60 replies to this topic

[bruznic]

Time to share a Jacky Ickx adventure again. 😉

This time it's what he calls his favorite le mans victory.
This is the first piece I wrote in English, somewhere last year.

A couple of years back I had the enormous joy of seeing both the Renault and the Porsche in real life at Spa. And my god, they look awesome and sound even better! Definitely contenders for the 'best looking cars of le mans' contest 😁

Hope you enjoy it!

https://bruznic.word...2/le-mans-1977/

[ensign14]

There was of course the extra drama of that last lap.

 

Under Le Mans regs you have to complete the last lap within a certain time.  That's to stop a car with a 10 lap lead parking up at the start-finish line with an hour to go and waiting for the clock to tick down. 

 

Which was a problem the 936 had as Porsche had serious doubts it could get out of the pits, finish the lap it had started some time before when coming into the pits, and then do another lap within the time limit.  I think this is one reason why Barth, the engineer of the trio, took over for this final bit.  He could use his judgment.  If he felt the car was ready to blow, he could have done the parking-up trick and Porsche would have argued the toss later.  Or at least claim a moral victory for having completed the furthest distance.

 

That argument never came to pass as Barth was (rightly) confident enough that the car would indeed do a final full, official, within-time-limit lap.

 

Would love to know Jurgen's feelings over those precious minutes...

[bruznic]

That's why I was baffled that the commentators during the end of this years le mans said it was the greatest comeback ever. No it wasn't. This was 😉

Not to say I didn't enjoy the one of this year. It just showed, once again, that it is the best race of the year.

[Henri Greuter]

Michel Vaillant .......  (Sigh, lingering memories)

I honestly wonder how many people in France, Belgium and the Netherlands have become race fans because of these comics.

 

Nice article.

 

Henri

[bruznic]

Michel Vaillant ....... (Sigh, lingering memories)
I honestly wonder how many people in France, Belgium and the Netherlands have become race fans because of these comics.

Nice article.

Henri

That's why I loved it so much that there was a vaillant driving at this year's le mans.
Could you imagine what a story it would've been if they had won?

[Henri Greuter]

That's why I loved it so much that there was a vaillant driving at this year's le mans.
Could you imagine what a story it would've been if they had won?

 

There were also `Vaillantes` in the year they made that movie (2003) and also one in 1997.

But somehow, the 1997 car using #13......

 

I always associate #13 with Vaillante opponents.....

 

 

Henri

[bruznic]

There were also `Vaillantes` in the year they made that movie (2003) and also one in 1997.
But somehow, the 1997 car using #13......

I always associate #13 with Vaillante opponents.....


Henri

Yes, but they never came as close to the victory as the one this year.
And yes, no. 13 is the leader's number. Someone didn't pay attention to the comics that year, hahaha.

Wouldn't it be awesome if they have a red leader car as well next year?
I think I'd be happy as a little kid 🤣

[Henri Greuter]

Yes, but they never came as close to the victory as the one this year.
And yes, no. 13 is the leader's number. Someone didn't pay attention to the comics that year, hahaha.

Wouldn't it be awesome if they have a red leader car as well next year?
I think I'd be happy as a little kid

 

 

In the real Le Mans world, 13 was Yves Courage's number first, so that was why the somewhat uneasy amalgation of a car wearing the Vaillate shield and the number of one of their fiercest enemies. Yves Courage used #13 also in what I think was his finest hour ever at Le Mans: 3rd in '87.

 

Henri

[William Hunt]

Michel Vaillant .......  (Sigh, lingering memories)

I honestly wonder how many people in France, Belgium and the Netherlands have become race fans because of these comics.

 

Nice article.

 

Henri

 

I became an autosport fan because of the Michel Vaillant comics

(that my dad was a racing driver when I was very very young also helped off course but I think the Vaillant comics were the main reason)

as a kid I used to read them again and again, my dad had all of them when I was young and later I started buying them myselves, my dad and I still read them to this day

 

I just feel bad for all those native English speaker who never had the pleasure to enjoy them, don't think they were ever translated in English

I'm pretty sure that some of the French drivers started racing because of the Vaillant comics, it's influence on the French & Belgian racing scene was huge

Edited by William Hunt, 12 July 2017 - 19:02.

[bruznic]

I became an autosport fan because of the Michel Vaillant comics
(that my dad was a racing driver when I was very very young also helped off course but I think the Vaillant comics were the main reason)
as a kid I used to read them again and again, my dad had all of them when I was young and later I started buying them myselves, my dad and I still read them to this day

I just feel bad for all those native English speaker who never had the pleasure to enjoy them, don't think they were ever translated in English
I'm pretty sure that some of the French drivers started racing because of the Vaillant comics, it's influence on the French & Belgian racing scene was huge

I've got all the old ones but only some of the recent ones. But I'm planning to read them with my son, someday.

[William Hunt]

hi Bruznic, well at one point, I think at the end of the '90's and early 2000's the quality, especially the scenario's, started to decrease a lot and never reached the heights of the earlier ones.

