''Tintin'' (; ) was a weekly Belgian comics magazine of the second half of the 20th century. Subtitled ''"The Magazine for the Youth from 7 to 77"'', it was one of the major publications of the Franco-Belgian comics scene and published such notable series as '' Blake and Mortimer'', '' Alix'', and the principal title ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

''. Originally published by

Le Lombard Le Lombard (), known as Les Éditions du Lombard () until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when '' Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard became part of Média-Participations since 1986, alongside publishers Darg ...

, the first issue was released in 1946, and it ceased publication in 1993. ''Tintin'' magazine was part of an elaborate publishing scheme. The magazine's primary content focused on a new page or two from several forthcoming comic albums that had yet to be published as a whole, thus drawing weekly readers who could not bear to wait for entire albums. There were several ongoing stories at any given time, giving wide exposure to lesser-known artists. ''Tintin'' was also available bound as a hardcover or softcover collection. The content always included filler material, some of which was of considerable interest to fans, for example alternate versions of pages of the Tintin stories, and interviews with authors and artists. Not every comic appearing in ''Tintin'' was later put into book form, which was another incentive to subscribe to the magazine. If the quality of ''Tintin'' printing was high compared to American comic books through the 1970s, the quality of the

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

was superb, utilizing expensive paper and printing processes (and having correspondingly high prices).

Publication history

Early history: 1946 to 1949

Raymond Leblanc Raymond Leblanc (; 22 May 1915 – 21 March 2008) was a Belgium, Belgian comic book publisher, film director and film producer, best known for publishing works such as ''The Adventures of Tintin'' by Hergé and ''Blake and Mortimer'' by Edgar P. ...

and his partners had started a small publishing house after World War II, and decided to create an illustrated youth magazine. They decided that ''Tintin'' would be the perfect hero, as he was already very well known. Business partner André Sinave went to see ''Tintin'' author

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 comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...

, and proposed creating the magazine. Hergé, who had worked for ''

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, ) is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Émile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. Together with '' La Libre Belgique'', it is one of the most popular Francophone newsp ...

'' during the war, was being prosecuted for having allegedly collaborated with the Germans, and thus was without a publisher. After consulting with his friend Edgar Pierre Jacobs, Hergé agreed. The first issue, published on 26 September 1946, was in French. It featured Hergé, Jacobs,

Paul Cuvelier Paul Cuvelier (22 November 1923 – 5 July 1978) was a Belgium, Belgian comics artist best known for the comic series ''Corentin (comics), Corentin'', published by Le Lombard, which first appeared in the first issue of ''Tintin (magazine), Tintin ...

and Jacques Laudy as

artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, with their mutual friend Jacques Van Melkebeke serving as editor. (Due to suspicions of incivism left over from the war, Van Melkebeke was forced to step down as editor soon after.)Van Melkebeke entry
Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia''. Accessed 16 December 2013. A Dutch edition, entitled ''Kuifje'', was published simultaneously (Kuifje being the name of the eponymous character Tintin in Dutch). 40,000 copies were released in French, and 20,000 in Dutch. For ''Kuifje'', a separate editor-in-chief was appointed, Karel Van Milleghem. He invented the famous slogan "The magazine for the youth from 7 to 77", later picked up by the other editions. (Van Milleghem gave Raymond Leblanc the idea for the animation studio Belvision, which became the largest European animation studio, producing ten feature-length movies, including a few featuring Tintin. It was Van Milleghem who also introduced

Bob De Moor Robert Frans Marie De Moor (20 December 1925 – 26 August 1992), better known under his pen name Bob de Moor, was a Belgian comics creator. Chiefly noted as an artist, he is considered an early master of the Ligne claire style. He wrote and ...

to the magazine and to Hergé. De Moor became a regular in the magazine and the main artist in the Studio Hergé.) In 1948, the magazine grew from 12 to 20 pages and a separate version for France was launched. A group of new young artists joined the team: the French Étienne Le Rallic and Jacques Martin, Dino Attanasio and the Flemish

Willy Vandersteen Willebrord Jan Frans Maria "Willy" Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, sel ...

. For decades, Hergé had artistic control over the magazine, even though he was sometimes absent for long periods and new work of his became rarer. His influence is highly evident in Vandersteen's ''

Suske en Wiske ''Spike and Suzy'' (British title), ''Willy and Wanda'' (American title) or ''Luke and Lucy'' (in a 2009 film and video game) (, ) is a Belgian comics series created by the comic book creator, comics author Willy Vandersteen. It was first publis ...

'' for which Hergé imposed a stronger attention to the stories, editing, and a change of art style.

