this is post number 666 and it is about something that happened in june 1966. sometime in mid june that year I bought my first french comic strip magazine PILOTE, you can see the cover below. I was in strassburg with my class, an educational four day trip to the alsace. what caught my eye immediately was the cover of that magazine. up to that time I had never heard about the two comic characters featured on the cover. french comics were not available in germany, the market was very limited with MICKEY MOUSE and FIX+FOXY weekly publications, as well as some TARZAN, SIGURD and FANTASTIC FOUR series. in this french magazine there was a double page with ASTERIX AND OBELIX created by RENE GOSCINNY ( text ) and ALBERT UDERZO ( drawings ). the characters and backgrounds were beautifully drawn, the story funny. later I learned that ASTERIX was already a hit in france and belgium for some years and there were 8 albums on the market. another series in the same magazine stuck out by its drawing quality, created by the same artist UDERZO, but the style looked completely different, very realistic – MICHEL TANGUY and his companion LAVERDURE in their adventures as mirage-pilotes in the french airforce. I was hooked from that day on and whenever I went back to france or belgium I tried to get as many ‘bandes dessinees’ as possible from all different artists, especially UDERZO, FRANQUIN, HERGE, MEZIERES, WASTERLAIN and MORRIS. over the years that became a huge collection. but it all started with that one magazine.




© pilote / albert uderzo
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