But since a couple of years they re-started the series from scratch with a different team and a high profile scenario writer, they called it 'season 2' and started again counting from number 1, and it's much more mature and better now with more depth in the development of the personalities

 

What made the Vaillant comics always also so great is that it didn't have just fictional characters, only a few like Michel Vaillant or Steve Warson are fictional, the other roles were played by real and very high profile drivers who were very proud of that.
Jacky Ickx was a character in many of the comics and even a lead character in several, notably in this one:

https://img.2dehands...aan-1e-druk.jpg

I remember that in of the later comics from the '90s that Eric Bernard was actually driving for Vaillante in F1 lol, he certainly never had such a competitive car in real F1

Edited by William Hunt, 12 July 2017 - 19:56.

[bruznic]

hi Bruznic, well at one point, I think at the end of the '90's and early 2000's the quality, especially the scenario's, started to decrease a lot and never reached the heights of the earlier ones.

But since a couple of years they re-started the series from scratch with a different team and a high profile scenario writer, they called it 'season 2' and started again counting from number 1, and it's much more mature and better now with more depth in the development of the personalities

What made the Vaillant comics always also so great is that it didn't have just fictional characters, only a few like Michel Vaillant or Steve Warson are fictional, the other roles were played by real and very high profile drivers who were very proud of that.
Jacky Ickx was a character in many of the comics and even a lead character in several, notably in this one:
https://img.2dehands...aan-1e-druk.jpg
I remember that in of the later comics from the '90s that Eric Bernard was actually driving for Vaillante in F1 lol, he certainly never had such a competitive car in real F1

Yes! That's where my love for ickx started. And like you said, the real characters made it all the better.
My favorite album is when Steve Warson drives for Ferrari alongside Villeneuve.

Anyway, perhaps it's time to buy some new ones then. Thanks for the tip.

And I see the link you used is Dutch. Are you from Belgium? Or Holland?

[William Hunt]

Yes! That's where my love for ickx started. And like you said, the real characters made it all the better.
My favorite album is when Steve Warson drives for Ferrari alongside Villeneuve.

Anyway, perhaps it's time to buy some new ones then. Thanks for the tip.

And I see the link you used is Dutch. Are you from Belgium? Or Holland?

 

Hi I am from Antwerp, Belgium but with Dutch roots (grandfather & father Dutch)

I just gave that link because the image showed up on google images so pure coincidence that it was that particular link

 

I also loved the book where the Bianchi brothers (Lucien & Mauro Bianchi) were driving Le Mans in a yellow Vaillante.

 

To be honest all the first 30-40 are fantastic (and the new ones again as well)

 

The one with Warson driving a Ferrari next to Villeneuve is indeed fantastic, I think it was a 1980 Ferrari, that album was called Steve Warson Vs Michel Vaillant

 

There is also one, dating from 1982, where Vaillante was not participating in F1 during the FISA-FOCA battle and Michel Vaillant ended up at Renault with Warson in the Lotus, that one is also a personal favourite.
The honour of the Samurai is also fantastic, with a Japanese driver competing in the F1 in the '60s and off course the classic Le Mans album 'nr 13 at the start', too many to name are great really

some other favourites:

https://assets.cataw...69774d065d9.jpg

https://assets.cataw...5c6b2a918e0.jpg

https://assets.cataw...7f146697747.jpg

https://assets.cataw...050569439b1.jpg

https://images-na.ss...A18NTLCTWML.jpg

 

aren't those covers just wonderful

 

what made those books so good is the immense love that Jean Graton had for the sport, his drawings were meticulous and the stories were highly realistic, the research that he did was amazing

 

Here you can see Emerson Fittipaldi in the McLaren and Ronnie Peterson in the Lotus shadowing Michel Vaillant on the cover:

https://static.comic...980705fs_26.gif

 

PS: Bruznic, is noticed that you mention Steve Warson as your favourite driver in your profile ;)

 

Mine are Riccardo Patrese, Elio de Angelis and Jacky Ickx

Edited by William Hunt, 12 July 2017 - 21:20.

[bruznic]

PS: Bruznic, is noticed that you mention Steve Warson as your favourite driver in your profile ;)

Mine are Riccardo Patrese, Elio de Angelis and Jacky Ickx

Haha, yes. Did that one to make (English) readers wonder who he was.

As stated before im a big Jacky Ickx fan. And of course Gilles Villeneuve.
currently I've been supporting Vettel since he came in f1.
And to be completely honest I find myself loving ocon more and more. In and out of the car.
Ocon vs max...
I think that'll be the next prost vs senna or Mika vs Schumi.
Mark my words

But I don't think max is the new senna or Schumi, like most do. His style is very G. Villeneuve-like.
Where as ocon has the smooth, clean style of J. Steward.

And im from Limburg. 😉

Edited by bruznic, 13 July 2017 - 07:06.

[Henri Greuter]

As for English versions of Michel Vailants:

 

I forgot which ones exactly but there were at least three of them released some 10 or so yearsa ago. One of them was the very first one.  "The Great match". I had to buy a few of those for aome of my American friends because of the Indy part of that story.

 

And I have one of them too.

 

Put a gun on my head (and shoot....) to aks me for the other titles but I'm sorry, i don't know them anymore right now. Maybe, just maybe "Panic at Indianapolis" might have been one of those too????

 

Funny enough, the plot of the story about the duel between Steve and Michel is indeed based on truth!  There was indeed an American publisher (Floyd Clymer, of the Clymer Indy yearbooks0 who questioned the World Championship status of Fangio if he never had driven at Indy and he put down all kinds of bonusses to Fangio for whatever achievement he would do at Indy. Something that did happen in 1958.

