Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died this Tuesday, January 7, was caricatured in volume 35 of the famous comic strip in the guise of the sadistic and racist Captain Nepel.
A historical figure of the far right for nearly seventy years, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died this Tuesday, January 7 at the age of 96, also occupied a small place in the history of comics.
If Marine Le Pen was the center of several albums of satirical comics, The Secret Life of Marine Le Pen has The Presidenthis father was the antagonist of one of the most famous series of the 9th Art.
In 1993, the founder of the National Front was caricatured by Willy Lambil and Raoul Cauvin in volume 35 of Blue tunics in the guise of Captain Nepel (Le Pen in verlan), presented in the album as a “rabid madman” and a “racist”.
Expulsion
Titled Captain Nepelthis adventure tells of the disorder caused by this character while he is responsible for ensuring command of Fort Bow during Colonel Appeltown’s convalescence. The fort here is a metaphor for France.
On site, soldiers and Indians live together and live from barter. “It’s been a while since they buried the hatchet. Since then, they have felt at home here,” one of the officers explains to Captain Nepel.
Refusing this cohabitation, Nepel immediately expelled the black cook, the Chinese laundryman and the Indians from the fort. A direct reference to the FN program, which wanted to “carry out the effective expulsion of illegal immigrants”.
-“Has he gone crazy or something?!” Corporal Blutch is indignant before resolving to his helplessness: “He is my superior.”
Anti-migrant speeches
Calling one of the soldiers a “dirty Indian”, Nepel yells: “What are you waiting for to join him, you and your people?! You have nothing to do here.” “In my opinion, we came across a racist,” laments the cook as he leaves the fort.
“From now on the doors will remain closed and I will no longer tolerate one of these metics within the walls of the fort,” insists Nepel. His objective: “to see only Americans inside (the fort). Real ones”, he adds, echoing the FN’s anti-migrant speeches.
“We don’t need foreign labor, for that matter! We are capable of fending for ourselves,” he adds. “I’m for everyone at home! If we let them, we’d be invaded. Is that what you want?”
After the expulsion of racialized people, the operation of Fort Bow was less efficient. Chesterfield and Blutch, however, take it upon themselves to save the day and restore order. And Nepel ends up before the court martial.
