FANTOMAS (1941)

Historically speaking, the most important comics serialized in the wartime French comics weekly Gavroche was 'Fantômas', the first-ever comics featuring the phenomenally popular pulp fiction anti-hero of the same name which was created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885-1970) and Pierre Souvestre (1874-1914) in 1911. Between 1911-13, the duo had penned a staggering amount of 32 Fantômas novels, several of which were adapted to the screen in a series of equally succesful movies between 1913-14. In 1926, Allain would revive the character in a news series of books (Souvestre had died in 1914). Hence, the 'Fantômas' comics which kicked off in the central color pages of no. 24 (dated April 10th, 1941) of Gavroche carries a "Marcel Allain presénte" tag.
Below is the scan of the bottom two rows of the first page where Fantômas makes his first appearance (apart from the extra-panel centerfold figure seen in the above scan) in the comics as he dramatically bursts from behind a wall clock (*):

The first installement of 'Fantomas' covered both of the two central color pages:

'Fantômas' lasted till no. 30 (dated May 22d, 1941) of Gavroche and the rest of the installements beyond the first one were apparently single-page per issue, so there are a total of 8 pages. The original art work for one of the pages (**) can be seen here:

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=627395&gsub=110317

and thumbnails of all the pages and zooms of sample panels can be viewed here:

http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/fantomasfr/Fant300.htm

The last panel of the last installement promised a new episode titled 'Fantômas et l'enfer sous-marin [Fantomas and the underwater hell]' which was never published, presumably due to censorship.

I can't see any signatures either in the Fantômas pages of no. 24 of Gavroche which I have in my collection nor in the original art available online, but most French sources credit the art to Mat and Tori. The latter is the pen-name of Spanish-born artist Antoni Clavé (1913-2005). He was a distinguished painter in Spain who had to flee to France after the Spanish Civil War was won by the fascists. In France, he initially took up a temporary career in comics as he is known to have worked for comics weeklies Jumbo, Gavroche and Les grandes adventures. In this medium, besides 'Fantômas', he is notable for making the first comics version of Zorro in a series of albums from the Victorie collection published in Lyons, in the unoccupied regions of France, circa 1941. After the war, Clavé appears to have abandoned comics work in favor of painting and sculpture, even opening a joint exhibition with Picasso in 1946!
The identity of Mat, Tori's companion in 'Fantômas', is less clear-cut. It is tempting to identify him as the leading French comics artist Marcel Turlin (1895-1982) who used Mat as his penname. However, an online French comics dbase, la database BD du Loup, notes that Spanish emigre artist Martí Bas (1910-66) has also used the penname Mat in Gavroche. Bas, an illustrator who had produced propaganda posters for the Communist-led Republican government during the Spanish Civil War, was indeed a companion of Clavé even back in Spain where they had collaborated in stage set designs in Barcelona.

Footnotes:

(*) In a somewhat similar fashion, a female vampire appears from inside a wall clock in the French erotic horror film Les frisson des vampires (1970), directed by Jean Rollin. That scene might have been influenced by this sequence from the Fantômas comics as director Rollin was known to be a comics fan as well as part of the French surrealist circles which adored Fantômas.

(**) While the original art work of this 5th page was intended for publication in no. 28, as the pencilled note indicates, it has apparently turned out in no. 27 as no. 24 carried two pages.

DEMONAX (1941)

Perhaps the most interesting comics series in the wartime French comics weekly Gavroche were 'Le clan des hommes oiseaux [The Clan of Bird-Men]' and its follow-up 'Les Hommes oiseaux au moyen-âge [The Bird-Men in the Middle Ages]', featuring the anti-hero Demonax, one of the earliest, perhaps the earliest anti-hero in the comics medium.
The Clan of the Bird-Men, which debutted in no. 13 (dated Jan 23rd, 1941), were a gang of masked and costumed villains with mechanical wings, led by Demonax. The second episode, which kicked off in no. 29, involves a time machine which takes the characters first to the Middle Ages, and then to the pre-historic ages, as can be seen in the above scan of the installement from no. 42 (dated August 14th, 1941). The saga ended in the next issue, which is unfortunately not available in my collection.
The original artwork of one of the earlier installements can be seen here:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=506191&GSub=79782 .
The series is signed by Lortac, the pen-name of the multi-talented Robert Collard (1884-1973). While his parents had intended a military career for him, Robert Collard was expelled from the French Military Academy at the age of 16 for lack of discipline. Instead, he attented painting workshops at Paris Fine Arts School and began working as an illustrator & caricaturist at newspapers in 1906. He was drafted for the 1st World War, but was discharged when he was wounded. Eventually, Collard took up an interest in animation and became one of the pioneers of this then-novel craft in France. He also penned several sci-fi and crime novels.
Demonax was Collard's first comics work. In the following years, he gave up comics art work, but became a prolific script-writer for comics. His ouvre in this category include the long-running outer space adventure comics 'Les conquerants de l'espace' serialized in Meteor between 1953-64, as well as several episodes, mostly of fantasy variety, of 'Bibi Fricotin' between 1948-69.
Main source on Lortac bio: http://www.bd-nostalgie.org/DIVERS/02_auteurs_Lortac.htm
For a detailed study of his animation work, see: http://www.pathefilm.freeserve.co.uk/95flmart/95lortac.htm

