Achille Talon
Encyclopedia
Franco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
series featuring an eponymous main character, created by Greg (the pseudonym of Michel Regnier). Starting publication in the comics magazine
Franco-Belgian comics magazines
Belgium and France have a long tradition in comics. They have a common history for comics and magazines.In the early years of its history, magazines had a large place on the comics market and were often the only place where comics were published. Most of them were kids-targeted.In the 1970s,...
Pilote
Pilote
thumb|Cover of the first Pilote teaser issue, #0.Pilote was a French comics periodical published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major French or Belgian comics talents of its day the magazine introduced major series such as Astérix le Gaulois, Blueberry, Achille Talon, and Valérian et...
in 1963, the series presents the comic misadventures of an anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
.
The name derives from "talon d'Achille", the French term for an "Achilles' heel
Achilles' heel
An Achilles’ heel is a deadly weakness in spite of overall strength, that can actually or potentially lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, metaphorical references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common.- Origin :In Greek...
", which suits the character although the Achilles' heel of Achille Talon is not his heel but his large nose. The figure was conceived by Greg when, due to a clerical error, some pages of Pilote were blank and none of the other authors were available.
Publication history
The first Achille Talon gag was published in Pilote on November 7, 1963. After several years of gags and increasing popularity, Achille Talon became a dedicated magazine of its own, starting publication on October 1, 1975. Not achieving the intended success, the magazine ceased publication after one year, producing only six issues. The album series has produced 46 volumes. Achille Talon is presented in two quite different formats: there are album length stories such as Achille Talon et la main du serpent (Achille Talon and the Serpent's Hand), a 44-page story, as well as albums with only gags that run one or two pages each. Regardless of format, Achille Talon would typically first appear a couple pages at a time in the weekly magazine Pilote, then be collected later for hardcover or softcover books.Characters
Achille Talon is a bourgeois and an eloquent (others say voluble) intellectual or so he likes to think. He is vain to the extent that he builds a giant statue of himself in his front garden and desperately tries to get on the good side of the local gentry. That being said, Achille Talon is a gentleman, intrepid traveler and an animal lover. He values etiquetteEtiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
and sometimes resolves in activism (e.g., pro peace or against pollution) or inventions. He is often at odds with his neighbour Hilarion Lefuneste, who loves to argue too. (In French, "le funeste" means "the grievous/fateful one" suggesting any dealings with him will have negative consequences.)
A man in his forties, Achille is single and lives at home with his father, Alambic Dieudonné Corydon Talon, who is a beer-fanatic, and his mother. He never tires of the attentions of Virgule de Guillemets, who brings sophistication to his life. His professional life is at the offices of Pilote, where he fills an unnamed position and is mainly dictated to by a small unnamed CEO with huge ego — an unflattering portrait of René Goscinny
René Goscinny
René Goscinny was a French comics editor and writer, who is best known for the comic book Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and for his work on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris and Iznogoud with Jean Tabary.-Early life:Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926, to a family...
.
Achille Talon can be courageous and magnanimous, a protector of animals and ever vigilant guardian of proper etiquette, so much so that he fights with an author of an etiquette book — over which of them has the honour of giving the right of way. A patron of the arts (as long as he is the one portrayed) and even a wise, but apparently tyrannical, head of state, even if it's only for a short while.
Device
On a page verbal and visual humor are usually mixed, although sometimes the humour is strictly visual, sometimes mostly verbal. The visual humor is often from exaggeration (phones often do not simply ring, but explode), however occasionally it is subtle and understated (a factory spewing out toxic fumes, bearing a sign "Gourmet Foods", or a funnel in the soil of an overflowing pot, where watering with any tool could hardly miss).The verbal humour usually consists of long rants, in which internal inconsistencies, puns and sheer nonsense are cleverly interspersed. Of course, Achille Talon is almost invariably proven wrong and ends up being the butt of the joke.
Characters have punning names. The local retailer (his business being whatever the plot happens to require) is Vincent Poursan, which in French sounds like vingt-cinq pour cent ("twenty-five percent").
Typical quotes
- "Bof" or "Hop" are his favorite interjections, especially if things do not turn out as expected. "Bof!" is the verbal equivalent of the Gaulish shrug, rather like "Whatever!"
- "After careful consideration of the facts, I've decided to faint. It may not be very heroic, but it is relaxing. Therefore, zzzzz."
Translation into English
In 1981 Dargaud Canada translated Le Trésor de Virgule into English as Magnesia's Treasure. Achille Talon was translated into Walter Melon, presumably a pun on "watermelon". The paperback volume included two features not included in the French original: a page introducing the characters (similar to the opening of AsterixAsterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...
books), and a humorous three page illustrated essay on Greg and the publishing industry in general. The back cover is the familiar picture of Talon leaning out of a newsstand snagging Lefuneste, with a small inset with a photograph of Greg titled "AUTHOR AND GENIUS", followed by a quote "SUCCESS DID NOT SPOIL ME. I WAS BORN SPOILED."
Television adaptation
A television series of fifty-two twenty-six minute episodes was made for Canal+Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
in 1996 by Saban International. Each episode is broken up into two short stories. It was broadcast in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for the first time on September 3, 1997 in the television show C + Cléo on Canal+.
The animated series is very different from the original comic. In the animated cartoon, Talon is a very awkward superhero who offers his heroic services for hire, replacing such characters as Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...
, Zorro
Zorro
Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media....
and Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
when they become indisposed. Talon manages to make justice triumph by pure luck. The series was renamed Walter Melon for English-speaking television.
Post-Greg era
- Achille Talon a la main verte (1998) (Widenlocher and Godard)
- Tout va bien! (2000) (Widenlocher and Brett)
- Le Monde merveilleux du journal polite (2004) (Widenlocher and Herlé)
Translations into English
Le Trésor de Virgule (1977) was published in English as Magnesia's Treasure in 1981.Sources
- Achille Talon publications in Pilote and French Tintin BDoubliées
- Achille Talon on Bedetheque.com
- Achille Talon on Dargaud.com
- Biography of Greg
Footnotes