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''Alix'', or ''The Adventures of Alix'', is a Franco-Belgian comics series drawn in the
ligne claire ''Ligne claire'' ( French for "clear line", ; nl, klare lijn) is a style of drawing created and pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist and creator of ''The Adventures of Tintin''. It uses clear strong lines sometimes of varied width and n ...
style by Jacques Martin. The stories revolve around a young
Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...
man named Alix in the late
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
. 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 The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from present-day Lo ...
, including the city of Rome,
Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
, the German frontier,
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
, Africa and
Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
. One voyage goes as far as China.


Characters and story

Alix is stunning, 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 Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
. This mixed background provides Alix with an identity crisis and divided loyalties, especially in the context of the
founding myth An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have sto ...
s of French nationalism revolving around
Vercingetorix Vercingetorix (; Greek: Οὐερκιγγετόριξ; – 46 BC) was a Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Despite h ...
. In the second adventure Alix is joined by Enak, a slightly younger Egyptian orphan, who remains his constant companion and sounding board. 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. 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 50 years, even while developing other series such as '' Lefranc''. Due to failing eyesight and advancing age, since 1998 Martin 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. In 2006, Martin turned over the final writing task to
François Maingoval François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King ...
, while still conceiving the main storyline in rough draft form. In 2008, Maingoval shifted his attention to a spin-off series (see ''Alix raconte'' below), while
Patrick Weber Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...
assumed the mantle of writing the main ''Alix'' series.


Characters

* Alix Graccus: the hero of the series in the title role, pure of heart, perpetually sixteen 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 Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
: friend and protector of Alix, the latter nevertheless finds himself sometimes torn between just causes and the interests of the great man. *
Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
: 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 ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...
'', who was created over a decade later. * Honorus Galla: Roman governor, friend and loyal lieutenant of Julius Caesar, who adopted Alix as his son. * Heraklion: an orphan approximately the same age as Enak, entrusted to Alix's care after the death of Heraklion's mother who was a Grecian queen.


''Alix'' titles

The series first appeared as a serial in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine ''
Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...
'' on 16 September 1948. Three more adventures appeared before Les Editions du Lombard (the publishing house responsible for ''Tintin'' magazine) began reissuing them in hardcover book form. Lapsing in 1959, Lombard turned over rights to
Casterman Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Brussels, Belgium. History The company was founded in 1780 by Donat-Joseph Casterman, an editor and bookseller or ...
(publisher of ''
The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...
'') 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 Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...
'' magazine declined in sales and popularity, ''Vercingetorix'' (1985) 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


''The adventures of Alix'' by Jacques Martin with collaborators


''The adventures of Alix'' without Jacques Martin


''Alix'' in English

''Alix'' has seen little translation into English. In 1971 the London publisher
Ward Lock & Co Ward, Lock & Co. was a publishing house in the United Kingdom that started as a partnership and developed until it was eventually absorbed into the publishing combine of Orion Publishing Group. History Ebenezer Ward and George Lock started a pu ...
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 ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' found ''Alix'' singularly lacking in humour compared to ''
Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...
'', effectively killing prospects for continued publication in a market not yet accustomed to the wider Franco-Belgian tradition.


''Alix'' in other languages

The strip has been translated into several other European languages, such as
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
, German, Dutch, Spanish,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
(10 books) Finnish, Danish, Swedish - at least 9 books, Italian (3 books), English (only 2 books), Icelandic (6 books), Catalan. It was also translated into other languages such as Indonesian (4 books), Vietnamese (1 book) and Chinese (non official version - 2 books). ''Le fils de Spartacus'' has been published in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
as ''Spartaci Filius''. The name of Alix in Dutch language is ''Alex''
(source)
In Sweden, Alix was presumably the second most popular adventure albums, after
Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...
. However, the funny magazines ''
Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...
''and ''
Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western ''bande dessinée'' series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their par ...
''sold better than Alix.