 

But the duel as Jean Graton woerked out never happened.....

 

 

Henri

[bruznic]

"The Great match".


Funny enough, the plot of the story about the duel between Steve and Michel is indeed based on truth! There was indeed an American publisher (Floyd Clymer, of the Clymer Indy yearbooks0 who questioned the World Championship status of Fangio if he never had driven at Indy and he put down all kinds of bonusses to Fangio for whatever achievement he would do at Indy. Something that did happen in 1958.

But the duel as Jean Graton woerked out never happened.....


Henri

Thanks for sharing that. I had no idea!
That is indeed a splendid comic. And for being a first of a new series it's immediately spot on. Rivalry, sportsmanship, suspense and racing... What could be better than that?
Talking about it so much makes me think of re-reading the whole series again.
I used to have these hardcover specials too, but for the life of me I can't remember where I put them.
Guess I'll have to dig thru my dad's collection again to find them.

As previous mentioned I love the Michel vaillant vs Steve Warson album, but Michel against his brother, as the racer without a face, in the vaillant mystère, is à great one too.
And I think that one got translated in to English as well.
https://ck-modelcars...zoom/170083.jpg

https://images-na.ss...5129KVUfACL.jpg

Edited by bruznic, 13 July 2017 - 09:08.

[Henri Greuter]

Thanks for sharing that. I had no idea!
That is indeed a splendid comic. And for being a first of a new series it's immediately spot on. Rivalry, sportsmanship, suspense and racing... What could be better than that?
Talking about it so much makes me think of re-reading the whole series again.
I used to have these hardcover specials too, but for the life of me I can't remember where I put them.
Guess I'll have to dig thru my dad's collection again to find them.

As previous mentioned I love the Michel vaillant vs Steve Warson album, but Michel against his brother, as the racer without a face, in the vaillant mystère, is à great one too.
And I think that one got translated in to English as well.
https://ck-modelcars...zoom/170083.jpg

https://images-na.ss...5129KVUfACL.jpg

 

 

I don't have access tot the books I own right now but I'll get back on what I know about the English editions later on.

The tree I remember ond of which I ordered at least one, that was in about 2005-2008 era.

 

I also had to buy a few of the "Louis Chevrolet" special editions because of the Indy 500 story with the Frontenacs.... Some "Paniek in Indianapolis" also went over the ocean courtesy me. One of my friend owned a car that was featured in that album.

 

BTW, A number of drawings that appear in "Paniek" can be found as pictures within the Floyd Clymer 1963 yearbook! A number of pics were redrawn as they were, in some of them a car was replaced by a Vaillante Speciale Indianapolis.

Very strange, on page one of that book appears a Texas driver's Novi being run in a testsession. That car is a carbon copy of one of the real 1964 Novis that started the Indy 500. Yet in the album, once the Indy part begins, the Texas Driver's Novis are no longer carrying 1964 bodywork but 1963 bodywork. (Chassis were the same in '63 and '64, bodywork different)

 

The map of Indy that appears in "Paniek"  is redrawn from a page in the 1957 Clymer yearbook, down to the details of the trak and other info printed.

Jean Graton confirmed to me that he had obtained a  57 Clymer as inspiration for "Le grand defi" and that what he could make up about the Novis made them the ideal car for Steve Warson to driver eventually. (initially he was supposed to drive a Dean van Lines Spcl, and that was indeed an existing car)

 

Oh, btw, my Novi madness also started with "De grote Match", to go beserk with "Paniek' when I saw those "knobbelzwijnen" (Warthogs). But it took me some more years to figure out that the Novis were truly existing cars on which Graton based the Indycars. And then I went overboard regarding the Novis

 

An F1 Novi (the Europ) is sheer fantasy for a fantasy car needing a name with a link to the previous album....

 

 

 

Henri

[Henri Greuter]

Thanks for sharing that. I had no idea!
That is indeed a splendid comic. And for being a first of a new series it's immediately spot on. Rivalry, sportsmanship, suspense and racing... What could be better than that?
Talking about it so much makes me think of re-reading the whole series again.
I used to have these hardcover specials too, but for the life of me I can't remember where I put them.
Guess I'll have to dig thru my dad's collection again to find them.

As previous mentioned I love the Michel vaillant vs Steve Warson album, but Michel against his brother, as the racer without a face, in the vaillant mystère, is à great one too.
And I think that one got translated in to English as well.
https://ck-modelcars...zoom/170083.jpg

https://images-na.ss...5129KVUfACL.jpg

 

 

Forgot to tell one more interesting anecdote.....

 

 

In "De Great Match" Michenl and Steve meet another for the first time but Steve leaves instantly, driving off in a former Indy 500 pace car.

 

It was indeed a habit tha the winner of the race also got the pace car as a prize. Stever who supposedly had won Indy once thus could indeed drive a Pace car.

Now, i don't know exacty anymnore in which album it appeared (I believe "Het Helse Circus") but in one drawing appears a poster in which Vaillante commemmorates its Indy victory in 1957, thus suggesting that "The great match" took place in 1957. (That poster mentions 1957 so it has to be. But there are a few contradictions that are difficult to explain for a 1957 adventure) Thus Steve could have won Indy at the latest in 1956

 

Believe me,

If, in the late 50's there was one car that would never ever have had a chance to be selected as a candidate for becoming the Indy 500 Pace Car, then it was for sure the one car that Jean Graton had turned into a Indy pace car.

