Le château maudit, Tome 3
Page 19
lot 3
India ink on paper
57 x 39 cm ( 22,44 x 15,35 in )
Editor Dupuis
Signed bottom right
id. 6953
Page 19 published in Journal Spirou in January 1952 under the title “Valhardi contre le Monstre” (Valhardi against the Monster). Published the following year as a paperback album, it bore the revised title Valhardi et le château maudit (Valhardi and the Doomed Castle). The text was written by the up-and-coming com-ics writer Jean-Michel Charlier.With reference to this album, Hughes Dayez said: “In Le Château Maudit, Paape totally freed himself from Jijé’s legacy, and it’s only thanks to the generic name ‘Jean Valhardi Detective’ that we know we’re still dealing with the same series...” (in Le Duel Tintin-Spirou, Éditions Luc Pire, 1997, p. 229). So, Eddy Paape really set about reinventing the art of inking, just at a time when he was leaving Dupuis to join World Press (founded by Georges Troisfontaines), an employer of which he was fond of saying “They let me draw in peace.”