Le Petit Vingtième
Encyclopedia
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle ("The Twentieth Century") from 1928 to 1940. The comics series The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
first appeared in its pages.
History
Le Vingtième Siècle was a CatholicRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
newspaper from Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, led by abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
Norbert Wallez
Norbert Wallez
Abbé Norbert Wallez was a Belgian priest and journalist. He was the editor of the newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle , whose youth supplement, Le Petit Vingtième, first published The Adventures of Tintin.Wallez studied at the University of Leuven...
. In 1925, 18 years old Hergé
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
(Georges Prosper Remi), the creator of Tintin, worked there, first as a clerk and, after he fulfilled his military service
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, as an illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
for the main pages and for some supplement
Supplement (publishing)
A supplement is a publication that has a role secondary to that of another preceding or concurrent publication.A follow-on publication complements its predecessor, either by bringing it up-to-date , or by otherwise enhancing the predecessor's coverage of a particular topic or subject matter, as in...
s like the weekly arts pages and the female section.
In 1928, the abbot decided to start a weekly 8 page youth supplement, appearing every Thursday. He called it Le Petit Vingtième (The Little Twentieth). Hergé was named Editor-in-Chief. In the first issue, appearing on November 1, 1928, he illustrated a short comic made by Desmedt, the sports editor of the newspaper called Les Aventures de Flup, Nénesse, Poussette et Cochonnet. Sensing that this comic lacked spirit and was rather old-fashioned compared to the current American comics and to the works of Alain Saint-Ogan
Alain Saint-Ogan
Alain Saint-Ogan was a French comics author and artist.-Biography:In 1925, he created the well-known comic strip Zig et Puce , which initially appeared in the Dimanche Illustré , the weekly youth supplement of the French daily newspaper, l'Excelsior.His other comic...
, Hergé started working on his own comic. In 1927, he met Germaine Kieckens, the secretary of the abbot at the newspaper. They got engaged in 1932 and married on July 20 of the same year.
On January 10, 1929, in issue 11, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets is the first title in the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Hergé...
began. Every issue featured two pages of the story, and Hergé often made covers for the supplement depicting Tintin as well. A year later, on January 23, 1930, the supplement increased from 8 to 16 pages, and the first page of Quick & Flupke
Quick & Flupke
Quick & Flupke is a comic book series by Hergé about two street urchins in Brussels named Quick and Flupke...
, a new gag strip, appeared in the magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
. 310 gags would appear before the paper folded.
The supplement, especially the comics, were an overwhelming success, with circulation
Newspaper circulation
A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. Circulation is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the...
of the publication
Publication
To publish is to make content available to the public. While specific use of the term may vary among countries, it is usually applied to text, images, or other audio-visual content on any medium, including paper or electronic publishing forms such as websites, e-books, Compact Discs and MP3s...
quadrupling on Thursdays. At the end of each of the first three stories of The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
, an actual reception of the comic hero (played by an actor) at the station in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
was organized, with thousands of people attending. The first of these was attended by Zita of Bourbon-Parma
Zita of Bourbon-Parma
Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma was the wife of Emperor Charles of Austria...
, the former empress of Austria, and her children.
In the meantime the first assistants to Hergé were hired to help him fill the supplement and to do minor work on Tintin and Quick & Flupke: Eugène Van Nijverseel, better known as Evany, and Paul Jamin (also signing as Jam).
To capitalize on the success, a new publishing house was started, Les éditions du Petit Vingtième, publishing the first three books of Tintin and the first two of Quick and Flupke before folding and passing the rights in 1934 to Casterman
Casterman
Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, Belgium.Founded in 1780, Casterman was originally a printing company and publishing house...
, which was better suited to cope with the international success of Tintin (which by then also appeared in France and Switzerland). Both the newspaper comics and the album publications were in black and white, although the covers to the supplement, which were also often made by Hergé, used a supporting colour.
Between February 8 and August 16, 1934, Hergé also published the more juvenile story Les aventures de Popol et Virginie chez les Lapinos (translated as Popol out west
Popol out west
Popol out West is the English title of the comic book for young children written by the creator of The Adventures of Tintin, Hergé. In French it is called Popol et Virginie chez les lapinos and was released in the 1930s, when his publishers asked Hergé to write a comic for very young children, for...
). This story was only first published as an album (in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
) in 1952 though.
In February 1940, an attempt was made to launch De Bengel, a Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
translation of Le Petit Vingtième. This magazine marked the first appearance of Tintin in Dutch. The magazine seems to have never been distributed though, and only one copy is known to exist.
The publication of Tintin and Quick & Flupke continued in the newspaper supplement until May 1940, when the Germans
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
invaded Belgium.
Tintin publications
- Tintin in the Land of the SovietsTintin in the Land of the SovietsTintin in the Land of the Soviets is the first title in the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Hergé...
: January 10, 1929 - May 8, 1930: album 1930 (10 editions of 1,000 copies each, sold out by December 1930) - Tintin in the CongoTintin in the CongoTintin in the Congo is the second title in the comicbook series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Originally serialised in the Belgian children's newspaper supplement, Le Petit Vingtième between June 1930 and July 1931, it was first published in book form...
: June 5, 1930 - June 11, 1931: arrival at Brussels North train station July 9, 1931: album 1931 (110 pages) - Tintin in AmericaTintin in AmericaTintin in America is the third title in the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Hergé...
: September 3, 1931 - October 20, 1932: album 1932 (120 pages) - Cigars of the PharaohCigars of the PharaohCigars of the Pharaoh is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero...
(published as "Tintin in the Orient"): December 8, 1932 - August 2, 1934 (124 pages) - The Blue LotusThe Blue LotusThe Blue Lotus , first published in 1936, is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Hergé featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. It is a sequel to Cigars of the Pharaoh, with Tintin continuing his struggle against a major gang of drug...
: August 9, 1934 - October 17, 1935 (124 pages) - The Broken EarThe Broken EarThe Broken Ear is the sixth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero...
: December 5, 1935 - February 25, 1937 - The Black IslandThe Black IslandThe Black Island is the seventh of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as the hero. It was first published in the newspaper supplement Le Petit Vingtième in the late 1930s...
: April 15, 1937 - June 16, 1938 (124 pages) - King Ottokar's SceptreKing Ottokar's SceptreKing Ottokar's Sceptre is the eighth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring the young reporter Tintin. It was first serialized as a black-and-white comic strip in Le Petit Vingtième on 4 August...
(published as "Tintin in Syldavia"): August 4, 1938 - August 10, 1939 (106 pages) - Land of Black GoldLand of Black GoldLand of Black Gold is the fifteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
: September 28, 1939 - May 8, 1940 (unfinished)
Quick & Flupke publications
Between 1930 and 1940, some 310 gags of Quick & Flupke appeared in 'Le Petit Vingtième, all in black and white. They regularly appeared on the cover of the supplement as well. Two albums were published by the Editions du Petit Vingtième. Most of the other gags appeared later at Casterman.- Quick et Flupke gamins de Bruxelles (1931)
- Les nouveaux exploits de Quick et Flupke gamins de Bruxelles: 2ème série (1932)