But for sheer looks alone, especially seen up front, the frontal view, no-one in the USA who had anything to say about it would have selected the Ford Edsel as a pace car.....

 

But also: the Edsel was introduced to the public in September 1957 so the earliest it could have been a Pace car would have been 1958 and thus it was absolutely impossible for Steve to have won an Edsel pace car.

 

Oh, let's forgive Graton using his imagination, we owe so much beautiful things to that....

 

 

Did you ever got one or more of the 1:43 scale models that were available in France, being released in the years 2009-2012 or thereabout? 50 (!)  different models of cars appearing in the comics, Vaillantes but also some Leaders and Texas Driver's Club hardware. Since the 'Texas Drivers Novi was one of these models, I had to buy a number of those for some of my models collecting friends in America as a spin-off from real exisitng Indycars.

Should have bought more of them than the 11 I do have....

 

 

Henri

Edited by Henri Greuter, 13 July 2017 - 10:47.

[William Hunt]

Did you ever got one or more of the 1:43 scale models that were available in France, being released in the years 2009-2012 or thereabout? 50 (!)  different models of cars appearing in the comics, Vaillantes but also some Leaders and Texas Driver's Club hardware. Since the 'Texas Drivers Novi was one of these models, I had to buy a number of those for some of my models collecting friends in America as a spin-off from real exisitng Indycars.

Should have bought more of them than the 11 I do have....

 

 

Henri

 

Hi, i considered buying those 1:43 models but since scale models of cars are quite expensive to collect anyway I thought better of it, my brother has a large 1:43 scale model collection and also at least one of that series, I think he has a Leader from Le Mans

[William Hunt]

I don't have access tot the books I own right now but I'll get back on what I know about the English editions later on.

The tree I remember ond of which I ordered at least one, that was in about 2005-2008 era.

 

I have found which three were published in English:

- The Great Challenge   (known an 'the Great Match' in Dutch & French)
- The Track of Frear

- The Driver With No Face   (known as 'The Masked Racer' in Dutch)

 

 

Here I found a link with all 3 English classic covers:

https://fireproxy.cr...1b56f4d0612256b

 

These are all three fantastic and highly recommended to track down for English readers

Then they also translated 'In the Name of the Son', the one from the movie (which is apparently bad), but that one is the worst in the complete Vaillant oeuvre, I don't recommend that one

 

And apparently they als started translating the new, current, season 2 series (which is good although the ones from the '50'-'70s are still the best) in English:

http://www.europecom...ichel-vaillant/

Edited by William Hunt, 13 July 2017 - 12:17.

[William Hunt]

talking about Michel Vaillant and Le Mans 1977,

 

whilst this comic is probably about Le Mans 1978 or 1979 looking at the cars (my guess would be '79), it comes pretty close to '77, evocative drawings:

http://www.bd-tek.co...e-a-disparu.jpg

 

http://www.coinbd.co...he/4666_t36.jpg

 

https://s-media-cach...ant-d-sport.jpg

 

http://blog.jpblogau...aillant36_m.jpg

 

I thought that was one of the lesser albums but still worth it, off course Jacky Ickx also played a (small) role in that one, I think he even won Le Mans in that book

Edited by William Hunt, 13 July 2017 - 12:27.

[Henri Greuter]

talking about Michel Vaillant and Le Mans 1977,

 

whilst this comic is probably about Le Mans 1978 or 1979 looking at the cars (my guess would be '79), it comes pretty close to '77, evocative drawings:

http://www.bd-tek.co...e-a-disparu.jpg

 

http://www.coinbd.co...he/4666_t36.jpg

 

https://s-media-cach...ant-d-sport.jpg

 

http://blog.jpblogau...aillant36_m.jpg

 

I thought that was one of the lesser albums but still worth it, off course Jacky Ickx also played a (small) role in that one, I think he even won Le Mans in that book

 

 

The Essex Porsche 936 ran at Le Mans in 1979 ....

 

 

Henri

[William Hunt]

Henri & Bruznic?

Did you also read the Alain Chevallier comics (made by the same writer as Rik Ringers), they were imho at least as good as the Michel Vaillant comics, a bit different and maybe more thrillers but also highly realistic and very very good, unfortunately they didn't make that many as of Michel Vaillant and it was stopped in the '80s, 'Come-Back' was the last one, I from 1984 I think, it even featured Mario Andretti in IndyCar:

http://www.pemanah.c...mages/31730.jpg

 

https://img.2dehands...ooie-staten.jpg

 

http://www.pemanah.c...mages/31738.jpg

 

https://img.2dehands...ivalen-1978.jpg

 

http://www.anubisboe..._boek/25330.jpg

 

http://www.pemanah.c...mages/31742.jpg

[Henri Greuter]

Henri & Bruznic?

