Raymond Poïvet’s “Salammbô”

“This fascinating story (Salammbô) of love and war, rich in heroic Carthaginian lore, set in glowing barbaric splendor, surrounded with an atmosphere of dreamy tropical warmth and local colour, and with its weird serpent scene and mysterious cults, has long been regarded as an untranslatable work.” — The Times, London.

Gustave Flaubert’s Salammbô; a Romance of Ancient Carthage, offered rich graphic possibilities for cartoonists of the bande dessinée. René Gahou seems to have been first with his 1943 adaptation in the magazine Cendrillon (HERE). Next was a disciple of Alex Raymond, Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth: a Frenchman named Raymond Poïvet (1910-99).

Poïvet’s Salammbô began in the French-Canadian Photo Journal on May 31, 1954, although I have not been able to discover just where it first appeared in Europe. Raymond Poïvet was the artist on the fantastic adventure Les Pionniers de L’Espérance, scripted by Roger Lécureux. C. Barbet, in his erudite comment on my second post on that strip notes that Philippe Druillet, who produced another comic Salammbô as a trilogy in 1980, was one of Poïvet’s students. 

A great selection of Salammbô illustré can be browsed HERE.

[3] August 21, 1954.

[4] October 23, 1954.

[5] October 23, 1954.

[6] October 16, 1954.

[7] June 26, 1954.

[8] American cartoonist Clare Victor Dwiggins illustration for Salammbô, 1904 (Akron, Ohio, St. Dunstan Society).

[9] Literary News, June 1886, ‘a monthly journal of current literature.’

[10] Raymond Poïvet’s signature.

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Les Pionniers de L'esperance II

Les Pionniers de L'esperance (The Pioneers of Hope) began on 14 Dec 1945 in Vaillant and ended in September 1973 in Pif Gadget. Every reference I have found credits the ‘creation’ to Roger Lécureux and Raymond Poïvet. After a close reading of the strip from Le Petit Journal, where it began 21 December 1947 and ran until 1953, I’m convinced that this is all wrong.

[R. Poirret]

The first strip had no credits but the second said on the banner “Dessins de R. Poirret sur un scenario de R. Lécureux.” ‘Poirret’ could be a misspelling of Poïvet but studying the artwork leads to another possible conclusion; these were two different cartoonists. Poirret’s name appears in the banner for 2 years but the strips are not signed until 1951, when, for a short period the strip is taken over by artist Lucien Nortier. Raymond Poïvet takes over from Nortier on 11 February 1951, putting his signature directly on the strips. Soon after that the banner was returned to the top with credit going to Roger Lécureux and Raymond Poïvet.

The reason I think R. Poirret and Raymond Poïvet may be different artists is because of the art itself. Poirret was a great stylist from the start, with a style based not so much on Alex Raymond’s work as it was on Austin Brigg’s style (Austin Briggs became Raymond’s assistant on Flash Gordon in 1940.) Poïvet’s first signed strip showed an artist struggling clumsily to find a style, borrowing elements from Alex Raymond, R. Poirret, L. Nortier and Hal Foster’s Tarzan. He was competent but the work was not even as good as Nortier’s in the beginning. For at least 5 months the wonderful work of Poirret is replaced by a serial squashed into 12 square panels which is signed Raymond Poïvet . Eventually Poïvet’s style and anatomical knowledge improved, although it was based more on Raymond than Briggs, and he began opening up the possibilities with the use of larger panels. By July 1951 his work was as good as Poirret’s.

It is Poïvet who is remembered today, and with good reason, by the end of the comics run he had developed into a fine illustrator and was producing lovely pages in the Flash Gordon style. I think it is Roger Lécureux and R. Poirret (whoever he was) who deserve the credit for originating Les Pionniers de L'esperance.

[R. Poirett]

[Raymond Poïvet]

Part I HERE

The comic strips can be followed HERE

Les Pionniers de L'esperance

Les Pionniers de L'esperance was designed by R. Poirret or Raymond Poïvet to a scenario by Roger Lécureux. The strip first appeared in Vaillant. During the German occupation American strips were banned in France. Quite naturally French cartoonists began turning out their own science-fiction strips to replace Flash Gordon and other popular strips. By the end of the war the adventure strip was firmly established on the continent. Probably the most popular was Les Pionniers de L'esperance (The Pioneers of Hope) which began on 14 Dec 1945 in Vaillant which had begun as a French resistance weekly. The series came to an end in September 1973 when Vaillant was retitled Pif Gadget. The Phylacterium blog has an interesting 3 part series on the history of science fiction comics in France HERE.

We can imagine carefully hoarded American supplements passed surreptitiously from cartoonist to cartoonist under the noses of the Vichy spies. Poïvet's Raymond influence was obvious in the early years but by the time the comic ended he had developed a strongly feathered chiaroscuro style which made him one of the premier comic strip artists of his generation. Poïvet hugely influenced the next generation of adventure strip cartoonists -- seen most clearly on Paul Gillon's artwork for the 'Les Naufragés du Temps' strip of 1964.

[Above art signed Lucien Nortier]

Part II HERE