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Jacques Martin
#1
French author and illustrator Jacques Martin has passed away aged 88

He was the cartoonist who worked on the Tin Tin series and more recently as the creator of 'The Adventures of Alix' and 'The Voyages of Alix' books, with many of the stories set in Ancient Rome. These also included visits to many ancient sites such as Pompeii, Petra and Carthage with numerous re-constructions of ancient buildings and costumes. The books also include two volumes on ancient shipping.

Tin Tin aside he was perhaps better known to non English speakers as the Alix series of books are sold throughout continental Europe but rarely in the UK and were not translated into English. Nevertheless they often show the ancient world in a more accurate, colourful and sometimes brutal way than many books produced in this country.

Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.

"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.

"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
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#2
Sad to hear the man who lighted my interest in the classical way of lif has gone to Elysium.
Alex and his Egyptian friend Enak were my companions throughout my youth.

Arch enemy Arbaces, The phoenicians, the black claw...

Pity pity pity...

Also his travels of Alex throughout the ancient world were an enlightenment, and are still well used in the classroom.

RESQvIESCAT IN PACEM...

[Image: avecalix.jpg]

M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.

Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!

H.J.Vrielink.
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#3
I haven't read his comics for a long time, but yes, he contributed to my falling in love with ancient history. His passion for Antiquity could be seen on every page. And when things are done with love, they are done well.
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
My website
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#4
My parents bought us (me and my brother) comics to read on the journey abroad. The first of these were from the Alex series. I loved them, at an age when I began to to infected by the Roman virus. Our first albums were not the first in the series, but I daresay the best: The Lost Legions and the Last Spartan. The very best.

Truth be told, when I started collecting comic books I collected everyone of his series (Alex, Tristan, Lefranc, others), and I noticed that although the storyline was always a bit elitist political (not your average adventure), the drawings were good. After Martin reached his 60s, that unfortunately began to change. His later albums were a sad shadow of the artwork produced in the 1970s. But the interest in history remained high throughout.

Martin worked with a lot of people who helped to produce his later albums. One such good student is Gilles Chaillet, I still like his 15th-c. Vasco series.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#5
Sadly the people who took over made some new books, of which Nero is frankly terrible...

soft-porn so to speak... some of the drawings i would not dare have in my classroom.

Also it seems the paper and print quality of comic books has diminished over time, my
old Alex albums are way better looking than the new ones they have in print at the moment...

M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.

Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!

H.J.Vrielink.
Reply
#6
Quote:Also it seems the paper and print quality of comic books has diminished over time, my
old Alex albums are way better looking than the new ones they have in print at the moment...
The same applies to the albums about my alter ego, Gaston. Worse, they have changed the sequence; you must either buy only old albums or only new albums, otherwise you'll have things double and/or missing. They do everything for a quick buck, which is all the more inexcusable because Gaston is about life versus office life, and fantasy versus routine, and youth versus growing up. The publisher's strategy means that Gaston has finally been defeated by Joseph Boulier.
[Image: medium_lagaffe_repos.jpg]
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
My website
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#7
So true, In the case of Alex i will only buy old prints from second hand shops, here in Leiden the owner of the comic-book shop showed me two examples of a TinTin album.. the language had changed over time, and also, the names of the characters... professor Spiritus was changed into halambic .......

ah well... Wink

M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.

Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!

H.J.Vrielink.
Reply
#8
Quote: Sadly the people who took over made some new books, of which Nero is frankly terrible...
Nero? You don't mean the Murena series (which I think is of outstanding quality)?
Quote:soft-porn so to speak... some of the drawings i would not dare have in my classroom.
Don't be a prude. Roman art was also very naked.
Not to mention that Martin would have liked it. He often had to combat cencorship, and only managed to defeat it once because he delivered his plates too late for them to be censored! :lol:
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#9
Nope i mean this one:

[Image: alex_historische_personages_3_cover.jpg]

and no i dont think it is appropriate for children in the age group 0-16

M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.

Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!

H.J.Vrielink.
Reply
#10
Quote:He often had to combat cencorship, and only managed to defeat it once because he delivered his plates too late for them to be censored! :lol:
A great anecdote to remember.

I've always liked a picture in which Alix and his friend Enak wake up because someone has entered their room; they listen to what the man has to say, one of them resting his hand on the shoulder of the other. It's a tender, innocent gesture which, as a child, I did not recognize for what it was - evidence of the young men's homosexuality. I think Martin was right not to stress it; after all, we only need to know that Enak and Alix are friends. What kind of friendship they have is, for the story, irrelevant and can be left to the reader to decide.
Quote:i dont think it is appropriate for children in the age group 0-16
You mean the blood? You may be right about that.
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
My website
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#11
Quote:
Quote:i dont think it is appropriate for children in the age group 0-16
You mean the blood? You may be right about that.
I think you are right, but on the other hand, it's harmless compared to what this agegroup is used to see nowadays. Sad
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
Reply
#12
I mean the scenes in which Nero is enjoying the company of several naked women while engaging in various lurid acts, as well as the drawing of him in his bed while he is sucked off by a slave girl.....

Yes i know too much luridness is available easily these days to kids, a thing which could turn nasty in the long term, but you never know that of course...

when love is substituted for lust, without proper explanation, kids will in fact not see the difference, hence breezer sluts, sex for sale, tits on your mobile phone and what have you.......

about the blood or even the fighting ,i couldnt care less..

Indeed the relationship between Alex and Enak is sometimes viewed as Pederastic, however not at all obvious.

M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.

Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!

H.J.Vrielink.
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