The Tintin-voucher

In order to keep its readership loyal, ''Tintin'' magazine created a sort of fidelity passport, called the "Chèque Tintin" in France (Tintin-voucher) and "Timbre Tintin" in Belgium (Tintin-stamp), which was offered with every issue of the magazine, in every comic album by

, and on many food products as well. These stamps could be exchanged for various gifts not available in commercial establishments. Other brands, mostly from food companies, affiliated themselves with the Tintin voucher system: they could be found on flour, semolina boxes, etc. A Tintin soda existed, and even Tintin shoes. The French Railways Company went as far as to propose 100 km of railway transportation for 800 stamps. Among the gifts, there were super chromos extracted from the magazine issues, or original art. At the time the vouchers were initiated, the magazine was selling 80,000 copies in Belgium and only 70,000 in France. Due to the success of the vouchers, the circulation in France quickly rose to 300,000 a week. The vouchers disappeared by the end of the 1960s.

The 1950s

In the 1950s new artists and series showed up: *

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

with his humorous

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Chick Bill ''Chick Bill'' is a Belgium, Belgian humorous Western (genre), Western comic book series created by Tibet (comics), Tibet. It was first published in 1953 in the magazine ''Chez Nous Junior'', and its Dutch language counterpart '' Ons Volkske'', an ...

'' and his detective series ''

Ric Hochet ''Ric Hochet'' is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Tibet (drawings) and André-Paul Duchâteau (scripts). It first appeared on March 30, 1955, in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine ''Tintin''. Synopsis The series features the adventur ...

'' *

Raymond Macherot Raymond Macherot (30 March 1924 – 26 September 2008) was a Belgian comics artist, most famous for his satirical funny animal series ''Chlorophylle'' and '' Sibylline''. Although not nearly as famous as fellow Belgian cartoonists such as Hergé ...

, with his fantasy series ''

Chlorophylle Chlorophylle is a Belgian comics series and Raymond Macherot's best known work, alongside '' Sibylline''. It is a fantasy comic about anthropomorphic forest animals, including the title character Chlorophylle, who is a dormouse. Description ...

'' and detective series '' Clifton'' * Maurice Maréchal - '' Prudence Petitpas''. * Jean Graton with '' Michel Vaillant'' *

Albert Uderzo Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (; 25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020), better known as Albert Uderzo (), was a French comic book artist and scriptwriter. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the '' Astérix'' series in collaboration wit ...

and

René Goscinny René Goscinny (; ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Asterix, Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Born in France to a Jewish family from Poland, he spent his chil ...

with '' Oumpah-pah'' The magazine became more and more international and successful: at one time, there were separate versions for France, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands, with about 600,000 copies a week. The magazine had increased to 32 pages, and a cheaper version was created as well: ''Chez Nous'' (in French) / ''

Ons Volkske ''Ons Volkske'' (literally: "Our little people") was the youth supplement of the Flemish newspaper ''Ons Volk Ontwaakt''. It was published without interruption from 1932 until 1988, except for the years during World War II. The magazine was notabl ...

'' (in Dutch), printed on cheaper paper and featuring mainly reprints from ''Tintin'' magazine, plus some new series by Tibet and Studio Vandersteen.

The 1960s

In the 1960s the magazine kept on attracting new artists. The editorial line was clearly bent towards humor, with Greg (as editor-in-chief and author of series such as the remake of ''

Zig et Puce ''Zig et Puce'' is a Franco-Belgian comics series created by Alain Saint-Ogan in 1925 that became popular and influential over a long period. After ending production, it was revived by Greg for a second successful publication run. Synopsis ...

''), Jo-El Azara (with ''Taka Takata''), Dany (with '' Olivier Rameau'') and Dupa (with '' Cubitus''). Other authors joined the magazine, like

William Vance William van Cutsem (8 September 1935 – 14 May 2018), better known by his pen name William Vance, was a Belgian comics artist known for his distinctive realistic style and work in Franco-Belgian comics. Biography William van Cutsem was born ...

(with '' Ringo'' and '' Bruno Brazil'') and Hermann (with '' Bernard Prince'').

The 1970s

In the 1970s the comics scene in France and Belgium went through important changes. The mood for magazines had declined in favor of albums in the late 1960s. In 1965, Greg was appointed chief editor. He transformed the editorial line, in order to keep the pace with the new way of thinking of the time. The characters gained psychological dimensions, real women characters appeared, and sex. New foreign artists series were added to the magazine. Moralizing articles and long biographies disappeared as well. These transformations were crowned with success, leading to the Yellow Kid prize at the Lucca comics festival, awarded to the magazine in 1972 for the best publication of the year. Greg quit his chief editor position in 1974. The major new authors in the 1970s were: * Derib ('' Buddy Longway'') * Franz (''

Jugurtha Jugurtha or Jugurthen (c. 160 – 104 BC) was a king of Numidia, the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa. When the Numidian king Micipsa, who had adopted Jugurtha, died in 118 BC, Micipsa's two sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal ...