Did you also read the Alain Chevallier comics (made by the same writer as Rik Ringers), they were imho at least as good as the Michel Vaillant comics, a bit different and maybe more thrillers but also highly realistic and very very good, unfortunately they didn't make that many as of Michel Vaillant and it was stopped in the '80s, 'Come-Back' was the last one, I from 1984 I think, it even featured Mario Andretti in IndyCar:

http://www.pemanah.c...mages/31730.jpg

 

https://img.2dehands...ooie-staten.jpg

 

http://www.pemanah.c...mages/31738.jpg

 

https://img.2dehands...ivalen-1978.jpg

 

http://www.anubisboe..._boek/25330.jpg

 

http://www.pemanah.c...mages/31742.jpg

 

 

I know about them existing but I didn't buy them then and by now I regret that very much. There are a few stories that were (with hindsight) indeed looking good.

 

But a few were so way off....

 

Most of all I recall one about a Fulgura Indycar that raced thaer in the early 1980s, the album featured redrawings of the horrible Ongais accident of 1981. And what I remembered about that Fulgura is that it appeared to have no front upper suspension arms at all, only lower suspension ones.

That was the car on the front of the album Pole Position. Tha'ts one I would like to have,

 

 

Henri

Edited by Henri Greuter, 13 July 2017 - 13:14.

[William Hunt]

....the album featured redrawings of the horrible Ongais accident of 1981. ...

 

Jean Graton's drawing of the accident of bad guy Hawkins had in his Leader during the Indy 500 (album of '75, cars are of '74 I think) in his book 'The Secret of Steve Warson', well that accident seemed very much inspired by the crash of Swede Savage in '73 including both having a red car, at the time that I read that book as a child I thought it was bad taste of Graton to be inspired by Savage's crash but I must admit that that particular book does have a great story
https://s.s-bol.com/.../9070816644.gif

 

If you can track the Alain Chevallier books down, I strongly recommend it (and the early Rik Hochet / Rik Ringers albums by the same authors are marvelous as well although not about racing), they are great as well and also had real drivers in many of them, although not constantly like in the Michel Vaillant ones
I think this is my favourite Chevalier book:
https://img.2dehands...ivalen-1978.jpg

oh and this one is fantastic too:
https://img.2ememain...eerste-druk.jpg

Edited by William Hunt, 13 July 2017 - 13:40.

[Henri Greuter]

I don't remember a redrawing of Ongais accident, will look at the album again

 

But Jean Graton's drawing of the accident of bad guy Hawkins in his Leader during the Indy 500 (album of '75, cars are of '74 I think) in his book 'The Secret of Steve Warson', well that accident seemed very much inspired by the crash of Swede Savage in '73 including both having a red car, at the time that I read that book as a child I thought it was bad taste of Graton to be inspired by Savage's crash but I must admit that that particular book does have a great story
https://s.s-bol.com/.../9070816644.gif

If you can track the Alain Chevallier books down, I strongly recommend it, they are great as well and also had real drivers in many of them, although not constantly like in the Michel Vaillant ones
I think this is my favourite Chevalier book:
https://img.2dehands...ivalen-1978.jpg

 

I always felt it somewhat funny that in "Paniek at Indianapolis"  a fiery accident happened early on in the race like in the real race of 1964 but curious that it was not with two rear engined cars as in the real 1964 but with two roadsters.... (the old guard, nowhere near as sophisitcated as the elegant French cars.....)

 

Edit:

 

The "Speciale Indianapolis" was also released as a model in that series I mentioned, according the magazine that came along with that model, the "Speciale Indianapolis" used a V12 engine of only 3 liters! This agains the 4.2 liter atmospheric or 2.8 liter supercharged engines of the opposition.

 

EndEdit

 

 

I don't know if you ever saw footage of the accident of Savage. But it started entirely different then Sam Hawkins' mishap and I get the feeling that Hawkins was further ahead at the front straight already. G4raton had of course the mishaps to deal with that the Leaders were red with black trimming while Savage had a STP red car. Coincidence beyond Graton's control.

 

 

I keep my eyes open for Alain Chevaliers, thanks for the suggestion.

 

Henri

Edited by Henri Greuter, 13 July 2017 - 13:45.

[William Hunt]

yes I saw the Swede Savage accident on youtube in the past, terrible images and then the commentator saying 'Swede Savage is moving inside that thing' in the middle of a fire inferno I will never forget those words unfortunately, as a small child I had seen a photo close-up of it that shocked me to the core and at the time gave me a dislike for the Indy 500, pure horror

The Indy 500 of '73 must be the worst horror race in history apart from Le Mans '55

 

It's true that the accident of Hawkins happened in a completely different way, in fact Hawkins had sabotaged one of the Vaillante cars and when that car broke down (broken suspension) because of it he crashed in to it and it was on a straight but the similarity with Savage was that the album was about +- the same year (crash in '73, album 1,5 years later), that the Leader looked a bit like the car of Savage and had the same colour and that the result of Hawkins crash was excactly the same: heavy fire, Hawkins half out of the car, burn wounds so the similarity is very obvious to me

Edited by William Hunt, 13 July 2017 - 14:06.

[William Hunt]

the thing with Jean Graton was that although he did draw accidents he never ever sensationalized or glorified it (a driver never died in his books, not even Hawkins although he was burned which is the worst thing that happened to a driver that happened in any of his books, a punishment for his sabotage act I guess), he wanted to make it as realistic as possible and accidents were part of motorsport, he had to show that it was dangerous as well

Edited by William Hunt, 13 July 2017 - 14:05.

[Henri Greuter]

I don't have access tot the books I own right now but I'll get back on what I know about the English editions later on.

The tree I remember ond of which I ordered at least one, that was in about 2005-2008 era.

