# Two Rather Big Cartoon Birthdays this week. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695 "2004-01-09T18:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/1 "2004-01-09T18:58:44Z")
This Saturday and the next mark the 75th birthdays of two pop culture icons from the States and Europe. Being a fan of both of 'em, I figured a shout out was in order. So, a tip of the pen and a can of spinach hoisted to Tintin (10 Jan 1929) and Popeye (17 Jan 1929) in honor of their diamond jubilees! Happy birthday, boys! ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/2 "2004-01-09T19:23:31Z")
I shouldn’t be surprised at how long they’ve both been around – but I am. Some great things are still with us, I’m glad to see. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/3 "2004-01-09T19:31:26Z")
Just spotted this: [a commemoration of Tintin](http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3542818&thesection=news&thesubsection=world) via the _NZ Herald_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/4 "2004-01-10T01:27:12Z")
I wish Tin Tin had a better English translator. I can tell by the pacing of the story that the cartoonist has wonderful comedic timing, but the jokes are just flat and awful. Still, the comics are charming (I borrowed some collections from the library just a week or two ago), and Snowy looks like the kind of dog I’d like to own. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/5 "2004-01-10T03:17:59Z")
Billions of blue blistering barnacles! 75 years? Well, blow me down… ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/6 "2004-01-10T05:34:35Z")
Man, I remember reading _Tintin_ a LONG time ago. That must have been when my brother was into them. I think I even read them in French a time or two. Alwyas very interesting storylines. 🙂 Popeye is still around, eh? Pretty good stuff! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![french\_frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c77e96/32.png) [@french\_frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/french_frog)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/7 "2004-01-10T13:26:02Z")
Living in the States now, I am really disapointed by the lack of “real”, hard-covered comic books in this country. When I go back to France from time to time, I see all the choices, the new releases and I cry. “292 million people and just the marvel comics? For crying out loud!”. Yep. I cry loud. From the classical Belgian “clear-line” (Tintin) to the lastests work of art, humour, SciFi, heroic fantasy, nothing! Or… maybe I missed something and somebody out there will direct me to a nice link or a store in Boston Metro?.. 😕 As for Tintin, I never had the chance to read it in English, but I read Asterix, and the translation is very British english/culture oriented. Some good jokes, but the high quality of the original text suffers a lot. I miss my 500+ ‘Bandes Dessinées’ … _sob_ ---
**Author:** ![that.sound.again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@that.sound.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that.sound.again)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/8 "2004-01-10T15:28:20Z")
**froggie** , the way comics are published in France is extremely cool. No softcover serial-that-goes-on-forever nonsense. Of course, the American way of doing it has it’s merits, too. Some of the American indepented comics are very good. It’s a different thing from the European ‘novel’-style of publishing, but if you want that, can’t you find a place that sells imported French and Belgian stuff? What happened to your 500 BDs? Sounds like i could have a couple of days’ fun with those… ---
**Author:** ![french\_frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c77e96/32.png) [@french\_frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/french_frog)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/9 "2004-01-10T15:51:17Z")
Don’t take me wrong, I like also the US style comics. But with a market this size, nobody has thought of creating / releasing european style comics yet? weird. Hey I got a business idea! …know any VC? 😉 As for imports, I guess I’m just waiting for birthday/Xmas presents 🙂 The only couple of places I was told to go were really Marvel subsidiaries ! ☹ And the 500 are awaiting me at my Mom’s, regularly mistreated by my brother ☹ (don’t stack them in a pile !!! Argh!!!)… bah… What do they have in Denmark? ---
**Author:** ![that.sound.again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@that.sound.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that.sound.again)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-rather-big-cartoon-birthdays-this-week/223695/10 "2004-01-10T18:04:48Z")
The market in Denmark seems to mainly consist of erotica and childrens’ (or comedic) classics. _Tintin, Asterix, Lucky Luke, Gaston la Gaffe_ etc. Everything is generally soft-cover. Most people read English so these days the market for translated superheroes is not as big as it used to be. I think _Spawn_, _Witchblade_ and _Spiderman_ have monthly magazines in Danish. Oh, and _Akira_ recently got published in about twenty volumes. As for European serious/adult stuff, it seems that only the absolute top of the heap gets translated and published, and only in relatively small runs. Moebius, Manara, Loisel, Bourgeon, Pratt etc. Then there are Danish comics, most notably, in terms of popularity, _Valhalla_. Think _Asterix_ with the gods from Nordic mythology in stead of Gauls. But that series is really an exception. There’s not much money to be made from producing comics for the Danish market. (_Valhalla_ survives because of huge popularity and being marketable in all Nordic countries. The _Moomin Trolls_ is another series produced under license here, and sold worldwide.) Then of course there’s a small indie scene that keeps putting out books and anthologies for the hell of it. They’re lucky if they break even on their printing costs. But that’s an advantage in my view; it gives them complete creative freedom and sometimes there’s fantastic stuff among the so-so autobiographical comics. But if you want to read the best comics of any genre when they first come out, you have to get them as imports. Which is what I do.