'') * ('' Jonathan'') * Gilles Chaillet ('' Vasco'') * Jean-Claude Servais *

Hugo Pratt Ugo Eugenio Prat (15 June 1927 – 20 August 1995), better known as Hugo Pratt, was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as '' Corto Maltese''. He was indu ...

(''

Corto Maltese ''Corto Maltese'' ( ; ) is a series of adventure comics named after the character Corto Maltese, an adventurous sailor. It was created by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967. The comics are highly praised as some of the most arti ...

'') *

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) wa ...

('' The Spirit'') And more in the humor vein: * Turk & De Groot with '' Robin Dubois''

The 1980s and 1990s

The 1980s showed a steady decline of popularity of ''Tintin'' magazine, with different short-lived attempts to attract a new audience. Adolescents and adults preferred the magazine '' À Suivre'', if they read comics at all, and younger children seemed less inclined to read comic magazines and preferred

. Still, some important new authors and series started, including

Grzegorz Rosiński Grzegorz Rosiński (Polish: ; born 3 August 1941) is a Polish comic book artist, illustrator and painter. He is best known for providing the artwork for the series '' Thorgal''. His other notable work includes art drawn in the '' Hans'' and '' C ...

, with ''

Thorgal ''Thorgal'' is a fantasy Adventure (genre), adventure series created in the Franco-Belgian comics, Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' (BD) tradition by Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and Polish graphic artist Grzegorz Rosiński. Debuting in 1977, ...

'', and

Andreas Andreas () is a name derived from the Greek noun ἀνήρ ''anēr'', with genitive ἀνδρός ''andros'', which means "man". See the article on Andrew for more information. The Scandinavian name is earliest attested as antreos in a runeston ...

, with '' Rork''. At the end of 1980, the Belgian edition was cancelled, leaving the French edition remaining. In 1988, the circulation of the French version had dropped to 100,000, and when the contract between the Hergé family and Raymond Leblanc finished, the name was changed to ''Tintin Reporter''. Alain Baran, a friend of Hergé, tried to revive the magazine in December 1992. The magazine disappeared after six months, leaving behind a financial disaster. The circulation of the magazine dropped dramatically, and publication of the Dutch version ''Kuifje'' ceased in 1992, and the French version, renamed ''Hello Bédé'', finally disappeared in 1993.

International editions

* A Portuguese version was published between 1968 and 1983. * A Greek version existed during 1969–1972. * An Egyptian version existed from 1971 to 1980.

''Spirou'' and ''Tintin'' rivalry

From the beginning, ''Tintin'' magazine was in competition with '' Spirou'' magazine. As part of a

gentlemen's agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding wikt:agreement, agreement between two or more parties. It is typically Oral contract, oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspok ...

between the two publishers,

and Charles Dupuis of

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now ...

, if one artist was published by one of the magazines, he would not be published by the other one. One notable exception, however, was

André Franquin André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are ''Gaston (comics), Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to ...

, who in 1955, after a dispute with his editor, moved from the more popular ''Spirou'' to ''Tintin''. The dispute was quickly settled, but by then Franquin had signed an agreement with ''Tintin'' for five years. He created '' Modeste et Pompon'' for ''Tintin'' while pursuing work for ''Spirou''. He quit ''Tintin'' at the end of his contract. Some artists moved from ''Spirou'' to ''Tintin'' like Eddy Paape and Liliane & Fred Funcken, while some went from ''Tintin'' to ''Spirou'' like

and

Berck Berck (), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer in French or Berck-su-Mér in Picard language, Picard ( ''Berck on Sea''), is a Communes of France, commune in the northern French Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Situated on ...

Main authors and series

*: ''Tounga'' (1961–1985), ''Bob Binn'' (1960–1977), ''Marc Franval'' (1963–1974) *

: '' Rork'' (1978–1993) * Dino Attanasio: ''Signor Spaghetti'' (1957–1978), '' Modeste et Pompon'', (1959–1968) * Jo-El Azara: ''Taka Takata'' (1965–1980) * Bara: ''Max L'Explorateur'' (1968–1975), ''Cro-Magnon'' (1974–1993) *

: ''Strapontin'' (1958–1968) * Gordon Bess: ''

Redeye ''RedEye'' was a publication put out by the ''Chicago Tribune'' geared toward 18 to 34-year-olds. It was published every weekday since its inception in 2002 until February 3, 2017. Publication was reduced to weekly starting February 9, 2017. ...