 

Henri

 

Well, I looked....

 

The only one I have is indeed the engilish translation of the very first one, "The Great Challenge". I know for sure there were three titles available. The first printing I have was released in 2007 and I ordered them with Graton editeur in Brussels at www.michelvaillant.com

 

 

But I honestly don't know anymore what were the other titles. But one thing is for sure, It certain were ones without an Indy connection because I still have open orders to order any English versions of adventures with Indy lnfluence for some of my buddies in the States whenever these appear....

 

 

 

Seems that William Hunt was doing better in digging up what was released in English then I did.

 

 

Henri

[Henri Greuter]

I have found which three were published in English:

- The Great Challenge   (known an 'the Great Match' in Dutch & French)
- The Track of Frear

- The Driver With No Face   (known as 'The Masked Racer' in Dutch)

 

 

Here I found a link with all 3 English classic covers:

https://fireproxy.cr...1b56f4d0612256b

 

 

 

 

The edition of "the great challenge" I had doesn't have all the text and labels at the bottom of the front cover as seen on the covers shown at the link above.

'My' cover only has a white rectangle with an Vaillante shield and the text Graton Editeur inside.

Other source or outlet?

 

And as I already mentioned, I honestl don't remembe anymore what where the other two titles that were offered for sale. The only thing that I do remember about them is that it susprised me that it were not the first three albums. If that is indeed true then there might be a total of at least 4, maybe 5 different titles out to look for.

 

Henri

[William Hunt]

the three English editions I mentioned were the first three (that came out in Dutch & French)

There were also editions in Portugese and in German for sure of those three

 

PS: the link shows the covers of the first three if you scroll down a bit

Edited by William Hunt, 13 July 2017 - 18:16.

[bruznic]

No I don't have any of the scale models.
But it's fun that I found people who love Michel vaillant too. 😁

And Henri, I must compliment your knowledge. My god, I have a lot to learn.

@william, the comics I adore to most besides vaillant are Piet pienter & Bert bibber. They're antwaaarps, with the dialect of Antwerp prominent in them. They're funny and adventurous.

[Henri Greuter]

No I don't have any of the scale models.
But it's fun that I found people who love Michel vaillant too.

And Henri, I must compliment your knowledge. My god, I have a lot to learn.

@william, the comics I adore to most besides vaillant are Piet pienter & Bert bibber. They're antwaaarps, with the dialect of Antwerp prominent in them. They're funny and adventurous.

 

 

Thanks Bruznic.

 

Don't ignore your own capabilities, I don't think I could have come up with (Hey!! We're going back to topic!!!!) a story about the 1977 Le Mans like you wrote. But then, I am no fan of Jackie Ickx like you. So you'll beat me handsomely if it comes to his lesser known achievements.

But in case you ever have a question about or related with the Indy adventures of Michel or a question related with those books and the truth, feel free to ask, either in a forum or by PM. I'll be happy to share whatever I can tell you should a question come in.

Though William Hunt also qualifies as a big source of info! I had never made the connection between the '73 Swede Savage crash and the Sam Hawkins crash in "The secet of SW".

 

I got my copies of the 1957 and 1963 Clymer Yearboooks about the Indy 500 many years after having read "Paniek" and I must admit that I was utterly surprised about how many questions "Paniek" (and to a lesser extend "The great Challenge") may raise can be answered by going through those two books.

it's been written here that "The Great Challenge" was a great debut and it truly was, a brilliant plot based on something that in real never really got off the ground properly other than letting Indy count for the WDC title as well. And once there was a GP of the USA there really was no need for adding Indy to the championship any longer.

 

 

Henri

[TJJohansen]

What a trip down memory lane and the old comic books I used to read. We had a Norwegian weekly magazine called Tempo which had some five or six different stories in each issue. They overlapped so that no one ended at the same time, enticing you to buy next week's edition as well. Michel Vaillant was often one of those stories, although we knew him as Mark Breton. Other characters were Dan Cooper (Canadian Air Force pilot), Tanguy & Laverdure (French AF pilots), Bruno Brazil (US policeman), Buddy Longway (old west trapper), Bob Morane (Agent/ adventurer), Al & Brock (US policemen), and Ric Hochet (Allan Falk as we knew him) solving mysteries while driving his Porsche 911. Alain Chevallier was known as Jack Thomas.

 

T J

[William Hunt]

I think it may be a better idea if we start a separate topic just on Michel Vaillant because we went rather off topic here

[bruznic]

Tanguy & Laverdure (French AF pilots)

Those are great!
So those comics are more famous than I could imagine!

[bruznic]

I think it may be a better idea if we start a separate topic just on Michel Vaillant because we went rather off topic here

I don't mind going off topic. Not at all.

[William Hunt]

well it may be a good idea if I start to re-read all Michel Vaillant comics later this year (maybe best in the winter) and then write down every real driver that features in it whilst reading it, then I could post the complete list here with a new topic. I think Ickx is one of the drivers that features most in it and he actually played a lead role in several of them, funny thing is that Mauro Bianchi (grandfather of Jules Bianchi) is actually driving a Vaillante F1 car in one album and he never drove in F1, his brother Lucien off course did, he even scored a podium in Monaco with a Cooper

Also funny is that Ickx actually became world champion F1 in one of the Vaillant books (and in a Vaillante)

Edited by William Hunt, 14 July 2017 - 20:37.

