The Adventures of Alix

Supercbbox| title = The Adventures of Alix
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caption = The cover of the first book
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publisher = "Tintin", Lombard, Casterman
date = 1948–
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main_char_team = Alix Enak
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writers = Jacques Martin, François Maingoval, Patrick Weber
artists = Jacques Martin, Rafael Moralès, Marc Henniquiau, Cédric Hervan, Christophe Simon, Ferry
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creators = Jacques Martin

"Alix", or "The Adventures of Alix", is a popular Franco-Belgian comics series drawn in the ligne claire style, by one its masters, Jacques Martin. The stories revolve around a young Gallo-Roman man named Alix in the late Roman Republic. Although the series is renowned for its historical accuracy and stunning set detail, the hero has been known to wander into anachronistic situations up to two centuries out of his era. The stories unfold throughout the reaches of the Roman world, including the city of Rome, Gaul, the German frontier, Mesopotamia, Africa and Asia Minor. One voyage goes as far as China.

Premise

Alix is fearless, generous, and devoted to just causes. Born in Gaul, separated from his parents and sold into slavery, he is later adopted by a Roman noble contemporary to Julius Caesar. This mixed background provides Alix with an identity crisis and divided loyalties, especially in the context of the founding myths of French nationalism revolving around Vercingetorix. In the second adventure Alix is joined by Enak, a slightly younger Egyptian orphan, who remains his constant companion and sounding board. Critics have suggested that Alix and Enak are closet homosexuals, and parodies have overtly depicted them as such. Originally forbidden to have a female companion by the 1949 law governing children's literature, Alix later finds himself entangled with amorous women, but he always hesitates to commit, and the pursuit of social justice provides a pretext for moving on.

The authors

Jacques Martin created the "Alix" series as one of his earliest heroes, and he continued solo conception, plot, dialogue and illustration for fifty years, even while developing other series such as "Lefranc". Due to failing eyesight and advancing age, Martin has since 1998 gradually retired from the series, turning over tasks to various assistants. Rafael Morales became his first assistant, taking charge of the final illustrations with some assistance by Marc Henniquiau, while Martin continued writing the stories and performing the first sketches and layouts.Cite web|last=Lambiek Comiclopedia|title=Rafael Morales|url=http://lambiek.net/artists/m/morales_rafael.htm] . In 2006, Martin turned over the final writing task to François Maingoval, while still conceiving the main story line in rough draft form. In 2008, Maingoval shifted his attention to a spin-off series (see "Alix raconte" below), while Patrick Weber assumed the mantle of writing the main "Alix" series.

Characters

* Alix: the hero of the series in the title role, pure of heart, perpetually twenty-five, and wise for his years.
* Enak: a boy of fourteen, who meets Alix in "Le sphinx d'or". Not originally intended as a principal character, he becomes Alix's constant and faithful companion.
* Arbacès: sworn enemy of the heroes, this crafty and cruel Greek keeps turning up in their path.
* Julius Caesar: friend and protector of Alix, the latter nevertheless finds himself sometimes torn between just causes and the interests of the great man.
* Pompey: Caesar's rival, he repeatedly seeks to eliminate Alix, obviously without succeeding to end the series.
* Vanik: cousin of Alix.
* Astorix: Gallic chieftain, and father of Alix, not to be confused with "Asterix", his burlesque counterpart who entered the world stage a little more than a decade later.
* Honorus Galla: Roman governor, friend and loyal lieutenant of Julius Caesar, who adopted Alix as his son.

The canon of "Alix" titles

The series first appeared as a serial in the comics magazine "Tintin", on 16 September, 1948.Cite web|last=BDoubliées|title=Tintin année 1948|url=http://bdoubliees.com/tintinbelge/annees/1948.htm|language=French] Three more adventures appeared before Les Editions du Lombard (the publishing house responsible for "Tintin") began reissuing them in hardcover book form. Lapsing in 1959, Lombard turned over rights to Casterman (publisher of the Tintin books) in 1965. After going out of print for several years, the earlier Lombard volumes were also reintroduced to new readers in 1969-1973. As "Tintin" declined in sales and popularity, "L'enfant grec" (1979) was the last "Alix" story to appear in its pages. Thereafter "Alix" was only published in book form.

"The Adventures of Alix" by Jacques Martin as sole creator

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"The adventures of Alix" by Jacques Martin with collaborators

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"Alix" in English

"Alix" has seen little translation into English. In 1971 the London publisher Ward Lock & Co issued two titles, "The Sacred Helmet" ("La tiare d'Oribal"), and "The Black Claw" ("La griffe noire"). These books are now considered relatively rare. Two more titles, "The Lost Legions" ("Les légions perdues"), and "The Altar of Fire" ("Le dernier Spartiate") were also projected for publication that year, but never appeared. A reviewer for the "Times Literary Supplement" found "Alix" singularly lacking in humour compared to "Asterix", effectively killing prospects for continued publication in a market not yet acculurated to the wider Franco-Belgian tradition. [Times Literary Supplement, 2 July 1971, p. 774.]

