A Video Tour of Pilote (Featuring Asterix, Lucky Luke, Valerian, and More!)
A few weeks back, I wrote an article in which I reviewed Pilote #455 (cover dated July 25, 1968). It featured the start of what would become the first “Valerian and Laureline” album, alongside the finale to “Asterix at the Olympic Games.”
There’s much more to the issue to see, so I recorded a flip through.
Here’s the video and I’ll follow up with a few links to spots you might be interested in:
- 2:00 Achille Talon
- 2:28 Rubrique-a-Brac
- 3:10 Asterix at the Olympic Games
- 5:47 Valerian v1, Pages 1 – 2
- 8:26 Iznogoud
- 9:19 Lt. Blueberry, drawn by Jean Giraud/Moebius
- 10:16 Lucky Luke
More coverage of Pilote to come…
One more trip down memory lane 🙂
2 things:
1/ the text pages. In order to qualify as a for-children magazine, with a lower VAT rate, there was a legal requirement for 20% text pages with “educational” content, hence the science-y and history bits + editorial pages and games, as well as the famed centerfold Pilotorama that all the kids used as a crutch for some types of homework (“exposé”). I believe that Golden Age american comics had similar rules. Count the pages and see if I remember the percentage correctly. collector’s tip: If you buy single issues of Pilote today, always check that the Pilotorama has not been removed and/or some of the text pages clipped.
2/ the monochrome pages. That was to get a cheaper rate at the printer’s that certain sections of the magazines (50%?) would be printed in B&W + one single extra color (usually shades of red). You’ll notice that it never impacted the popular series, only the lesser known ones, most of which were never collected into album form. It should always be the same sections of the mag, page-wise, so it was printed in two waves + the cover that had richer hues and stockier paper.
With this video on You Tube, you should start doing the Pilote agenda.
Was the inspiration for this video where you flip through Pilote magazine inspired by the various videos that Fantagraphics does on YouTube when they flip through their books at all?
I don’t think it was, directly, though I do remember looking it up to make sure Fantagraphics hadn’t done one with “Die Laughing” before I did mine. It wouldn’t matter, though, since I’m adding commentary and review while their videos were just showing off the book. They don’t do enough of those…
No I mean was the other video without the commentary where you flip through Pilote magazine, was that inspired by Fantagraphics videos of people flipping through books without commentary on the Fantagraphics YouTube channel at all?
No, that was me being funny with the ASMR trend on YouTube.
Did you know that there are now going to be Playmobil Asterix sets coming out next year in 2022 at all?