The creator of Alix and numerous other bande dessinee has died aged 88. In the fifties he worked for Herge’s studio and was responsible for some of the background in Tintin in Tibet.

One of Hergé’s most important assistants through the 1950s and 60s (notably on the South Sea Sharks and Tintin in Tibet) and one of the pillars of Tintin Magazine, he acrimoniously struck out on his own in 1972 to concentrate on his own comics, which in some ways owed more to the other great master of Belgian adventure comics of the time, E. P. Jacobs.

Source and Copyright: MetaBunker Jacques Martin RIP

Enjoying success in his own right after his creation Alix sprang from the pages of the Tintin magazines to become its own brand, Strasbourg-born Martin plundered Imperial Rome, Egypt and the Napoleonic era for the backdrops to his stories.

Source and Copyright: The Independent Alix creator, Tintin artist Jacques Martin dies aged 88

Alix was a historic comic set around the time of the Roman Empire, travelling the known world at the time. He also created the comic Lefranc in 1952 and collaborated on the medieval architect comic Jhen in 1978, the French revolutionary officer Arno in 1984, Athenian Orion in 1990, Egyptian Keos in 1992, and Loïs in 2004, set in the court of Louis the sun king of France. Alix has continued publication to this date, though due to failing eyesight, Martin delegated artistic duties from Rafeal Morales from 1998.

Source and Copyright: Bleeding Cool Alix Creator Jacques Martin Dies, 88

I found this work of genius on Dans la maison des Compagnons Adesso, a French site for fans of bandes dessinées, and particularly Tintin, to produce mock book covers. There seems to be monthly themes and there are hundreds of fake Tintin covers.

This is, of course, a breach of Moulinsart’s intellectual property and I’m including this image to demonstrate the talent and enthusiasm of Tintin fans. One can only wonder what would happen if Moulinsart authorised this sort of activity.

Herge liked to mix real and fictional geography in his story-telling, sometimes explicitly and sometimes implicitly.

Machu Picchu doesn’t appear directly in the books but it can be assumed as the basis for the temple in The Seven Crystal Balls / Prisoners of the Sun. Located high in mountains, in a remote part of Peru, it was the last strong hold of the Incas. A sacred site, one of the main buildings is called the Temple of the Sun. The site was ‘discovered’ and made famous in 1911 by the American explorer and historian Hiram Bingham.

This facade appears in The Red Sea Shark though you may be more familiar with it from Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. In reality it is in Petra, an ancient city in modern-day Jordan and is one of the true wonders of the world. At its peak, around 200AD, it was a city of over 20,000 people with a sophisticated water management system that allowed the city to thrive in the middle of a desert.

Loch Lomond itself never appears in the books but it is a name familiar to all Tintin fans as Captain Haddocks favourite tipple. It is particularly prominent in The Black Island as Tintin visits Scotand but it crops up regularly in a number of books. There is a real world Loch Lomond Distillery who do tours. So, if you are ever in Scotland, call in, see how they make the whisky and have a wee dram for Captain Haddock.