Popular comics in Europe, ca 1972-1982

[mariatheresa]

Searched: lambiek.net, bdoubliees.com, a bunch of other BD sites; I've got some numbers on what I need, but I'd really like to hear about personal experience; I'm not very comfortable with building characters from statistics

Comments

[imayb1]

Asterix

[mariatheresa]

Unmissable at the time, you mean? I guess Goscinny's death would have made it even more present for a while, yeah. Thanks.

[lyorn]

Completely unmissable as far back as I remember, which is the early 70s. Everyone I knew who went to uni and was under 30 had them.

[mariatheresa]

I inherited mine from my parents and then bought what they'd missed myself. :)

I figured this would be the answer; I have these characters who find things important to them in various comics and I wanted to use the history-themed ones for something else later but I'd rather have challenging work with accurate information than easy nonsense. Thanks!

[mariatheresa]

Thank you - it's all very helpful. I love the comics you listed and have at least three to five albums of each, but the story demands that I know their popularity in the late 70s. Thanks for the note on Spirou being the choice of bookish types - I think I'll need that!

[mariatheresa]

Thanks bunches; could you tell me - or if you could ask your folks for reminiscence, I'd be forever indebted - whether they read what they read in specialised magazines, newspapers, or perhaps as albums?

[april_art]

I think Tintin was still around, as a magazine and the actual Tintin comics collected in albums

[mariatheresa]

That is priceless information, thank you so much.

I had this idea that my oblivious-to-popular-culture character had a girlfriend who loved comics, and it was through her that he found a story that helped him solve a problem that had been bugging him; if however the magazines were so omnipresent, I'd better have him come across his story on his own somehow. There's always the option that he'd be aware of the titles without knowing much of what was in them, but I think a rethink is in order.

It's great - for the purpose of this story anyway - that the US comics, mainstream or no, didn't get through much at this point in time. I'll bear in mind that you said your experience was limited, but if they were not easily accessible then it's fair to assume their popularity wasn't remarkable either. Thank you so much again!

[six_crazy_guys]

The last Tintin came in 1976, and Hergé was still working on an album at the time of his death in 1980-something.

[mariatheresa]

Was it as madly popular as the earlier ones? (I know that each new Asterix sells out like hot cakes pronto; was this the case with later Tintins?)

[cafecomics]

Some Marvel series were available in french from Lug/Semic (en, fr. You could buy them at newsstands.

[cafecomics]

Oh I remember I was given an issue of... Strange, I believe, that had a Supergirl story. It was around 1980, I was still in elementary school.

[mariatheresa]

Right, so DC/Marvel were far less present than I'd thought (it's just what I need though so not compaining here).

[mariatheresa]

Excellent, thanks!

[lyorn]

From Germany, late 1970s and early 80s: Asterix, with Lucky Luke and Tintin as far seconds. I read some comic magazines with more Franco-Belgian stuff: Blueberry, Valerian and Veronique, Michael Valliant are a few names I remember.

Micky Mouse and Donald Duck had very good German translations (I was disappointed when I read the originals). Super hero comics, esp. the DC ones, were the stuff you could get at the corner store, but if your parents were big on education they forbid it or mocked you for it, while Disney was acceptable and Asterix was recommended.

I also used to read some stupid comic book about a guy in the Wild West who was like some Old Shatterhand clone and his faithful, clever dog who looked just like Lassie.

Then there were, of course, cartoons. Hagar the Horrible, later Garfield.

The first "real" American comic I read was Frank Miller's "Elektra Assassin" in (IIRC) 1988. But that was already another age, comic-wise.

Brilliant!

[mariatheresa]

This is exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for; grazie mille!

Old Shatterhand

Now I wonder how many people outside (Central) Europe would get a Karl May reference. I'll have to inquire about the popularity of foreign-penned US-themed fiction in the States at some point.