'' (1969–1990) * Bom: ''Julie, Claire, Cécile et les autres...'' (1982–1993) *: ''Jonathan'' (1975–1986) * François Craenhals: ''Le Chevalier Ardent'' (1966–1986), ''Pom et Teddy'' (1953–1968) *

: '' Corentin'' (1946–1984, sporadically) * Dany: '' Olivier Rameau'' (1968–1988) * Bob de Groot: '' Clifton'' (1970–1990), ''Robin Dubois'' (1969–1986) *

Bob de Moor Robert Frans Marie De Moor (20 December 1925 – 26 August 1992), better known under his pen name Bob de Moor, was a Belgian comics creator. Chiefly noted as an artist, he is considered an early master of the Ligne claire style. He wrote and ...

: '' Barelli'' (1950–1986, sporadically), ''Professeur Tric'' (1950–1979) * Christian Denayer: ''Alain Chevalier'' (1976–1985), ''Casseurs'' (1975–1990) * Derib: '' Buddy Longway'' (1972–1987), '' Go West'' (1971–1978), '' Yakari'' (1978–1982) *

André-Paul Duchâteau André-Paul Duchâteau (8 May 1925 – 26 August 2020) was a Belgian comics writer and mystery novelist. Biography He worked with Tibet on the detective comics series ''Ric Hochet'' and the more humoristic western comic ''Chick Bill''. He also w ...

: ''

'' (1959–1992), ''

'' (1965–1970) * Dupa: '' Cubitus'' (1968–1993), ''

'' (1971–1983) *

: '' Modeste et Pompon'' (1955–1959) *

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

and Liliane Funcken: Various historical comics (1952–1988) * Géri: ''Mr. Magellan'' (1969–1979) *

Christian Godard Christian Godard (24 March 1932 – 6 November 2024) was a French cartoonist of the series '' Martin Milan'' for ''Tintin'' magazine. Godard also worked on various other series, including '' The Vagabond of Limbo'', '' Norbert and Kari'', '' To ...

: ''Martin Milan'' (1967–1984) *

: '' Oumpa-Pah'' (1958–1962), ''Signor Spaghetti'' (1957–1978) * Jean Graton: '' Michel Vaillant'' (1957–1976) * Greg: '' Zig, Puce et Alfred'' (1963–1969), '' Bernard Prince'' (1966–1985), ''

'' (1958–1987) etc. * Hachel: ''Benjamin'' (1969–1980) *

: ''

'' (1946–1966, 1975), '' Jo, Zette et Jocko'' (1946–1954), '' Quick et Flupke'' (1947–1955) * Hermann: '' Bernard Prince'' (1966–1980), ''Comanche'' (1969–1982) * Edgar Pierre Jacobs: '' Blake et Mortimer'' (1946–1972, 1990) *

: ''

'' (1954–1966), '' Clifton'' (1959–1963) * Maurice Maréchal: '' Prudence Petitpas'' (1957–1969) * Jacques Martin: '' Alix'' (1948–1985), ''Lefranc'' (1952–1982, sporadically) * Mittéï: ''Indésirable Désiré'' (1960–1977), ''3A'' (1962–1967), ''Modeste et Pompon'' (1965–1975) * Mouminoux: ''Rififi'' (1970–1980) * Eddy Paape: '' Luc Orient'' (1967–1984) * Raymond Reding: ''Jari'' (1957–1978), ''Section R'' (1971–1979) * Grzegorz Rosinski: ''

'' (1977–1992), ''Hans'' (1980–1993) * Sidney: ''Julie, Claire, Cécile et les autres...'' (1982–1993) *

: ''Ric Hochet'' (1955–1992), ''Chick Bill'' (1955–1993) * Turk: '' Clifton'' (1970–1983), ''Robin Dubois'' (1969–1986) *

: '' Oumpah-pah'' (1958–1962) *

Jean Van Hamme Jean Van Hamme (born 16 January 1939) is a Belgian novelist and comic book writer. He has written scripts for a number of Belgian/French comic series, including ''Histoire sans héros'', '' Thorgal'', '' XIII'' and ''Largo Winch''. Biography ...

: ''

'' (1977–1992) *

: '' Bruno Brazil'' (1967–1983), '' Bob Morane'' (1975–1993) *

: '' Bob et Bobette'' (1948–1958, 1981), ''Altesse Riri'' (1953–1960) * Vicq: ''Taka Takata'' (1965–1980) * Albert Weinberg: '' Dan Cooper'' (1954–1977) * Weyland: ''Aria'' (1980–1992)

References

Notes

Sources consulted

Dossier and issue index of Belgian ''Tintin''
an

BDoubliées

External links

on Lambiek Comiclopecdia

at Tintinologist.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Tintin (magazine) 1946 comics debuts 1993 comics endings 1946 establishments in Belgium 1993 disestablishments in Belgium Comics magazines published in Belgium Defunct magazines published in Belgium French-language magazines Bandes dessinées Magazines established in 1946 Magazines disestablished in 1993 The Adventures of Tintin Weekly magazines published in Belgium Children's magazines published in Belgium Weekly magazines published in France