Largo Winch

Largo Winch

The first book in the series, The Heir
Created by Philippe Francq
Jean Van Hamme
Publication information
Publisher Dupuis (French)
Cinebook (English)
Formats Original material for the series has been published as a set of graphic novels.
Original language French
Genre Action/adventure
Main character(s) Largo Winch
Nerio Winch
John D. Sullivan
Dwight E. Cochrane
Simon Ovronnaz
Creative team
Creator(s) Philippe Francq
Jean Van Hamme
Reprints
The series has been reprinted, at least in part, in Danish, Dutch, English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Serbian.

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 1970s, 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 into various languages, including Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, German, Portuguese, Serbian, Spanish and Swedish. The series is among the most popular comics series in French, with annual sales of nearly 500.000 copies.[1]

Contents

Albums of the series

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

  1. L'Héritier (The Heir)
  2. Le Groupe W (The W Group)
  3. O.P.A. (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)
  16. La Voie et la vertu (The Way And The Virtue)
  17. Mer noire (Black Sea)
  18. Colère Rouge (Red Anger)*

* To be published

Translations

In English

The volumes are being translated into English and published by Cinebook.[2] The following volumes have been released to date:

  1. The Heir (includes The W Group) - March 2008 ISBN 9781905460489
  2. Takeover Bid (includes Business Blues) - July 2008 ISBN 9781905460588
  3. Dutch Connection (includes H) - February 2009 ISBN 9781905460786
  4. The Hour of the Tiger (includes Fort Makiling) - August 2009 ISBN 9781905460991
  5. See Venice... - February 2010 ISBN 9781849180207
  6. ...And Die - May 2010 ISBN 9781849180320
  7. Golden Gate - February 2011 ISBN 9781849180696
  8. Shadow - April 2011 ISBN 9781849180757

The English editions are censored.

In other media

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.

Cinema

A film, directed by Jérôme Salle and starring Tomer Sisley, was released in France on December 17, 2008.

A documentary, "Largo", directed by Yves Legrain-Crist with Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Francq, was released in France on Autumn 2007. This film shows two authors are searching for the answer to the question: "How is a comic book created?" It is available, with English subtitles, directly from the producers through VOD [3][4]

Video Game

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

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bilan 2008" (in French). ACBD. 2009. http://www.acbd.fr/bilan-2008.html. Retrieved 2009-03-19. 
  2. ^ Largo Winch at Cinebook
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ "Largowinch-ledoc". Largowinch-ledoc. http://largowinch-ledoc.com. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 

External links