PROF. GLOBULE VS DR. VIRUS (1941-42)

'Le professeur Globule contre le docteur Virus' was one of the fantastique oriented comics published in the war-time French comics weekly Gavroche. It debutted in no. 12 and lasted till the last issue (no. 66); the above scan is from no. 42 (dated Aug. 14th, 1941). The series was signed by Erik, the pseudonym of French comics writer and artist André-René Jolly (1912-74).
Gavroche was being published in Paris which was under German occupation and the Nazi occupation authorities were controlling the distribution of paper, which was in short supply due to war conditions, in favor of pro-Nazi publications. In 1942, Gavroche had to close shop together with several other French comics weeklies due to paper scarcity. Next year, a new comics magazine titled Le Téméraire emerged to fill the void with the support of the Nazis. André-René Jolly joined the team of this Nazi propaganda vehicle and introduced a 'new' comics series very similar to his earlier Prof. Globule vs Dr. Virus one titled as 'Le docteur Fulminate et le professeur Vorax'. One significant change was the fact that the antagonist in this new series was portrayed as a Jew...
Source of the info on Le Téméraire: 'Un illustré sous l’occupation' by Gilles Ragache

KID BROWN (1941)

Beginning today, I will start covering some French-made comics published in the war-time era French comics magazine Gavroche for the next few posts. Gavroche was put out by Editions Renaudot in occupied Paris and lasted for 66 issues between 1940-42, that is in the early years of the Nazi occupation. It was one of the new comics publications which had sprang to fill the void when most of the major comics weeklies (such as Journal de Mickey) with American connection had re-located to the unoccupied southern coast of the country. It was non-political, neither pro-Resistance nor pro-Occupation.

Above scan is from no. 42 (dated Aug. 14th, 1941). The comics on this first page, 'Kid Brown, le champion', features a boxing hero. It was serialized in issues no. 31 thru no. 48. The art is by Niezab ([Gaston Niezabytowski] 1866-1955), who, after a stint at the Paris Opera as a decorator, had taken up a career initially as a magazine illustrator and then, beginning in the 1930s, as a comics artist. After 'Kid Brown' ended, another work of Niezab titled as "Criquet, gamin de Paris" started in Gavroche.
Judging by the above sample, 'Kid Brown' appears to be a rather mediocre work, but the other comics from Gavroche which I will cover in the coming posts are far more interesting, so stay tuned on..

YUGOSLAVIAN COMICS IN TURKEY - PART 1: COUNTESS MARGO

Several pre-war comics of Yugoslavian origin were among the many comics published in Turkey's major war-time weekly comics magazine 1001 Roman during the last two years of its first series (1939-46). Especially the works of artist Konstantin Kuznjecov appear to have been featured regularly between 1945-46. The first comics by Kuznjecov that I have been able to identify as being reprinted in 1001 Roman is the outstanding 'Grofica Margo (Countess Margo)' which was serialized in no.'s 283-327 in 1945 as 'Kontes Margo'. It had originally been published in Yugoslavia's Mika Miš comics magazine in 1938.
'Grofica Margo' is remarkable for both its story and for its graphic qualities. The non-conventional page layout with playing cards imaginatively scattered amongst the panels in the above scan is a good example of the latter quality. As for the story, it is built on a terrific mystery plot with some delicious gothic trappings, both in terms of themes and of motifs. The comics begins with an elderly count living alone in a castle dying of fright at the appearance of a ghosly female figure at midnight. His heirs come to the castle and learn the terrible curse haunting the family. The recounting of origin of the curse entails a very long flashback, running 17 full pages in the Turkish edition. More than 300 hundred years ago, an ancester of the family had married a peasant girl named Margo. Unfortunately, she couldn't bear him a male child and, worried that she might lose her husband because of this reason, the misguided young woman, assisted by her grandmother, kill her female newborn with the intention of replacing the poor infant with a male baby! I guess the theme of maternal infanticide is very rare in comics. This shocking murder is depicted as such in the below panel:

The gruesomely cruel actions do not end here as the husband, who happens to fall onto the scene just too late, has poor Margo walled up in a chamber alive... Her grandmother curses the whole family as a result.
After the long flashback ends, the plot resumes with further appearances of a ghost in the castle terrorizing the new owners as well as some less supernatural-looking attempts on their lives. With secret passages and black hooded figures, it reminds me the best of Edgar Wallace mysteries, esp. The Black Abbot (1926).


The Turkish edition in 1001 Roman is a flawed reprint unfortunately. Some sequences during the flashback appear to be abridged with a few pages completely redrawn ineptly for some reason. Furthermore, roughly halfway through the story, the format changes from full page (as in the first scan at the top of this blog) to 2/3rds of a page with standartly neat row/panel design (as in the above scan) at the expense of the free-style layout of the earlier pages.
Prior to its run at 1001 Roman, 'Grofica Margo' had also been reprinted in the French comics magazine Gavroche (no. 13-54) in 1941 in a colorized edition which foregoes the subtleties of the original black&white art.
'Kontes Margo' was followed in 1001 Roman by yet another Kuznjecov comics, but that will be covered in the next post in this blog, so stay tuned on...