"Alix" in other languages

The strip has been translated into several other european languages, such as German, Dutch, etc. "Le fils de Spartacus" has been published in Latin.

"Les Voyages d'Alix"

This series depicts the culture and geography of antiquity with illustrations inspired by the adventures of Alix. Printed in full colour on higher quality stock than the comics series, these books aim to educate in a style identical to Jacques Martin's. Alix and Enak can frequently be seen in various settings. The series is not available in English.

* "Rome 1" (illustrated by Gilles Chaillet) (1996)
* "L'Égypte 1" (illustrated by Rafael Moralès) (1996)
* "La marine antique 1" (illustrated by Marc Henniquiau) (1997)
* "La Grèce 1" (illustrated by Pierre de Broche) (1997)
* "La Grèce 2" (illustrated by Pierre de Broche) (1998)
* "Rome 2" (illustrated by Gilles Chaillet) (1999)
* "La marine antique 2" (illustrated by Marc Henniquiau) (1999)
* "Le costume antique 1" (illustrated by Jacques Denoël) (1999)
* "L'Égypte 2" (illustrated by Rafael Moralès) (2000)
* "Le costume antique 2" (illustrated by Jacques Denoël) (2000)
* "Carthage" (illustrated by Vincent Hénin) (2000)
* "Athènes" (illustrated by Laurent Bouhy) (2001)
* "Le costume antique 3" (illustrated by Jacques Denoël) (2002)
* "Jérusalem" (illustrated by Vincent Hénin) (2002)
* "Pompéi 1" (illustrated by Marc Henniquiau) (2002)
* "Persépolis" (illustrated by Cédric Hevan) (2003)
* "Pétra" (illustrated by Vincent Hénin) (2003)
* "Les Mayas" (illustrated by Jean Torton) (2004)
* "Les Étrusques" (illustrated by Jean Torton) (2004)
* "Les Jeux Olympiques" (illustrated by Cédric Hervan and Yves Plateau) (2004)
* "Les Mayas 2" (illustrated by Jean Torton) (2005)
* "Les Aztèques" (illustrated by Jean Torton) (2005)
* "Lutèce" (illustrated by Vincent Hénin) (2006)
* "Les Vikings" (illustrated by Eric Lenaerts) (2006)
* "Les Incas" (illustrated by Jean Torton) (2006)
* "Les Étrusques 2" (illustrated by Jacques Denoël) (2007)

"Alix raconte"

Each book in this series presents a somewhat fictionalized biography of a famous person of Antiquity in comic strip form. When Alix is a contemporary of the subject, he occasionally appears as a secondary character. Texts are by François Maingoval. The series is not available in English.

* "Alexandre le Grand" (illustrated by Jean Torton) (2008)
* "Cléopâtre" (illustrated by Eric Leenaerts) (2008)
* "Néron" (illustrated by Yves Plateau) (forthcoming, 2008)

Works not in series

* "L'odyssée d'Alix", by Jacques Martin (Casterman, 1987). ISBN 2203349026

Parodies

* "Alex l'Intrépide", by Dupa, in: "Journal de Tintin" (29 Sept. 1981)
* "Axile", by Roger Brunel, in: "Pastiches" tome 1, 1980 (Glénat)

Awards

* 1978: Angoulême Best French Realistic Work, for "Le spectre de Carthage" cite web
last = ToutenBD | title = Le palmarès 1978 | url =http://www.toutenbd.com/article.php3?id_article=846 fr_icon]
* 1979: Prix "Saint-Michel" Prize (Brussels) for the three series "Alix", "Lefranc" and "Jhen"
* 1989: "BD d'Or" at 1st Salon Européen de la BD (Grenoble), for "Le Cheval de Troie"

ources

* [http://bdoubliees.com/tintinbelge/series1/alix.htm "Alix" publications in Belgian "Tintin"] and [http://bdoubliees.com/journaltintin/series1/alix.htm French "Tintin"] BDoubliées fr_icon
* [http://www.bedetheque.com/serie-186-BD-Alix.html "Alix" albums] Bedetheque fr_icon
* Thierry Groensteen, Jacques Martin. "Avec Alix". Casterman, 1984.
* "Schtroumpf: les cahiers de la bande dessinée", no. 20, "Spécial Jacques Martin" (mars-avril 1973);Footnotes

External links

* [http://bd.casterman.com/rubrique/castjmar/?open=1 Alix official site] on Casterman fr_icon
* [http://www.alixintrepide.org/# Alix l'Intrépide unofficial site] fr_icon