HERGÉ 281
Selected Bibliography: Weiner, Stephen, and Jason Hall. Th e Hellboy Companion.
Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 2006.
Richard L. Graham
HERGÉ (1907–83). Georges Remi, better known by his pen name “Hergé,” is widely
regarded as the greatest 20th-century master of the European bande dessinée. Most
famous as the author of the Tintin books, which have sold well over 200 million copies
worldwide, he also produced other comics and worked as a graphic designer.
Born and brought up in Brussels, Hergé experienced an uneventful childhood.
His youth was marked by his involvement with the scouts and, starting in 1922, he
regularly contributed illustrations to a variety of scouting periodicals. In 1925, Hergé
found employment with the Catholic newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle , fi rst in the
subscriptions department and then as an illustrator. By 1928 he had become editor
of Le Petit Vingtième , the paper’s new weekly supplement for children, in which the
fi rst Tintin adventure would be launched in January 1929 (subsequently published as
a black-and-white book in 1930). In 1932, Hergé married Germaine Kieckens who
provided invaluable assistance as his career developed.
Hergé’s meetings during 1934 and 1935 with a Chinese art student, Tchang Tchong-
jen, led him to devote far greater attention to artistic technique and documentary
source material. Th is is refl ected in Th e Blue Lotus (1936), his fi rst acknowledged
masterpiece, and he continued thereafter to gain in profi ciency both as a draftsman and
as a storyteller.
Following the outbreak of World War II, the Tintin serials appeared in the news-
paper Le Soir , which had come under German control. Banned from working for the
press immediately after the occupation, Hergé continued to adapt his earlier black-
and-white books to the new color format introduced in 1942 at his publisher’s behest.
Once declared innocent of any war-time collaboration, Hergé could proceed in 1946
with the launch of Tintin , the weekly magazine in which all future Tintin stories would
appear. In 1950 Hergé founded his “Studios Hergé” and began gathering a small team
of assistants to allow for more elaborate working practices.
After the war Hergé suff ered from bouts of depression that interrupted publication
of three Tintin serials, and during the late 1950s he experienced further crises. His
marriage with Germaine came under increased strain, but he managed to complete
Tintin in Tibet —his most personal work—in 1959 before separating from Germaine
in 1960.
His relationship with Fanny Vlamynck, a young colorist on his studio team who
would later become his second wife, heralded a more relaxed phase of his life. New
books were produced at a less hectic pace and Hergé devoted time to trips abroad and
the enlargement of his contemporary art collection.
In 1979, the 50th anniversary of Tintin gave rise to almost uninterrupted celebra-
tions to which Hergé attributed his increasing exhaustion. However, a bone marrow
disorder was diagnosed early in the following year. Th e poignant reunion of Tchang and
