Hergé - Lot 167

Hergé HERGÉ THE ADVENTURES OF JO, ZETTE AND JOCKO L'Éruption du Karamako (T.4), Casterman 1952 Original illustrations published in Coeurs Vaillants n° 38 in 1936 and in Âmes Vaillantes of August 10, 1939. These panels, like the rest the rest of the album, were redrawn and published in their final version in Le Petit Vingtième n° 25, June 24, 1937. Signed. India ink and blue pencil on paper 13.3 × 8.8 cm (5.24 × 3.46 in.) These two panels were published and drawn only for the 1936 version of Coeur Vaillant, the entire album having been redesigned for Le Petit Vingtième in 1937. In 1952, for the album edition, Hergé reworked this adventure, originally published under two separate titles - Le Manitoba ne répond plus and L'Éruption du Karamako - and reunited them under a new title: Le Rayon du Mystère. Several boxes, including these, were left out of this reworking. These very rare drawings from the Jo, Zette and Jocko series show that Hergé was already a master of his art: The essential codes of the comic strip at the time - the recitative "Pendant ce temps" ("Meanwhile"), the space-time ellipsis juxtaposing two simultaneous actions, and the motif of anxiety embodied by a character spinning in circles, encircled by emanatas - the little signs of agitation at the foot of the character that the Belgians call "krollebitches" (little curls in Brussels). Hergé's lettering is as masterful as ever: a round caroline letter for the recitatives and a capital letter for the dialogues. This system was modified after the war in response to Casterman's observation that children were learning to write in cursive. It was also used by Jacques Martin and Peyo... The mad scientist is a standard in popular literature. Hergé depicts him with wild hair - a la Einstein - but with ominous dark glasses. The megalomaniac Dr. Moleskine embodies the "science without conscience" capable of creating lethal weapons, including for the whole of humanity. That's what this "mystery ray" is all about, a phenomenally powerful magnetic ray capable of disrupting the workings of machines and causing humans to dance the danse de Saint-Guy! A sort of precursor to Magneto... Didier Pasamonik