Hergé

Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the series of comic albums which are considered one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. He was also responsible for two other well-known series, '' Quick & Flupke'' (1930–1940) and '' The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko'' (1936–1957). His works were executed in his distinct ''ligne claire'' drawing style.

Born to a lower-middle-class family in Etterbeek, Brussels, Hergé began his career by contributing illustrations to Scouting magazines, developing his first comic series, '' The Adventures of Totor'', for ''Le Boy-Scout Belge'' in 1926. Working for the conservative Catholic newspaper ''Le Vingtième Siècle'', he created ''The Adventures of Tintin'' in 1929 on the advice of its editor Norbert Wallez. Revolving around the actions of boy reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy, the series' early instalments — ''Tintin in the Land of the Soviets'', ''Tintin in the Congo'', and ''Tintin in America'' — were designed as conservative propaganda for children. Domestically successful, after serialisation the stories were published in book form, with Hergé continuing the series and also developing both the ''Quick & Flupke'' and ''Jo, Zette and Jocko'' series for ''Le Vingtième Siècle''. Influenced by his friend Zhang Chongren, from 1934 Hergé placed far greater emphasis on conducting background research for his stories, resulting in increased realism from ''The Blue Lotus'' onward. Following the German occupation of Belgium in 1940, ''Le Vingtième Siècle'' was closed, but Hergé continued his series in ''Le Soir'', a popular newspaper controlled by the Nazi administration.

After the Allied liberation of Belgium in 1944, ''Le Soir'' was shut down and its staff — including Hergé — accused of having been collaborators. An official investigation was launched, and although no charges were brought against Hergé, in subsequent years he repeatedly faced accusations of having been a traitor and collaborator. With Raymond Leblanc he established '' Tintin'' magazine in 1946, through which he serialised new ''Adventures of Tintin'' stories. As the magazine's artistic director, he also oversaw the publication of other successful comics series, such as Edgar P. Jacobs' ''Blake and Mortimer''. In 1950 he established Studios Hergé as a team to aid him in his ongoing projects; prominent staff members Jacques Martin and Bob de Moor greatly contributed to subsequent volumes of ''The Adventures of Tintin''. Amid personal turmoil following the collapse of his first marriage, he produced ''Tintin in Tibet'', his personal favourite of his works. In later years he became less prolific, and unsuccessfully attempted to establish himself as an abstract artist.

Hergé's works have been widely acclaimed for their clarity of draughtsmanship and meticulous, well-researched plots. They have been the source of a wide range of adaptations, in theatre, radio, television, cinema, and computer gaming. He remains a strong influence on the comic book medium, particularly in Europe. He is widely celebrated in Belgium: a Hergé Museum was established in Louvain-la-Neuve in 2009.

Early life

Childhood and youth: 1907–1925

Georges Prosper Remi was born on 22 May 1907 in his parental home in Etterbeek, Brussels, a central suburb in the capital city of Belgium. His was a lower-middle-class family. His Walloon father, Alexis Remi, worked in a confectionery factory, whilst his Flemish mother, Elisabeth Dufour, was a housewife. Married on 18 January 1905, they moved into a house at 25 rue Cranz (now 33 rue Philippe Baucq), where Georges was born, although a year later they moved to a house at 34 rue de Theux. His primary language was his father's French, but growing up in the bilingual Brussels, he also learned Dutch, developing a Marollien accent from his maternal grandmother. A younger brother, Paul, was born five years after Georges. Like most Belgians, his family belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, though they were not particularly devout. He later characterised his life in Etterbeek as dominated by a monochrome grey, considering it extremely boring. Biographer Benoît Peeters suggested that this childhood melancholy might have been exacerbated through being sexually abused by a maternal uncle, Charles Arthur Dufour.

Remi developed a love of cinema, favouring Winsor McCay's ''Gertie the Dinosaur'' and the films of Charlie Chaplin, Harry Langdon and Buster Keaton; his later work in the comic strip medium displayed an obvious influence from them in style and content. Although not a keen reader, he enjoyed the novels of British and US authors, such as ''Huckleberry Finn'', ''Treasure Island'', ''Robinson Crusoe'' and ''The Pickwick Papers'', as well as the novels of Frenchman Alexandre Dumas. Drawing as a hobby, he sketched out scenes from daily life along the edges of his school books. Some of these illustrations were of German soldiers, because his four years of primary schooling at the Ixelles Municipal School No. 3 coincided with World War I, during which Brussels was occupied by the German army. In 1919, his secondary education began at the secular Place de Londres in Ixelles, but in 1920 he was moved to Saint-Boniface School, an institution controlled by the archbishop where the teachers were Roman Catholic priests. Remi proved a successful student, being awarded prizes for excellence. He completed his secondary education in July 1925 at the top of his class.

