8 Underwater Landscapes in Comic Books
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over time, the settings for his adventures have to be renewed. Throughout the twentieth century, the majority of comic book heroes have had their underwater adventure.
This includes the “classic” comics of the 1940s: Hergé explored underwater landscapes with his various characters, in particular in “The adventures of Jo, Zette and
Jocko” Le rayon du mystère published in the weekly magazine “Coeurs Vaillants” in
the years 1936–1937 and the adventures of Tintin the deep sea diver in Tintin in the
Land of the Soviets (Hergé 1952). But it was of course with Red Rackham’s Treasure,
the book of the adventures of Tintin published in 1944, that Hergé created his finest
underwater landscapes, and produced a popular icon
3 .This image of Tintin walking
in a diving-suit towards the wreck of the Unicorn is an explicit homage to the image
of Captain Nemo walking in a diving-suit towards the island of Crespo, illustrating
Jules Vernes’ novel 20,000 leagues under the Sea.
As the ocean floors were being explored, underwater landscapes were as essential
in the comic book as in other narrative media and became standard settings for adventure. This was very frequent, in comics mainly intended for very small children,
as well as in comics aimed at an older, even adult audience. Since they first began, Les pieds nickelés (Pellos 1958) or Bob and Bobette (Vandersteen 1950, 1967,
1970) have had several underwater adventures, in association with real expeditions
by Cousteau or Piccard. Spirou (Franquin 1957), Les petits hommes (Seron and Mittei 1980), Les 4 as (Craenhals and Chaulet 1964), regularly go under water. The
adventures of Bob Morane (Vernes and Forton 1995) followed the evolution of diving equipment. Some series are particularly suited to adventures requiring advanced
diving techniques, such as the young Yoko Tsuno, an electronics engineer who drives
all kinds of machines in the air and in the seawith great skill (Leloup 1979, 1983).
Even the Smurfs (PEYO 1994) revived the adventure of underwater explorations
at their own scale (a small lake) and the author created some very fine plates with
this episode, once again reproducing the iconic image of walking in a diving-suit
in underwater landscapes popularized by Jules Vernes and then by Hergé (Fig. 8.2).
Mention has to be made, of course, of the humour of Achilles Talon (Greg 1984),
the poetry of Isabelle, (Will et al. 1979, 1986), and the romantic adventures of Blake
and Mortimer (Jacobs 1957) and Corto Maltese (Pratt 1992).
In some adventures the underwater environment is an integral part of the scenario
as in the series Submerman (Lob and Pichard 1979) in which the heroes live in the
ocean, Le Narval (Supio and Beuzelin 2010) in which the hero is a professional
diver, or again in Hauteville House (Duval et al. 2004, 2011) where the action
very often takes place in the air, underground or under the sea, all the frontiers
of the planet being explored for a fantastic background to the action. However in
most of the books, underwater landscapes are the setting for occasional adventures
(Chaulet-Endry 1985).
3 The books ‘The secret of the Unicorn’ and its sequel ‘Red Rackham’s Treasure’ are the two world
best-selling episodes of the adventures of Tintin.
125
over time, the settings for his adventures have to be renewed. Throughout the twentieth century, the majority of comic book heroes have had their underwater adventure.
This includes the “classic” comics of the 1940s: Hergé explored underwater landscapes with his various characters, in particular in “The adventures of Jo, Zette and
Jocko” Le rayon du mystère published in the weekly magazine “Coeurs Vaillants” in
the years 1936–1937 and the adventures of Tintin the deep sea diver in Tintin in the
Land of the Soviets (Hergé 1952). But it was of course with Red Rackham’s Treasure,
the book of the adventures of Tintin published in 1944, that Hergé created his finest
underwater landscapes, and produced a popular icon
3 .This image of Tintin walking
in a diving-suit towards the wreck of the Unicorn is an explicit homage to the image
of Captain Nemo walking in a diving-suit towards the island of Crespo, illustrating
Jules Vernes’ novel 20,000 leagues under the Sea.
As the ocean floors were being explored, underwater landscapes were as essential
in the comic book as in other narrative media and became standard settings for adventure. This was very frequent, in comics mainly intended for very small children,
as well as in comics aimed at an older, even adult audience. Since they first began, Les pieds nickelés (Pellos 1958) or Bob and Bobette (Vandersteen 1950, 1967,
1970) have had several underwater adventures, in association with real expeditions
by Cousteau or Piccard. Spirou (Franquin 1957), Les petits hommes (Seron and Mittei 1980), Les 4 as (Craenhals and Chaulet 1964), regularly go under water. The
adventures of Bob Morane (Vernes and Forton 1995) followed the evolution of diving equipment. Some series are particularly suited to adventures requiring advanced
diving techniques, such as the young Yoko Tsuno, an electronics engineer who drives
all kinds of machines in the air and in the seawith great skill (Leloup 1979, 1983).
Even the Smurfs (PEYO 1994) revived the adventure of underwater explorations
at their own scale (a small lake) and the author created some very fine plates with
this episode, once again reproducing the iconic image of walking in a diving-suit
in underwater landscapes popularized by Jules Vernes and then by Hergé (Fig. 8.2).
Mention has to be made, of course, of the humour of Achilles Talon (Greg 1984),
the poetry of Isabelle, (Will et al. 1979, 1986), and the romantic adventures of Blake
and Mortimer (Jacobs 1957) and Corto Maltese (Pratt 1992).
In some adventures the underwater environment is an integral part of the scenario
as in the series Submerman (Lob and Pichard 1979) in which the heroes live in the
ocean, Le Narval (Supio and Beuzelin 2010) in which the hero is a professional
diver, or again in Hauteville House (Duval et al. 2004, 2011) where the action
very often takes place in the air, underground or under the sea, all the frontiers
of the planet being explored for a fantastic background to the action. However in
most of the books, underwater landscapes are the setting for occasional adventures
(Chaulet-Endry 1985).
3 The books ‘The secret of the Unicorn’ and its sequel ‘Red Rackham’s Treasure’ are the two world
best-selling episodes of the adventures of Tintin.