Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Murder by High Tide

Beginning with the raucous Pieds Nickeles comic strip created in 1908 by the French cartoonist Louis Forton, French-language comics have brought laughter and thrills to millions upon millions of kids for just over a century now.

La bande dessinee, as they call it, found its uncontested master in 1929 when a young Belgian cartoonist named Georges Remi, inspired by Alain St.-Ogan's popular Zig et Puce comic strip (itself in turn inspired by 1920s American comic strips), produced the first installments of Tintin for Le Petit XXe. Thanks to the oddly-coiffed young reporter and his dog Snowy, the man who signed his work Herge became, within a decade, the most popular cartoonist in Europe (and has remained so ever since).

The 25 years after World War II, from 1945 to 1970, were a true golden age for Franco-Belgian comics, published in hugely popular weekly magazines as Spirou, Tintin and Pilote. Standout cartoonists included Andre Franquin (Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe), Fred (Philemon), Jean Giraud (Blueberry), E.P. Jacobs (Blake and Mortimer), Raymond Macherot (Chlorophylle and Sibylline), Jacques Martin (Alix), Jean-Claude Mezieres (Vale'rian), Morris (Lucky Luke), Peyo (The Smurfs), Maurice Tillieux (Gil Jourdan), Will (Tif et Tondu), and Herge'e only true rival, the Rene Goscinny/Albert Uderzo team behind the monster hit Asterix. And while that golden age is now a receding dot in our rear-view mirror, to this day marvellous new work continuous to be created and released by cartoonists young and old.


Many of these great comics have been released in English-language editions by such publishers as NBM, Cinebook, and Little Brown -- but others remain elusive, buried treasures to the American public. Team Fantagraphics here has brought out one finest picks and shovels to unearth some of our favorites.



Murder by High Tide" is a never-before-translated classic from the Golden Age of Franco-Belgian comics. Imagine the beautifully crisp images of Hergé (Tintin) put in service of a series of wise-cracking, fast-paced detective stories — punctuated with scenes of spectacular vehicular mayhem readers will soon see why 50 years later Gil Jourdan is still considered a masterpiece in Europe.
Maurice Tillieux (1921 – 1978)
(Belgian writer and comic artist)
Gil Jourdan is a nattily-dressed but tough-as-nails private eye, seconded by his trusty ex-burglar assistant Crackerjack and his eccentric friend Inspector Crouton (as well as the invaluable Miss Midge). In this story Gil and his associates are hired to investigate the suspicious disappearance (death?) of an antiques dealer, while in “Leap of Faith” they get involved in trying to protect an attorney from Joe the Needle, a mysteriously escaped convict with apparent super human powers who has sworn vengeance.


Read the 1st part of that fantastic detective comics here...

Murder by High Tide 
(Part-I) 
Murder by High Tide 
(Part-II) 







*** Other Gil Jourdan story: Catch As Catch Can

5 comments:

  1. thanks a lot for gil jordon ........ never read/heard before ........ but love to read it ...........
    amra akhon 2to dharabahik'r sathe chalechi .......... 1. gil jordon 2. blake & mortimer ....... 2toi osadharon ...... bises kore B&M'r bangla onubad to durdanto ........... asakori weekende dutori next part pabo ................

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  2. Zig et Puce, Gil Jourdan, de très belles BD,
    chaleureusement
    Frédéric

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  3. Kuntal bhai, tomar Bangla anubad tao o chai, seta o anek anek akarshaniyo.

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  4. 2nd part - please....

    ReplyDelete