Aged 12, Remi joined the Boy Scout brigade attached to Saint-Boniface School, becoming troop leader of the Squirrel Patrol and earning the name "Curious Fox" (''Renard curieux''). With the Scouts, he travelled to summer camps in Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Spain, and in the summer of 1923 his troop hiked 200 miles across the Pyrenees. His experiences with Scouting would have a significant influence on the rest of his life, sparking his love of camping and the natural world, and providing him with a moral compass that stressed personal loyalty and keeping one's promises.

His Scoutmaster, Rene Weverbergh, encouraged his artistic ability, and published one of Remi's drawings in the newsletter of the Saint-Boniface Scouts, ''Jamais Assez'' (''Never Enough''): his first published work. When Weverbergh became involved in the publication of ''Boy-Scout'', the newsletter of the Federation of Scouts, he published more of Remi's illustrations, the first of which appeared in the fifth issue, from 1922. Remi continued publishing cartoons, drawings and woodcuts in subsequent issues of the newsletter, which was soon renamed ''Le Boy-Scout Belge'' (''The Belgian Boy Scout''). During this time, he experimented with different pseudonyms, using "Jérémie" and "Jérémiades" before settling on "Hergé", the French pronunciation of his reversed initials (R.G.) His work was first published under this name in December 1924.

''Totor'' and early career: 1925–1928

Alongside his stand-alone illustrations, in July 1926 Hergé began production of a comic strip for ''Le Boy-Scout Belge'', '' Les Aventures de Totor'' (''The Adventures of Totor''), which continued intermittent publication until 1929. Revolving around the adventures of a Boy Scout patrol leader, the comic initially featured written captions underneath the scenes, but Hergé began to experiment with other forms of conveying information, including speech balloons. Illustrations were also published in ''Le Blé qui lève'' (''The Wheat That Grows'') and other publications of the (''Action catholique de la jeunesse belge''), and Hergé produced a book jacket for Weverbergh's novel, ''The Soul of the Sea''. Being young and inexperienced, still learning his craft, Hergé sought guidance from an older cartoonist, Pierre Ickx, and together they founded the short-lived ''Atelier de la Fleur de Lys'' (AFL), an organisation for Christian cartoonists.

After graduating from secondary school in 1925, Hergé enrolled in the École Saint-Luc art school, but finding the teaching boring, he left after one lesson. He hoped for a job as an illustrator alongside Ickx at ''Le Vingtième Siècle'' (''The Twentieth Century'') — a conservative "Catholic Newspaper of Doctrine and Information" — but no positions were available. Instead he got a job in the paper's subscriptions department, starting in September 1925. Despising the boredom of this position, he enlisted for military service before he was called up, and in August 1926 was assigned to the Dailly barracks at Schaerbeek. Joining the first infantry regiment, he was also bored by his military training, but continued sketching and producing episodes of ''Totor''.

Toward the end of his military service, in August 1927, Hergé met the editor of ''Le Vingtième Siècle'', the Abbé Norbert Wallez, a vocal fascist who kept a signed photograph of the Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini on his desk. Impressed by Hergé's repertoire, Wallez agreed to give him a job as a photographic reporter and cartoonist for the paper, something for which Hergé always remained grateful, coming to view the Abbé as a father figure. Supplemented by commissions for other publications, Hergé illustrated a number of texts for "The Children's Corner" and the literary pages; the illustrations of this period show his interest in woodcuts and the early prototype of his ''ligne claire'' style.

Founding ''Tintin'' and ''Quick & Flupke'': 1929–1932

Beginning a series of newspaper supplements in late 1928, Wallez founded a supplement for children, ''Le Petit Vingtième'' (''The Little Twentieth''), which subsequently appeared in ''Le Vingtième Siècle'' every Thursday. Carrying strong Catholic and fascist messages, many of its passages were explicitly anti-semitic. For this new venture, Hergé illustrated ''L'Extraordinaire Aventure de Flup, Nénesse, Poussette et Cochonnet'' (''The Extraordinary Adventure of Flup, Nénesse, Poussette and Cochonnet''), a comic strip authored by one of the paper's sport columnists, which told the story of two boys, one of their little sisters, and her inflatable rubber pig. Hergé was unsatisfied, and eager to write and draw a comic strip of his own. He was fascinated by new techniques in the medium — such as the systematic use of speech bubbles — found in such US comics as George McManus' ''Bringing Up Father'', George Herriman's ''Krazy Kat'' and Rudolph Dirks's ''The Katzenjammer Kids, stationed there to report on the Cristero War.

