''Léonard'' in French, and ''Leonardo'' in the Dutch translation, is a Belgian

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

series about an eponymous inventor and his assistant. It was created by

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Philippe Liégeois and writer

Bob de Groot Robert de Groot (26 October 1941 – 17 November 2023) was a Belgian comic books artist and writer. Career While still a young art student de Groot got his first comics experience as an assistant to Maurice Tillieux on ''Félix''. He began cr ...

, better known under their pen names "Turk & De Groot".

Publication history

Inspired by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

, the character first appeared in '' Achille Talon magazine'' in 1974. When the magazine folded in 1976, the series moved to '' Eppo'' for the Dutch version and '' Pif gadget'' for the French. He later appeared in book form and has been drawn by the same duo for over 30 years with a similar number of books. The stories are usually short ones ranging from one to half-a-dozen or so pages, though there have been the occasional full-length adventures. All the albums have been published by

Lombard Editions Le Lombard (), known as Les Éditions du Lombard () until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when ''Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard became part of Média-Participations since 1986, alongside publishers Dargaud ...

in Brussels, Belgium, and by

Dargaud Société Dargaud (), doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud, publishing its first comics in 1943. ...

in Paris, France. At least four albums have been translated into English, but all are currently out-of-print. The character name was changed to Leonardo. Titles include "Leonardo is a Genius", Leonardo is Still a Genius", "Leonardo:Non-stop Genius" and "Leonardo: Who is This Guy Anyway".

Premise

''Léonard'' is set in the early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

period (with some aspects of the 20th century thrown in). He is an inventor and self-proclaimed genius who lives in a small town where he comes up with all sorts of inventions. Most of these are based on more recent, real-life achievements including television,

fire extinguisher A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which ha ...

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

s and

plane Plane most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface * Plane (mathematics), generalizations of a geometrical plane Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane ...

s. He has also made more fanciful inventions like

time machine A time machine is a fictional or hypothetical device that allows time travel. Concept A time machine is a device that makes time travel possible. The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' distinguishes between two different types of time ma ...

s and

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

s. Léonard is flanked by Basile, his long-suffering (and often quite reluctant) assistant. Léonard refers to his younger helper as "

Disciple A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in t ...

" ("Lackey" in the English version), while Basile calls him "Master". Basile shows, and not without good cause, little of the respect that Léonard feels due to him and their relationship is more one of squabbling worker and employer than that of pupil and mentor. One cannot really blame the Disciple given the Master's arrogance and oversized ego. In fact, far from teaching his Disciple the ways of science, Léonard looks upon him as a convenient guinea-pig for his inventions and shows little sympathy when they go wrong, which they almost always do. Still, Léonard expects his Disciple to be enthusiastic about his inventions, and the resigned Disciple often ironically repeats his motto "I serve science and it's my joy" ''()''.

Storyline

The most common storyline is that Léonard comes up with the idea for an invention. He then proceeds to wake up his late-sleeping Disciple using various means which range from loudspeakers to explosives. After being blown to bits or suffering similar injuries, the Disciple gets himself together and grudgingly proceeds to help build and test Léonard's latest idea. This invariably results in more damage to his body and soul, but failure to co-operate will result in him being on the receiving end of Léonard's

anvil An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually Forging, forged or Steel casting, cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked"). Anvils are massive because the hi ...

blunderbuss The blunderbuss is a 17th- to mid-19th-century firearm with a short, large caliber Gun barrel, barrel. It is commonly flared at the muzzle (firearms), muzzle to help aid in the loading of Lead shot, shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity ...

which the Master keeps conveniently tucked up in his beard. The story often ends with the Disciple covered in plaster and bandages and even having to go to hospital.

Other characters

Looking on are Raoul the cat, Bernadette the mouse, and Mathurine the housekeeper. The cat and the mouse are friends and often appear in on-the-side gags: while the main action is being played out by Léonard and his Disciple, the cat and the mouse are involved in action of their own. Another recurring character is Crâne, a talking

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

who comments on the scene. There is also a rival inventor, the Great Albert (based on

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

) who also has an assistant who is every bit as put-upon as Basile. Albert, who is in every way as brilliant and as arrogant as Léonard, first appeared in a full-length adventure entitled ''La Guerre des génies'' (French for "Genius Wars") – which included a chapter called "Le Génie contre-attaque" ("The Genius Strikes Back"). Deciding that the town was not big enough for two geniuses, he and Léonard engaged in a fiery feud with both of them coming up with increasingly devastating methods to try to get rid of the other.

Running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

s in the story included the angry inhabitants chasing both Leonardo and Albert out of town and both men joining forces on occasion to get rid of another passing genius,

Nicolas Flamel Nicolas Flamel (; 1330 – 22 March 1418) was a French ''écrivain public'', a draftsman of public documents such as contracts, letters, agreements and requests. He and his wife also ran a school that taught this trade. Long after his death, ...

, and his disciple. Although this story was entirely about the two fighting a huge battle, in later albums they are shown to be on more or less friendly terms.

Cartoon series

A pilot for a series was made at the beginning of the 1990s by the French cartoon company IDDH, but the full series was never made. A cartoon series with CGI graphics was produced by

Dargaud Media Dargaud Media is a French production company and animation studio that produces animation, documentaries and feature-length films. It was created in 1984 by the French-Belgian comic book publishing house Dargaud. It is one of the production labe ...

. It has been renamed Contraptus ( fr) for the international market.Contraptus flyer at mediatoon.com
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References

Sources

*http://www.bdparadisio.com/scripts/detail.cfm?Id=271 *http://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-298-BD-De-Groot-Bob.html *http://www.bedetheque.com/serie-125-BD-Leonard.html *http://www.bdtheque.com/main.php?bdid=252&action=2 *http://lambiek.net/artists/d/de-groot_bob.htm *http://lambiek.net/artists/t/turk.htm

External links

''Léonard'' on Lelombard.com

List of albums
on Bedetheque.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard Lombard Editions titles Fictional scientists in comics Fictional inventors in comics Belgian comics characters Belgian comics titles Belgian comic strips Bandes dessinées 1974 comics debuts Fictional Italian people Humor comics Comics characters introduced in 1974 Cultural depictions of Leonardo da Vinci Male characters in comics Comics based on real people Comics set in Italy Comics set in the 15th century Comics set in the 16th century Comics adapted into television series Comics adapted into animated series