Redbeard (comics)

Redbeard (French: Barbe-Rouge) is a series of Belgian comic books, originally published in French, created by writer Jean-Michel Charlier and artist Victor Hubinon. After their deaths the series was continued by other artists, including Jijé (Joseph Gillain), Christian Gaty, Patrice Pellerin, Jean Ollivier, Christian Perrissin and Marc Bourgne.

Contents 1 Publications 2 The characters 3 Asterix parody 4 Historical background 5 Albums 6 End of the series? 7 Spin-off 8 TV 9 References 10 External links

Publications

The series was very popular in France, Belgium and The Netherlands, but has not yet been published in English. In late seventies and early eighties, most of the classic episodes were also published in Yugoslavia (in the Serbian language) under the name Demon s Kariba (Demon of the Caribbean). In Croatia, the series was first published under the name Crvenobradi but later under the name Riđobradi (in the Croatian language). In Germany, the series is known under the name: Der rote Korsar, and in Denmark 5 albums have been published under the name Rødskæg. In the seventies two episodes were published in Finland, under the name Punaparta, and in Portugal 5 Barba Ruiva albums have been published.

The characters

• Redbeard is a pirate of French origin. After a troublesome youth he went roaming the seven seas for gold and fortune on his ship, the Black Falcon. He has gathered a great fortune over the years, most of which was hidden in the Florida Everglades. But a lot of his fortune was needed to buy or repair his ships. He used to have a secret base on an uninhabited island, but this was destroyed first by the British, Spanish and Dutch forces and finally in a volcanic eruption. According to the later spin-off series, his real name supposedly is Jean-Baptiste Cornic, however it can be debated whether this is canon or not.

• Eric Lerouge ("the red", although his hair is blond!), is the adopted son of Redbeard. In fact, he can be seen as the main character of the series, despite the title, as some episodes deal with Eric and do not feature Redbeard at all. In 1715, Redbeard found young Eric during a raid on a ship, while abandoned by his parents (who were killed in the attack). His true name and legacy were revealed later, in documents that Redbeard had taken during the attack. Eric's true name is Thierry de Montfort. He is a nobleman, but the claim to his father's name has been lost, and hence convicted to travel the seas. Eric dislikes the pirate life. He does not want to succeed Redbeard, and choose to lead an honest life, however many obstacles lay in his path. He has studied at the Royal Navy in London by using a fake name. He tried to earn a living as a captain on a tradeship, but Redbeard keeps coming back into his life, needing him for one of his jobs.

• Tripod (called that for his wooden leg and walking stick) is Redbeard's righthand. He is an inventor, geographer, and also has great knowledge of surgery and strategy and speaks Latin fluently. In fact, he has multiple wooden legs, each containing hidden tools, medicines or weapons. One leg is even modified into a rifle.

• Baba is an escaped slave of African origin, being abducted by slave traders from the Gulf of Guinea. He was freed by Redbeard, and choose to remain as his loyal servant. Strong like a bull, and can swim like a dolphin. He had a sister called Aïcha, but she was killed in Algiers while helping Eric to escape.

• The Black Falcon is the name of Redbeard's ship. There have been at least 4 different ships, as it sometimes was destroyed during battle. This first Falcon was a Brig, that was blown up by Redbeard himself after it had been captured by the Spanish. The second Black Falcon was a three-masted barque, and it burned while being sieged by the pirate Alvarez. The third Falcon was also a three-masted barque, but with a very narrow hull. It also had extended rigging and bigger sails, that could be raised and lower from the deck itself. Next to regular cannons, it featured two extremely heavy cannons (30 cm caliber), named after Gog and Magog. Also there were 30 connected muskets, that could be fired at once. The ship could also drop Naval mines. Finally, there was a hidden surprise in the form of Greek fire: copper tubes could spray this substance over the water and onto enemy ships. The ship gained its nickname the ship from hell in the siege of Algiers, causing mass mayhem and turning a great portion of the city into ashes. However it was blown up again by Redbeard, as there was no escape possible from the Dardanelles near Istanbul. The fourth Back Falcon is again a regular three-masted barque.

Asterix parody

Redbeard is better known from a parody in the Asterix comic series, than his own series. Since the album Asterix the Gladiator, a group of pirates appear in nearly every story, and their ship sinks at almost every meeting. Originally conceived as a joke, the pirates' appearance was so successful that they were fully integrated in the Astérix series. They were also featured in both the 1968 animation film Asterix and Cleopatra and the 2002 live-actionfilm Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, as well in 3 other animations: Asterix in Britain, Asterix Conquers America and Asterix and the Vikings.

The reason behind this parody is that Jean-Michel Charlier had worked with the authors of Asterix, René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo, in the founding of the comics magazine Pilote in 1959 in which both Asterix and Redbeard first appeared.

Although, in several countries of Continental Europe, Redbeard is a popular comic series in its own right, the popularity of Asterix's pirates is one of the few occasions when parody figures have overshadowed their originals.

