Figure 1.--This is Hergé about 1912. He looks to be about 5 years old. He wears a sailor suit abd has ringlket curls wiyh a hair bow. This gives the impression to the modern reader that he came from a rich family. In fact, the family was one of modest circumstances.

Georges Prosper Remi (1907 – 83) is better known by his pen name -- Hergé. He is the most famous Belgian cartoonist celevrated for creating 'The Adventures of Tintin'. It was a series of comic books which were easily the most popular European comics. He also created two other well-known series: 'Quick & Flupke' (1930–40) and 'The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko' (1936–57). It is Tintin, however, for which he is best known. He was born in Etterbeek in central Brussels (1907). He was born into a middle-class family of limited means. Belgian is diviuded ethnically and linguistically as so was the Remi family. His Walloon father, Alexis Remi, worked in a candy factory. His Flemish mother, Elisabeth Dufour, took care of the home. He had a younger brother, Paul. The family was Catholic, but not especially devout. He saw his boyhood as rather dull. He especially enjoyed the movies which by the 1920s was becoming a major industry. American films were his favoites. Drawing was a boyhood hobby. He drew scenes in the margins ofvhis school books. Here we see German soldiers as his four years of primary schooling at the Ixelles Municipal School No. 3 were during the first World War I German occupation (1914-18). He then attended the Place de Londres in Ixelles. He transferred to Saint-Boniface Schoo (1920). This was overseen by the archbishop and the instructors were Roman Catholic priests. He was a good student earming prizes for excellence. He funished school at the top of his class (1925). As an adult he wrote, "My childhood was extremely ordinary. It happened in a very average place, with average events and average thoughts. For me, the poet's 'green paradise' was rather gray... My childhood, my adolescence, Boy Scouting, military service—all of it was gray. Neither a sad boyhood nor a happy one—rather a lackluster one." He joined the Boy Scout brigade at Saint-Boniface School, becoming troop leader of the Squirrel Patrol and earning the name 'Curious Fox' (Renard curieux). On Scoting trips he travelled to summer camps in Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Spain. His troop hiked 200 miles across the Pyrenees (1923). His Scoutmaster, Rene Weverbergh, encouraged his artistic ability. He submitted illustrations to Scouting magazines. He developed his first comic series, 'The Adventures of Totor, for Le Boy-Scout Belge (1926). He began working for the conservative Catholic newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle. It was here he created 'The Adventures of Tintin' (1929). He colaborated closely with his editor, Norbert Wallez. The concept was the adventures of a boy reporter, Tintin, and his dog Snowy. The the series was presented as installments in the nbewspaper. They included 'Tintin in the Land of the Soviets', 'Tintin in the Congo', and 'Tintin in America' It was basically presenting a conservative Catholic message prpaganda for children. The Germans after invading and occuoying Belgium (May 1940), closed Le Vingtième Siècle , but Hergé continued the Tintin series in Le Soir, a newspaper controlled by the NAZIs and allowed to continue publishing (1940-44). His cartoons were not pro-NAZI, but appearing in Le Soir gave the impression that he was pro-NAZI. After liberation (September 1944), the Belgian authorities shut down Le Soir and the staff, including Hergé, were accused of collaboration. It would take some time to shake that image.

Created: 12:03 PM 5/12/2018
Last updated: 12:04 PM 5/12/2018