#epervier bleu

[dirtyriver]

Chanson d'avril, Natacha's 23rd album by François Walthéry, begins prepublication in Spirou 4534, March 5, 2025. After L'épervier bleu and Sur les traces de l'épervier bleu, it is the final installment in a trilogy adapting two adventures of L'Epervier Bleu by Sirius originally published in Spirou in 1948/1949, L'île aux perles and Les pirates de la stratosphère.

As luck would have it I am reading this issue of Spirou in the Old Family House, where I found as a teen the bound collection of Spirou from 1949 that featured the end of Lîle aux perles and the beginning of Les pirates de la stratosphère, the two very comics that Walthéry decided to adapt.

Out of all the features in these 1949 Spirou, l'Epervier Bleu was by far my favorite, an adventure comic at sea (his author Sirius was himself a sailor), flirting with science-fiction (it was canceled after French censors complained about a story where our heroes took a trip to the moon...)

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Natacha 23 : Chanson d'avril, original cover art by François Walthéry

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L'Epervier Bleu : Les pirates de la stratosphère, Spirou 565, February 10, 1949, by Sirius

And its adaptation as an adventure of Natacha : Chanson d'avril, Spirou 4534, March 5, 2025, by François Walthéry

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"Sur les traces de l'Épervier Bleu", Spirou 4207, November 28, 2018, original cover art by François Walthéry

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"...mais bon, c'est vrai aussi que je n'ai plus jamais eu dix ans..."

Hommage au journal de Spirou par Dany

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L’Epervier Bleu: La Planète Silencieuse, published in Spirou from 1951 to 1953 and in two albums in 1954.

The series had been in the line of sight of the French censorship office for a while because of its violence and use of mad scientists. This trip to the moon, deemed too fantasist and nightmarish, was the last straw and the series ended abruptly (it was revived for a few episodes in the 1970s).

Tintin took part in a similar journey at the same time and didn’t encounter any issues with censorship. The censorship office probably thought it was more educational than l’Epervier Bleu....

[dirtyriver]

Back cover of the eighth Épervier Bleu album, La Planète Silencieuse, 1954 (strangely not advertising Point Zero, the first part of that story).

The map nerd in me would have placed these albums closer to the place where the action took place.

[dirtyriver]

Original cover art for Spirou n° 1915, 1974, featuring l’Épervier Bleu in Le Cimetière de l’Infini, by Sirius.

I wasn’t reading Spirou at the time, but my Dad was working at a paper recycling plant and a few years later he brought back home a few scattered issues of the mag, including this one. This cover was strikingly different from the rest and has always fascinated me.

I also recognized the character and its author from an old 1949 collection of the mag that belonged to my Mom. I was elated when Dupuis reprinted a lone vintage story, and a few years later three others. And thanks to the wonders of the modern age and small publishers, the whole series is now available in print. 

I love everything about this series, its old-timey pulp adventure feel, and the vitality and looseness of the art. Truly a classic, unjustly forgotten adventure comic.