Works not in series

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


Spin-offs


''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. At least some of these books have been available in English, for example "Egypt (1)", though they may now be out of print. * ''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) * ''La Chine'' (illustrated by Erwin Dreze (2008) * ''Alexandre le conquerant 1'' (illustrated by De Wulf, Christophe Simon and De Marck) (2009) * ''L'Egypt 3'' (illustrated by Rafael Morales and Leonardo Palmisano) (2009) * ''Lugdunum'' (illustrated by Gilbert Bouchard) (2009) * ''Orange-Vaison-La-Romaine'' (illustrated by Marco Venanzi and Alex Evang) (2010) * ''Vienna'' (illustrated by Gilbert Bouchard and Benoit Helly) (2011) * ''Nimes - Le Pont du Gard'' (illustrated by Jacques Denoel and Eric Teyssier) (2012) * ''Aquae Sextiae (Aix en Provence)'' (illustrated by Alex Evang, Yves Plateau and Jerome Presti) (2013) * ''Babylone - Mesopotamie'' (illustrated by Jean-Marie Ruffieux) (2013)


''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. The scripts are written by François Maingoval, while the illustration has been done by different artists. The series is not available in English.


''Alix Senator''

A spin-off series that started in 2012. It is set in 12 BC when Alix is an older Roman senator, looking after Titus, his son, and Khephren, the son of Enak. This series is more realistic and darker than the original series.


Novels

In 2004, 4 novels about Alix were published by Casterman 4, written by Alain Hammerstein (pen name of Alain De Kuyssche) with illustrations by Jean-François Charles. *''Alix l'intrépide'', 2004. (based on album 1: Alix l'Intrépide) *''Le Sortilège de Khorsabad'', 2004. *''L'Ombre de César'', 2004. *''Le Sphinx d'or'', 2004. (based on album 2: The Golden Sphinx)


Television

Starting in 1999, an animated television series of 26 episodes was created that aired on
France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...
.


Parodies

* ''Alex l'Intrépide'', by
Dupa Luc Dupanloup, more famous under his pen name Dupa, was a Belgian comics artist best known as the creator of Cubitus which later was turned into an animated series called ''Wowser''. He was born on 12 February 1945 in Montignies-sur-Sambre and di ...
, in: ''
Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...
'' magazine (29 Sept. 1981) * ''Axile'', by Roger Brunel, in: ''Pastiches'' tome 1, 1980 ( Glénat)


Awards

* 1978:
Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a communes of France, commune, the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Charente Departments of France, department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern Franc ...
Best French Realistic Work, for ''Le spectre de Carthage'' * 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''


In popular culture

In the
Belgian Comic Strip Center The Belgian Comic Strip Center (french: Centre belge de la Bande dessinée; nl, Belgisch Stripcentrum) is a museum in Brussels, Belgium, dedicated to Belgian comics. It is located at 20, /, in an Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta, ...
in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
the permanent exhibition brings homage to the pioneers of
Belgian comics Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regio ...
, among them Jacques Martin (despite being born in France). The room dedicated to his work is designed as a Roman balcony. Alix is among the many Belgian comics characters to jokingly have a Brussels street named after them. Since 2006 the Boulevard Anspach/Anspach Boulevard has a
commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...
with the name ''Rue Alix/ Alex straat'' placed under the actual street sign.


References


Sources


''Alix'' publications in Belgian ''Tintin''
an

BDoubliées

Bedetheque * * ''Schtroumpf: les cahiers de la bande dessinée'', no. 20, ''Spécial Jacques Martin'' (mars-avril 1973)


External links


Alix official site
on Casterman
Alix l'Intrépide unofficial site (archived at web.archive.org)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures Of Alix, The French comics French comics characters Bandes dessinées 1948 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1948 Fictional Celtic people Fiction set in Roman Gaul Drama comics Comics set in ancient Rome Comics set in the Roman Empire Comics set in the 1st century Lombard Editions titles Comics adapted into animated series Comics adapted into television series Depictions of Julius Caesar in comics Cultural depictions of Pompey