[nexfast]

It is already been done. See here:

Vaillantfanclub.free.fr

(Though it includes the imagined Bill Rix and Gil Delamare)

As a proud owner of all Michel Vaillant albuns ( including a first edition of Le Grand Défi) I am glad to see fellow enthusiasts here. I agree with the feeling that the last stories were a pale shadow of the old ones or even the ones where the Leader pontificated. But I was pleasantly surprised with the "revolution" pushed by Philippe Graton in the new Season 2. Jean Graton was a very conservative author ( you just have to read another series by him called Les Labourdet), so having the clout to deconstruct the myth (Michel having an affair, Jean-Pierre committing suicide, the hint in the last episode that the two sides of the family are going for a nasty war) and bringing a generational conflict within the family to the forefront is indeed courageous and rejuvenated the narrative.

Where I have a little more difficulty to follow you is in putting Alain Chevalier (I also have the complete collection) at the same level. I think the storyline is less realistic, less anchored in the turns and travels of actual racing and, apart from the cars, poorly drawn, though I admit there was progress from the first albums to the last ones.

Also quite a fan of the three Gran Prix books by Marvano touching the pre-war racing seen. If you don't know them I truly recommend them.

By the way I share the admiration concerning Ickx and Villeneuve though I cannot credit Michel Vaillant for that feeling.

[nexfast]

And sorry to be off topic once again.

[William Hunt]

.... Jean Graton was a very conservative author ( you just have to read another series by him called Les Labourdet)....

Where I have a little more difficulty to follow you is in putting Alain Chevalier (I also have the complete collection) at the same level. I think the storyline is less realistic, less anchored in the turns and travels of actual racing and, apart from the cars, poorly drawn, though I admit there was progress from the first albums to the last ones.

Also quite a fan of the three Gran Prix books by Marvano touching the pre-war racing seen. If you don't know them I truly recommend them.

 

I always thought that Graton's wife wrote the scenario's for 'Les Labourdets', that's more like a soap opera.

 

On Alain Chevallier: I didn't say I put them at the same level and the early ones weren't that good but the second half of the series became really good. The storyline is a bit less realistic yes, the cars also weren't as extremely detailed and realistic as the drawings of Jean Graton's Michel Vaillant but it got better in the final books.
But I certainly would not say that the storyline of Alain Chevalier is worse, in fact it had André-Paul Duchateau as writer and he also did Rik Hochet (Rik Ringers) which had outstanding scenarios (at least the ones from the '60-'70s). Vaillant was much more realistic which appeals to us race fans but to a non-race fan I'm pretty sure they would prefer the storyline of a Chevallier book because it's less dry and less serious.

The authors of Alain Chevallier had a soft spot for the US so in later albums a lot of racing takes place in the states: in IndyCar off course (final two albums) and even drag racing.

 

Yes off course I know the marvelous books of Marvano, his epic trilogy on Grand Prix Racing in the 1930's telling the story of Bernd Rosemeyer (a favourite of mine) and Rudolf Caracciola. Those books are a must for every race fan.
http://drivr.be/wp-c...08/Marvano1.jpg
But it's not even the best work of Marvano, that has got to be his sci fi trilogy 'The Forever War'.

 

The past couple of year Belgian publisher Daedalus has released a couple of outstanding comics on autosport / grand prix racing
Off course first of all the story of Colin Chapman & Lotus told over 3 books (https://www.leidsest...an1-500x500.jpg

This one from Daedalus is also good:
http://www.denoorman...012/07/Ring.jpg

They also released comics about Alpine, Senna and Jacky Ickx (don't have that one yet, just discovered it)

Edited by William Hunt, 15 July 2017 - 03:09.

[William Hunt]

Where I have a little more difficulty to follow you is in putting Alain Chevalier (I also have the complete collection) at the same level. I think the storyline is less realistic, less anchored in the turns and travels of actual racing and, apart from the cars, poorly drawn, though I admit there was progress from the first albums to the last ones.
 

 

Actually looking at this page, the drawings of the Williams, Renault, Ligier & Ferrari all seem fine to me
It actually has Jacky Ickx in the Ligier there, 1979 off course:

https://www.bedetheq...ier12p_8311.jpg

And the Fiat rallycar drawing also looks awesome on this cover (and also inside the book):

http://www.anubisboe..._boek/28178.jpg
 

[William Hunt]

... But I was pleasantly surprised with the "revolution" pushed by Philippe Graton in the new Season 2. ...

 

Not Philippe Graton but this man is the one whom you should give credit:
http://www.michelvai...eur-lapiere.php
Denis Lapière is a world class scénario writer in the comics world, when I first heard that they were going to re-kickstart the series with Lapière writing I just knew that the storyline would be great although I have to admit that in Lapière's oevre Michel Vaillant is probably his weakest work, which says a lot about him.

This book of him (Blue Smoke) is one of the most beautifully written ones I ever read, it's litterature with graphics and highly recommended:
http://www.dupuis.co...422869-couv.jpg

Edited by William Hunt, 15 July 2017 - 03:17.

[nexfast]

I always thought that Graton's wife wrote the scenario's for 'Les Labourdets', that's more like a soap opera.
 
