Largo Winch

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For media based on the comic book, see Largo Winch (TV series) and Largo Winch (film).

Largo Winch is a Belgian comic book series by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme, published by Dupuis.

The principal character is Largo Winch whose birth name is Largo Winczlav. Other important characters include Nerio Winch (his adoptive father), senior Group W executives John D. Sullivan and Dwight E. Cochrane, and his friend Simon Ovronnaz.

Largo Winch started as a series of novels by Jean Van Hamme in the late 1970's, but stopped due to a lack of success and the huge amount of work Van Hamme had in the meantime with his comic books (e.g. Thorgal). When Francq wanted to start a series with Van Hamme, he revived his old hero, and reworked the novels into the first albums of the comic series. Later, new stories followed.

In the first two volumes of the series, L'héritier and Le Groupe W, Largo, a young and handsome orphan, is propelled to the head of a business empire, Group W, after his adoptive father Nerio is murdered, and goes through a lot of troubles to preserve his inheritance and avenge Nerio.

The following albums are more or less based on the same basic plot: someone is trying to harm Largo's company or to take control of it from him, and he has to fight that someone to ensure the survival of his holdings.

All the stories of the series are published in two volumes, the first one being the one putting Largo in an impossible situation, and the second one letting him get out of it. In addition, both volumes share the same background color on the cover.

The stories appear originally in French, and are translated various languages, including Dutch, English, German, Portuguese and Serbian.

Contents

[edit] Albums of the series

The English translation is given when the album title is French.

  1. L'Héritier (The Heir)
  2. Le Groupe W (Group W)
  3. O.P.A. (Public Takeover Bid)
  4. Business Blues
  5. H
  6. Dutch Connection
  7. La Forteresse De Makiling (The Makiling Fortress)
  8. L'heure Du Tigre (The Hour Of The Tiger)
  9. Voir Venise... (See Venice...)
  10. ...Et mourir (...And Die)
  11. Golden Gate
  12. Shadow
  13. Le Prix De L'argent (The Price Of Money)
  14. La Loi du dollar (The Law Of The Dollar)
  15. Les trois yeux des gardiens du Tao (The Three Eyes Of The Tao Guardians)

[edit] In other media

[edit] TV

A TV series based on the comics was launched in 2001 and has aired in English and French. The English edition has aired on Showcase Television in Canada as Largo [1]. For more info see Largo Winch (TV series).

[edit] Cinema

A film, directed by Jérôme Salle, will be released in France on December 17, 2008 [2]. For more information see Largo Winch (film).

A documentary, "Largo", directed by Yves Legrain-Crist with Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Francq, has been released in France on Autumn 2007. This film shows how two authors are searching their character and tries to answer this question: "How is created a comic book?" It is available, with English subtitles, directly from the producers through VOD [3]. The web site for this documentary film (French only) is here [4].

[edit] Video Game

'Largo Winch: Empire Under Threat' was released in 2002 by Dupuis and Ubi Soft. The game is a puzzle based 3rd person RPG with Largo himself as the playable character. The plot of the game follows the usual scenario of Largo Winch epics with his business empire under threat he fights to save it.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links