Hergé developed a character named Tintin as a Belgian boy reporter who could travel the world with his fox terrier, Snowy — "Milou" in the original French — basing him in large part on his earlier character of Totor and also on his own brother, Paul. Degrelle later falsely claimed that Tintin had been based on him, while he and Hergé fell out when Degrelle used one of his designs without permission; they settled out-of-court. Although Hergé wanted to send his character to the United States, Wallez instead ordered him to set his adventure in the Soviet Union, acting as a work of anti-socialist propaganda for children. The result, ''Tintin in the Land of the Soviets'', began serialisation in ''Le Petit Vingtième'' on 10 January 1929, and ran until 8 May 1930. Popular in Francophone Belgium, Wallez organized a publicity stunt at the Gare de Nord station, following which he organized the publication of the story in book form. The popularity of the story led to an increase in sales, and so Wallez granted Hergé two assistants, Eugène Van Nyverseel and Paul "Jam" Jamin.

In January 1930, Hergé introduced '' Quick & Flupke'' (''Quick et Flupke''), a new comic strip about two street kids from Brussels, in the pages of ''Le Petit Vingtième''. At Wallez's direction, in June he began serialisation of the second Tintin adventure, ''Tintin in the Congo'', designed to encourage colonial sentiment towards the Belgian Congo. Authored in a paternalistic style that depicted the Congolese as childlike idiots, in later decades it would be accused of racism; however, at the time it was un-controversial and popular, with further publicity stunts held to increase sales. For the third adventure, ''Tintin in America'', serialised from September 1931 to October 1932, Hergé finally got to deal with a scenario of his own choice, although he used the work to push an anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist agenda in keeping with the paper's ultra-conservative ideology. Although the ''Adventures of Tintin'' had been serialised in the French Catholic '' Cœurs Vaillants'' ("Brave Hearts") since 1930, he was soon receiving syndication requests from Swiss and Portuguese newspapers too. Though wealthier than most Belgians at his age, and despite increasing success, he remained an unfazed "conservative young man" dedicated to his work.

Hergé sought work elsewhere too, creating '' The Lovable Mr. Mops'' cartoon for the Bon Marché department store, and '' The Adventures of Tim the Squirrel Out West'' for the rival L'Innovation department store.

First marriage

At the offices of in 1928, Hergé met the woman who would become his first wife, Germaine Kieckens (1906 – 26 October 1995). A redhead described by Pierre Assouline as "elegant and popular", she had obtained work as the secretary for Norbert Wallez. At the time of her birth, her parents were relatively elderly, and having lost an earlier child they were particularly overprotective of her. Greatly admiring Wallez, whom she looked up to as a father figure, she adopted his fascist political beliefs. She was appointed editor of , a supplement for women for which Hergé sometimes drew the cover. She also began writing articles for using the pseudonym Tantine. The first 500 copies of ''Tintin in the Land of the Soviets'' were numbered and signed by Hergé using Tintin's signature, with Snowy's paw print being drawn next to it by Kieckens.

In 1930, Hergé escorted her home from work almost every night, though she expressed little romantic interest in him at the time. Instead she desired an older, or more mature man, such as the Abbé himself. Wallez however encouraged the two to enter into a relationship, and one evening at the Taverne du Palace she indicated to Hergé that she would be interested in a relationship.

On 20 July 1932 Hergé and Kieckens were married; although neither of them was entirely happy with the union, they had been encouraged to do so by Wallez, who insisted that all his single staff married and who personally carried out the wedding ceremony at the Saint-Roch Church in Laeken. Spending their honeymoon in Vianden, Luxembourg, the couple moved into an apartment in the rue Knapen, Schaerbeek.

Rising fame

''Tintin in the Orient'' and ''Jo, Zette & Jocko'': 1932–1939

In November 1932 Hergé announced that the following month he would send Tintin on an adventure to Asia. Although initially titled ''The Adventures of Tintin, Reporter, in the Orient'', it would later be renamed ''Cigars of the Pharaoh''. A mystery story, the plot began in Egypt before proceeding to Arabia and India, during which the recurring characters of Thomson and Thompson and Rastapopoulos were introduced. Through his friend Charles Lesne, Hergé was hired to produce illustrations for the company Casterman, and in late 1933 they proposed taking over the publication of both ''The Adventures of Tintin'' and ''Quick and Flupke'' in book form, to which Hergé agreed; the first Casterman book was the collected volume of ''Cigars''. Continuing to subsidise his comic work with commercial advertising, in January 1934 he also founded the "Atelier Hergé" advertising company with two partners, but it was liquidated after six months.