Historical background

Redbeard's adventures mainly take place in the period between 1715 to 1750. The character of Redbeard was based on various historical pirates, like the Frenchman Robert Surcouf (1773–1827), as Charlier & Hubinson created three comics about him between 1949–1952, and these stories would later be the basis of this series. Also used are stories about the Turkish admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa (1483–1546), whose Italian name Barbarossa means "Red Beard". Parts of his cruel appearance might be based on the notorious Blackbeard, active in the Caribbean Sea, and his fame and successes in the series resembles that of Bartholomew Roberts, who successfully conquered over 450 ships.

A lot of what is going on in the stories is based on real history:

• In the first album, we get to know about the Viceroyalty of New Spain: The territories of the Spanish Empire in New World; North America, Central America and the Caribbean. In the 18th century, the Spanish were most of the time in war with The British, France and the Dutch.
• The album The Brand Of The King takes place in the Mediterranean Sea, were galley slaves were marked with the French "Fleur de lis " symbol, by using a hot stake. It also featured Barbary pirates.
• The Ghost Ship & Dead Man's Island featured the (fictive) treasure of historical pirate Henry Morgan.
• The Spanish Ambush shows the court of the Spanish Viceroy in Cartagena.
• The Letter Of Marque And Reprisal explains the difference between a pirate and a privateer.
• Albums 16 to 19 deal with the Ottoman Empire, including Istanbul and Algiers.
  • The climax of album 19 was based on the Bombardment of Algiers.
• Albums 21 to 23 deal with the Aztecs: Although their civilisation was wiped out by the Spanish in about 1520, Redbeard finds a hidden city in the jungle of Yucatán with their last living descendants.
• Albums 26 to 28 describe the French-British battle at the Indian Ocean, especially between French gouvernor Joseph François Dupleix and British Robert Clive. Also mentioned is the Maratha Empire, with its island fortress Suvarnadurg.
• Album 28 features the fictitious daughter of the historical pirate Olivier Levasseur.
• Album 33 mentions the "Punchao": a big golden sundisk from an Inti temple, which is eventually found at Machu Picchu.

However starting from the 31st album, The War Of The Pirates (1997), historical errors start to appear. Writer Jean Ollivier brings Henry Morgan to the series as a living character, becoming the new gouvernor of Jamaica. But Morgan already died in 1688, while Redbeard's first adventure (album #1) takes place in 1715. Even in album 7: The Ghost Ship (1966), he is mentioned as being dead! In the following albums by writer Christian Perrissin and artist Marc Bourgne, the character of Redbeard himself also changes drastically. He gets more greedy, his love for Eric seems to be fading away, seems to have no honour anymore, he gets romantically involved with a girl but eventually he shoots her in the arm, causing the need to amputate it. All of these character features cannot be found in any of the previous albums.

Mentioned or visited are the French overseas territories in the New World, like: Fort-de-France, Île de la Tortue, New Orleans, Saint Croix, Port-au-Prince, Bourbon, Pondichéri, Fort Dauphin. And likewise their Spanish counterparts: Cartagena, Veracruz, Mérida, Puerto Bello, Panama, Cuzco. And these British territories: Barbuda, Barbados, Grand Cayman, Kingston, Jaffna, Saint-Augustin.

Albums

* ^ Previously unpublished chapter, also contains two short prequel stories:
*The Gold Of The San Christobal
*The Cobra

End of the series?

After Victor Hubinon died unexpectedly in 1979, Jijé (Joseph Gillain) took over. But when he also died, the series was almost ended, as Jean-Michel Charlier believed nobody could take over. However, he finally managed to find not one, but two artists; Christian Gaty and Patrice Pellerin. As Charlier wrote in the book "Uprise In Jamaica" (1987): "Why not have two different artists? If James Bond can be played by different actors, so can Redbeard". Charlier himself dies in 1989. The series is then continued by Jean Ollivier and Gaty in 1991, with the addition: "The new adventures", however in 1999 it is changed back to just 'Redbeard'.

But in 2006 the publisher Dargaud announced the series will be ended, as it would not be appealing anymore to youngsters, who were the original target audience. Artist Marc Bourgne thinks there will be a comeback of the series somewhere in the future.

Spin-off

Since 1996 there is also a spin-off series, called "The Young Years Of Redbeard", created by different authors then the main series: the scenario is by Christian Perrissin and the artist is Daniel Redondo.

These stories deal with Redbeard's youth before he was a pirate and how he decided to become one. His name is given as Jean-Baptiste Cornic, a servant of the French king. Also explained is how he lost his eye.

• The Brothers Of The Coast (1996)
• The Lion Pit (1997)
• The Duel Of The Captains (1998)
• The Island Of The Red Devil (1999)
• The Mutineers Of Port Royal (2001)

TV

In 1997 the animated series Barbe-Rouge was made by the French TF1 and Italian RAI. This series consists of 26 episodes of 24 minutes. It has also been broadcasted in England and Canada("Captain Red Beard"), Norway ("Kaptein Rødskjegg"), Italy ("Barbarossa") and Greece ("Κοκκινογένης Πειρατής"). The scenarios were written by Jean Cubaud. The animations were done by Pasquale Moreau and Thibault Deschamps, from PRH Création Images.^[1] In 2005, a DVD with five episodes of the animated Redbeard series was released in France (Barbe-Rouge).

References

External links

• L'integrale Barbe-Rouge (French)
• Barbe-Rouge on Bedetheque.com (French)