Talk:Achille Talon

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[edit] Rewrite of Device Section

I was going to tackle Murgh's request to rewrite this section in encyclopedic style, but after browsing a few Achille Talon albums, the comment that Greg "used everything as fodder" seems offbase. Greg occasionally packs three or four jokes into a panel, but in his graphics his usual habit is let several panels go by before a visual gag. It's true the *language* in Achille Talon is dense and constantly amusing, but that doesn't seem to be the point being made in this section. There are examples of humorists who keep up a practically constant barrage of verbal and graphic humor and asides (Gotlib, Don Rosa, Walt Kelly), but Greg's style is not that way. This isn't to say that Greg wasn't capable of constant joking -- it's just that it wasn't his style.

More characteristic of Achille Talon is the dense, inflated language. But that's something a native French speaker should comment upon. Pas moi.Alpha Ralpha Boulevard 22:19, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Moi non plus. It's the kind of section that can only be written with the help of a decent academic analysis source. Otherwise it's difficult to shape anything meaningful from that premise without it being OR. MURGH ^disc. 23:06, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Something a little wrong with story about how Achille Talon started

I'm not on incredibly firm ground, here (and it's really not that big a deal), but this article statement, as it stands, may either be an urban legend, or lost something in translation:

"The figure was conceived by Greg when, due to a clerical error, some pages of Pilote were blank and none of the other authors were available."

In Album 30, "Achille Talon a un gros nez!", pages 12 and 13 appear to show the first Achille Talon gags (numbers 1-8). On pages 24 and 25, numbers 9-16 appear. Most of the rest of the album has full page gags, numbered in the hundreds. The change in style is quite noticable, and the numbering in the other albums is quite consistent, so it's reasonable to assume that these gags are the first 16 that appeared.

Ok. Whew. Given that, since these gags are all 1/4 page each, and not a full page, it's unlikely (although not impossible) that several "blank Pilote pages" were filled with such small piecemeal strips? Wouldn't a typical Pilote ploy when caught short for material to use a full page gag, or a character sketch, etc.? Anybody have the 1963 Pilote?

This page seems to suggest that only one gag appeared per issue... http://www.bdoubliees.com/journalpilote/series1/achilletalon.htmAlpha Ralpha Boulevard 23:34, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

This type of anectote needs the backing of a source at any rate, but as is, the story seems a bit thin (quite possibly from a translation). I'm certainly no expert either, but I don't think Pilote realising they're in need 1/2 or 1/4 page fillers close to going to press is so inconceivable in the crazy lives of hebdo-publishers. That's the sort of gap left after untrustworthy advertisers pull out, not so unlike the holes that led to the first Gaston Lagaffe panels. There ought to be good sources for this material. MURGH ^disc. 01:00, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quality of Achille Talon Cover

Does anybody have an idea why the photo for this page -- which is pretty fair quality at its uploaded full size -- becomes pixelated in the red letters in the title? I redid it so the same shade of red is used throughout the red lettering, but the only thing which seems to make a difference is to display it at higher resolution, say 350 pixels instead of 250 pixels. I've looked through a few other covers and don't seen this effect happening. What's going on? Are those non-pixelated photos using "Web-safe" colors or something? Alpha Ralpha Boulevard 04:05, 1 November 2007 (UTC)