After Wallez was removed from the paper's editorship in August 1933 following a scandal, Hergé became despondent; in March 1934 he tried to resign, but was encouraged to stay after his monthly salary was increased from 2000 to 3000 francs and his workload was reduced, with Jamin taking responsibility for the day-to-day running of ''Le Petit Vingtième''.

From February to August 1934 Hergé serialised '' Popol Out West'' in ''Le Petit Vingtième'', a story using animal characters that was a development of the earlier ''Tim the Squirrel'' comic.

From August 1934 to October 1935, ''Le Petit Vingtième'' serialised Tintin's next adventure, ''The Blue Lotus'', which was set in China and dealt with the recent Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Hergé had been greatly influenced in the production of the work by his friend Zhang Chongren, a Catholic Chinese student studying at Brussels' Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, to whom he had been introduced in May 1934. Zhang gave him lessons in Taoist philosophy, Chinese art and Chinese calligraphy, influencing not only his artistic style, but also his general outlook on life. As a token of appreciation Hergé added a fictional "Chang Chong-Chen" to ''The Blue Lotus'', a young Chinese boy who meets and befriends Tintin. For ''The Blue Lotus'', Hergé devoted far more attention to accuracy, resulting in a largely realistic portrayal of China. As a result, ''The Blue Lotus'' has been widely hailed as "Hergé's first masterpiece" and a benchmark in the series' development. Casterman published it in book form, also insisting that Hergé include colour plates in both the volume and in reprints of ''America'' and ''Cigars''. In 1936, they also began production of Tintin merchandise, something Hergé supported, having ideas of an entire shop devoted to ''The Adventures of Tintin'', something that would come to fruition 50 years later. Nevertheless, while his serialised comics proved lucrative, the collected volumes sold less well, something Hergé blamed on Casterman, urging them to do more to market his books.

Hergé's next Tintin story, ''The Broken Ear'' (1935–1937), was the first for which the plot synopsis had been outlined from the start, being a detective story that took Tintin to South America. It introduced the character of General Alcazar, and also saw Hergé introduce the first fictional countries into the series, San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico, two republics based largely on Bolivia and Paraguay. The violent elements within ''The Broken Ear'' upset the publishers of '' Cœurs Vaillants'', who asked Hergé to create a more child-appropriate story for them. The result was ''The Adventures of Jo, Zette, and Jocko'', a series about a young brother and sister and their pet monkey. The series began with ''The Secret Ray'', which was serialised in ''Cœurs Vaillants'' and then ''Le Petit Vingtième'', and continued with ''The Stratoship H-22''. Hergé nevertheless disliked the series, commenting that the characters "bored me terribly." Now writing three series simultaneously, Hergé was working every day of the year, and felt stressed.

The next Tintin adventure was ''The Black Island'' (1937–1938), which saw the character travel to Britain to battle counterfeiters and introduced a new antagonist, the German Dr. Müller. Hergé followed this with ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' (1938–1939), in which Tintin saves the fictional Eastern European country of Syldavia from being invaded by its expansionist neighbour, Borduria; the event was an anti-fascist satire of Nazi Germany's expansion into Austria and Czechoslovakia. In May 1939, Hergé moved to a new house in Watermael-Boitsfort, although following the German invasion of Poland, he was conscripted into the Belgian army and temporarily stationed in Herenthout. Demobbed within the month, he returned to Brussels and adopted a more explicit anti-German stance when beginning his next Tintin adventure, ''Land of Black Gold'', which was set in the Middle East and featured Dr. Müller sabotaging oil lines.

During this period, Hergé also contributed to ''L'Ouest'' (''The West''), a newspaper run by his friend Raymond De Becker. ''L'Ouest'' urged Belgium to remain neutral in World War II, a stance Hergé supported, creating the ''Mr Bellum'' strip to argue this position. Hergé was invited to visit China by Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, who had enjoyed ''The Blue Lotus'', although due to the political situation in Europe, this was not possible. He was re-mobilized in December, and stationed in Antwerp, from where he continued to send the Tintin strip to ''Le Petit Vingtième''. However, he fell ill with sinusitis and boils and was declared unfit for military service in May 1940. That same day, Germany invaded Belgium. ''Le Vingtième Siècle'' was shut down, part way through the serialisation of ''Land of Black Gold''.

German occupation and ''Le Soir'': 1939–1945

As the Belgian Army clashed with the invading Germans, Hergé and his wife fled by car to France along with tens of thousands of other Belgians, first staying in Paris and then heading south to Puy-de-Dôme

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