On Alain Chevallier: I didn't say I put them at the same level and the early ones weren't that good but the second half of the series became really good. The storyline is a bit less realistic yes, the cars also weren't as extremely detailed and realistic as the drawings of Jean Graton's Michel Vaillant but it got better in the final books.
But I certainly would not say that the storyline of Alain Chevalier is worse, in fact it had André-Paul Duchateau as writer and he also did Rik Hochet (Rik Ringers) which had outstanding scenarios (at least the ones from the '60-'70s). Vaillant was much more realistic which appeals to us race fans but to a non-race fan I'm pretty sure they would prefer the storyline of a Chevallier book because it's less dry and less serious.
The authors of Alain Chevallier had a soft spot for the US so in later albums a lot of racing takes place in the states: in IndyCar off course (final two albums) and even drag racing.
 

Yes off course I know the marvelous books of Marvano, his epic trilogy on Grand Prix Racing in the 1930's telling the story of Bernd Rosemeyer (a favourite of mine) and Rudolf Caracciola. Those books are a must for every race fan.http://drivr.be/wp-c...08/Marvano1.jpg
But it's not even the best work of Marvano, that has got to be his sci fi trilogy 'The Forever War'.
 
The past couple of year Belgian publisher Daedalus has released a couple of outstanding comics on autosport / grand prix racing
Off course first of all the story of Colin Chapman & Lotus told over 3 books (https://www.leidsest...an1-500x500.jpg
This one from Daedalus is also good:http://www.denoorman...012/07/Ring.jpg
They also released comics about Alpine, Senna and Jacky Ickx (don't have that one yet, just discovered it)

Yes, Graton's wife is credited with the scenario but it was very much a four hands work. You have a point about non-race fans preferring Alain Chevalier as some of the narratives were more focused on a kind of whodunnit with a racing background than a racing story per se.

The Chapman albums I found them slightly disappointing in particular the découpage. Alpine was also too condensed to my taste while the Ickx one I'm too biased to rate it.

[nexfast]

Actually looking at this page, the drawings of the Williams, Renault, Ligier & Ferrari all seem fine to me
It actually has Jacky Ickx in the Ligier there, 1979 off course:
https://www.bedetheq...ier12p_8311.jpg
And the Fiat rallycar drawing also looks awesome on this cover (and also inside the book):
http://www.anubisboe..._boek/28178.jpg

Sorry if I wasn't clear: I think the cars are great, it is the rest (characters, background) that I believe could have been done better.

[nexfast]

Not Philippe Graton but this man is the one whom you should give credit:http://www.michelvai...eur-lapiere.php
Denis Lapière is a world class scénario writer in the comics world, when I first heard that they were going to re-kickstart the series with Lapière writing I just knew that the storyline would be great although I have to admit that in Lapière's oevre Michel Vaillant is probably his weakest work, which says a lot about him.
This book of him (Blue Smoke) is one of the most beautifully written ones I ever read, it's litterature with graphics and highly recommended:http://www.dupuis.co...422869-couv.jpg

Of course Lapière deserves credit and in a no small way. But it was Philippe Graton as "owner" of the series who gave his consent to totally transform the pathos of the narrative and reinvent his father's heroes putting them in a modern context. It takes a lot of courage to break with the mould and restart from scratch, challenging what had been done so far (remember he was responsible for some of the weak storylines of the old series) .

[nexfast]

And thanks for the links. You are probably right we should start a distinctive topic about Vaillant.

[Henri Greuter]

It is already been done. See here:

Vaillantfanclub.free.fr

(Though it includes the imagined Bill Rix and Gil Delamare)


 

 

 

Gil Delamare was an existing person, a French actor and stunt men who died on May 31, 1966.

 

http://westernsallit...l-delamare.html

 

quote from link above:

 

He was a character in comedies and one of the main protagonists of the serial of Michel Vaillant of Jean Graton The Daredevil (1964)

 

During the filming of “Le Saint prend l'affût” (1966) by Christian-Jaque, filmed on a portion of the Northern Highway then in construction, one of the scenes in which he doubled Jean Marais had a spin. Unfortunately, the new coating was too sticky. It would have been impossible to cover the gravel roadway to facilitate slippage of the Renault Floride S convertible that Gil had to drive, but it was too light colored and would be seen. With time pressing, Gil Delamare nevertheless decided to continue with the stunt Gaston Woignez and Odile Astier at his side. Around 5:50 p.m., the car, instead of sliding, an arm on the rear axle broke and threw the car into some barrels, ejecting passengers and trapping Gil, killing him.

 

 

 

 

 

Henri

[nexfast]

Thanks, Henri. I stand corrected. I was not aware he was a real person. Could it be that Bill Rix I always considered a fig of imagination is also real? I always wondered why they were included in the site I mentioned while others like Evani or Narichkine - invented characters- were not.

[Henri Greuter]

Thanks, Henri. I stand corrected. I was not aware he was a real person. Could it be that Bill Rix I always considered a fig of imagination is also real? I always wondered why they were included in the site I mentioned while others like Evani or Narichkine - invented characters- were not.

 

I have no clue on Bill Rix.

 

Recently however it occurered on me that Karel Van Ham  (the Dutch driver who replaces the German  von Richter in the third event of the USA vs USSR vs Europe Contest in the third album ("The track of fears") is probably inspired on Carel Godin de Beaufort.

 

 

Henri