 movie in their list of the 100 best (American) movies.

Bravo initially published popular American comics like 'Flash Gordon' and 'Jungle Jim', both by Alex Raymond, 'Felix the Cat' by Pat Sullivan (1887 - 1933), 'The Katzenjammer Kids' by Harold Knerr (1882 - 1949) and 'Connie' by Francis Godwin (1889 - 1959).

During the second World War, the Nazis outlawed American comics and paper became scarce. So local talents came forward and started making their own comics, that could replace them. One of those people was Edgar P. Jacobs (1904 - 1987), who created 'The U Ray', a prologue to his later famous comic series 'Blake & Mortimer'. Other artists were Jacques Laudy (1907 - 1993), a good friend of Jacobs, after who he had modeled his 'Blake' character, Raymond Reding (1920 - 1999) and Willy Vandersteen (1913 - 1990), who would draw 'Sinbad', 'Thor' and 'Lancelot'.

For Bravo magazine, Paul Cuvelier would draw his western comic 'Colby', written by Hergé and Edgar P. Jacobs.

When Hergé started 'Tintin' magazine, it was Cuvelier who was there from the first issue with his comic 'Corentin', on September 26 1946. French publishing house Le Lombard, founded by Raymond LeBlanc (1915 - 2008), who had also launched Tintin magazine, published seven Corentin books between 1950 and 1974. A Re-edited and restored series was published between 1996 and 1998.

"The Devil's Canyon" is in Dutch, but it's absolutely worthwhile to post some of that gorgeous interior artwork as well. Time to start reading! Bon Appétite!