Tintin, Gaston Lagaffe, and Metabarons Original Art to Auction
Heritage Auction
Tintin in The Crab with the Golden Claws
Works from Tintin, Moebius, and Belgian creator André Franquin's Gaston Lagaffe will appear at Heritage Auctions' original art auction next month.
When Gaston debuted in 1957 in the pages of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou, he was introduced as an in-joke - he worked at the magazine but was meant to serve as the readers’ behind-the-scenes surrogate. Over time, he transformed from a punchline to a symbol, from a would-be slacker to the The Los Angeles Times description of him as “one of the world’s most beloved anarchists, a gentle saboteur of the status quo who is against parking meters, cops, office routine and most other things that pass for the trappings of modern civilization” on Franquin’s death in 1997.
Heritage will present an original Gaston Lagaffe Gag, No. 839, dating to 1978 in its March 9-10 International Original Art Auction. The work was inspired by the March 1978 sinking of the Amoco Cadiz off the coast of Brittany, France, which resulted in a devastating oil spill
Olivier Delflas, Heritage’s Director of International Comic Art and Anime, says, “This Gaston Lagaffe work is among Franquin’s best, most pointed ‘gags,’ as it elicits a few chuckles while covering a serious turning point. It’s also an honor to bring it to auction, as Franquin’s coveted originals are scarce.”
Hergé once said that next to Franquin “I’m only a mediocre pen-pusher.” His creation Tintin is represented in this event by three works, including a 1944 rendering of Tintin and Captain Haddock’s dashing through a Moroccan market.
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Heritage Auction
Les Musées Belges de Marine d’Alexandre Berqueman
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Heritage Auction
André Franquin, Gaston Lagaffe Gag n°839
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Heritage Auction
Jean Giraud (Moebius) Major Fatal, The Airtight Garage
The image is among the most famous in Tintin’s history, as it appears toward the end of 1941’s The Crab With the Golden Claws, the ninth entry in the ongoing series about the globetrotting reporter, and was among that book’s scant few full-page illustrations. Three years later, Hergé revisited the image for a coloring book. Also featured is the cover of and original art from Les Musées Belges de Marine d’Alexandre Berqueman, so named for the land surveyor and maritime enthusiast whom Remi befriended around 1942 in Brussels. It is believed that Berqueman inspired Hergé to send Tintin to sea with Berqueman serving as the creator’s advisor.
A year after they became friends, Hergé offered to design the cover of Berqueman’s book dedicated to the Belgian Maritime Museums, from which the original ink cover going under the hammer hails. There were only 600 copies printed of the edition featuring Tintin, Haddock and Snowy at the Musée National de Marine entrance.
Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius, is represented in this event by nearly two dozen works, chief among them a striking closeup of his spiked-helmeted cosmic creation, Major Grubert. This piece originally appeared in 1977’s Métal Hurlant No. 15 as part of the story Le garage hermétique de Jerry Cornélius, since reprinted dozens of times.
Other highlights include work by Juan Giménez (18 Metabarons lots), Jean Frisano’s cover for 1981’s Strange No. 134 featuring Marvel’s Rom the Spaceknight, Page 3 from 1967’s Fantastic Four No. 27, by Jack Kirby, and Alex Ross's cover of Marvel’s Paradise X No. 1.
