Didier Platteau is a Belgian comics publisher and founder of Moulinsart editions dedicated to the world of Hergé. Before that, it was published by Casterman, a necessary clarification since from 1934, with Pharaoh’s CigarsLouis Casterman published the adventures of Tintin in albums, which Hergé had previously self-published, in partnership with his mentor, Abbé Wallez. All this to say, that Hergé has been with Didier Platteau for a very long time. He actually met him in 1973, ten years before his death. He decided with Moulinsart editions and the Tintinimaginatio company to launch a new collection which contains 23 volumes on all the adventures of Tintin. A series that explains and takes us behind the scenes of the creation of all the volumes of this colossal work that Hergé left us.
franceinfo: Each volume corresponds to a specific album, dissected in the order of publications of the time. Why this new collection?
Didier Platteau : I believe that at the level of the general public, the behind the scenes, but at the same time the secrets of a creation, are of interest, how Hergé managed to create this legendary work all the same, which even goes beyond its century. Hergé was an archivist, so he kept a lot of it himself.
“It was time to restructure all of Hergé’s archives and be able to publish them for a general public, in a very accessible way, with the simplest model. Title after title, starting with the legendary album, ‘Tintin chez les Soviets’ that Hergé created when he was 21.”
Didier Platteauat franceinfo
Let’s talk about this creation. It is 1929, Hergé decides to create a character. There is already Totor and then it becomes Tintin. We change the clothes, but he already has the soul of a reporter.
You should read plate 11 of Tintin among the Soviets. This is where everything happens. Tintin falls from a tree in a Mercedes convertible and is chased by the German police. To escape, he starts the engine. He accelerates violently. To clearly show the speed, Tintin’s lock which was on his forehead, the first 11 pages, rises up and when the car stops, Tintin keeps his lock in a puff. It’s incredible. I’m always fascinated by wondering, but why didn’t he pull down that puff? And it stayed for eternity.
How did he become Hergé? Because at the start, he did not sign Hergé.
“Hergé has forged his own graphic style, always motivated by extreme readability.”
Didier Platteauat franceinfo
First, he had a passion for illustration. He tried all the techniques, he wanted to become an advertising executive, an illustrator. He didn’t think at all about being a comic book artist because, so to speak, it almost didn’t exist. He evolved like that, with an incredible desire to draw and considerable work. When we see in the archives, it is very visible in the album on the Soviets, since we show everything he was doing at the same time. He worked seven days a week. We understand that later, in the middle of his life, he sometimes had depressions, because he worked so much.
Tintin is a part of Hergé’s personality. What’s incredible when you look closely is that his traveling companion is a Fox Terrier and that perhaps also shows the extent to which he didn’t necessarily completely believe in human nature.
Yes, in fact, the dog plays the role of the human that Tintin does not play because he is perfect. He can’t growl, he can’t moan, etc. And Snowy is here for that. And what will happen after a while when Captain Haddock arrives? He’s the complainer. The characters who surround Tintin, the perfect, adventurous boy into whom everyone can slip into to experience these adventures are characters, female and male, who have character and flaws. They are romantic characters, while he is not romantic. He is legendary.
You who met him, what was Hergé like in life?
I can tell the little anecdote from my first interview that I always have in mind. Casterman had commissioned me to tell Hergé that he was not working much, “we should try to make him work, he rests too much, he travels all the time“. I had a plan in mind and when I meet Hergé in his office, I begin after the few politenesses when he welcomes me to unpack my ideas. I see that he is not listening to me at all, then he ‘stop and say to me: “I’ll stop you, your shirt is beautiful“. As it was the month of May, I had put on a shirt full of colors, small squares of colors and the colorist only saw the colors of my shirt. I decided on my plans and we are We went to eat together, we talked about everything except comics and just as we were leaving, he said to me: “There you go, I’m in a moment, if I’m presented with an emergency, I take the file, I open my drawer, I put it in, I close it and I say: and there it is, it’s no longer urgent“. I knew this serene man with whom I worked afterwards in that spirit.
Tintin in the Land of the Sovietsit’s the first volume, there are 23. How many do you plan to release one every?
Every two months. These are very beautiful books.
