Redbeard is a series of Belgian comic books, originally published in French, created by writer Jean-Michel Charlier and artist Victor Hubinon. After their deaths the series was continued by other artists, including Jijé (Joseph Gillain), Christian Gaty, Patrice Pellerin, Jean Ollivier, Christian Perrissin and Marc Bourgne.
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Publications
The series was very popular in France, Belgium and The Netherlands, but unfortunately has not yet been published in English. In late seventies and early eighties, most of the classic episodes were published in Yugoslavia (in the Serbo-Croatian language) under the name Ridjobradi or Crvenobradi (Redbeard) or Demon s Kariba (Demon of the Caribbean). In Germany, the series is known under the name: Der rote Korsar, and in Denmark 5 albums have been published under the name Rødskæg.
The characters
- The main character is Redbeard (Barbe-Rouge), a pirate of French origin. After a troublesome youth he went roaming the seven seas for gold and fortune on his ship, the Black Falcon. According to a later spin-off series, his real name supposedly is Jean-Baptiste Cornic, however this is non-canon.
- Eric Lerouge ("the red", although his hair is blond!), is the adopted song of Redbeard. He found him during a raid on a ship, while abanonned by his parents (who were killed in the attack). His true name and legacy were reveiled later, in documents that Redbeard had taken during the attack. Eric's true name is Thierry de Montfort. He is a nobleman, but the claim to his father's name has been lost, and hence convicted to travel the seas. Eric dislikes the pirate life. He does not want to succeed Redbeard, and choose to lead an honest life, however many obstacles lay in his path.
- Tripod (called that for his wooden leg and walking stick) is Redbeards righthand. He is an inventor, geographer, and also has great knowledge of surgey and strategy.
- Baba is an escaped slave of African origin. He was freed by Redbeard, and choose to remain as his loyal survant. Strong like a bull, and can swim like a dolphin.
Asterix parody
The absence of an English publication makes the series nearly unknown to a large portion of the public, while the scripts could have easily been converted to feature movies, like Pirates of the Caribbean. Ironically, because of this, Redbeard is better known from a parody in the Asterix comic series, than his own series. Since the album Asterix the Gladiator, a group of pirates appear in nearly every story, and their ship sinks at almost every meeting. Originally conceived as a joke, the pirates' appearance was so successful that they were fully integrated in the Astérix series. They were also featured in the animation film Asterix and Cleopatra and others. The reason behind this is that Jean-Michel Charlier had worked with the authors of Asterix, René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo, in the founding of the comics magazine Pilote in 1959 in which both Asterix and Redbeard first appeared. In fact, even in continental Europe Asterix's pirates are more well-known, making this one of the few times that a parody has overshadowed its original.
Historical background
Redbeard's adventures mainly take place in the period between 1715 to 1750. The character of Redbeard seems to be based on various historical pirates, like the Frenchman Robert Surcouf (1773-1827), mainly active in the Atlantic Ocean and African coast — Charlier & Hubinson created three comics about him between 1949-1952, and these stories would later be the basis of this series. Also used are stories about the Turkish admiral Khair ad Din (1483-1546), whose Italian name Barbarossa means "Red Beard". He was mainly active in the Mediterranean Sea. Parts of his cruel appearance could be based on the notorious Blackbeard, active in the Caribbean Sea, and his fame and successes in the series resembles that of Bartholomew Roberts, who successfully conquered over 450 ships. A lot of what is going on in the stories is based on real history:
- In the first album, we get to know about the Viceroyalty of New Spain: The territories of the Spanish Empire in New World; North America, Central America and the Caribbean. In the 18th century, the Spanish were most of the time in war with The British, France and the Dutch.
- The album The Brand Of The King takes place in the Mediterranean Sea, were Galleyslaves were marked with the French "Fleur de lis " symbol, by using a hot stake. It also featured Barbary pirates.
- The Ghost Ship & Dead Man's Island featured the (fictive) treasure of historical pirate Henry Morgan.
- The Spanish Ambush shows the court of the Spanish Viceroy in Cartagena .
- The Letter Of Marque And Reprisal explains the difference between a pirate and a privateer.
- Albums 16 to 19 deal with the Ottoman Empire, including Istanbul and Algiers.
- Albums 21 to 23 deal with the Aztecs: Although their civilisation was wiped out by the Spanish in about 1520, Redbeard finds a hidden city in the jungle of Yucatán with their last living descendants.
- Albums 26 to 28 describe the French-British battle at the Indian Ocean, especially between French gouvernor Joseph François Dupleix and British Robert Clive. Also mentioned is the Maratha Empire, with it's island fortress Suvarnadurg.
- Album 28 features the fictitious daughter of the historical pirate Olivier Levasseur.
- Album 33 mentions the "Punchao": a big golden sundisk from an Inti temple, which is eventually found at Machu Picchu.
However starting from the 31th album, The War Of The Pirates (1997), historical errors start to appear. Writer Jean Ollivier brings Henry Morgan to the series as a living character, becoming the new gouvernor of Jamaica. But Morgan already died in 1688, while Redbeard's first adventure (album #1) takes place in 1715. Even in album 7: The Ghost Ship (1966), he is mentioned as being dead! In the following albums by writer Christian Perrissin and artist Marc Bourgne, the character of Redbeard himself also changes drastically. He gets more greedy, his love for Eric seems to be fading away, seems to have no honour anymore, he gets romantically involved with a girl but eventually he shoots her in the arm, and it must be amputated. All of these features cannot be found in any of the previous albums, and might have caused the lost of sympathy by the fans of the series. Mentioned or visited are the French overseas territories in the New World, like: Fort-de-France, Île de la Tortue, New Orleans, Saint Croix, Port-au-Prince, Bourbon, Pondichéri, Fort Dauphin. And likewise their Spanish counterparts: Cartagena, Veracruz, Mérida, Puerto Bello, Panama, Cuzco. And these British territories: Barbuda, Barbados, Grand Cayman, Kingston, Jaffna, Saint-Augustin.
Albums
main article: List of Redbeard albums
- 1: The Broken Compass (1959)
- 2: The Horror Of The Seven Seas (1960)
- 3: The Young Capitain (1979) * .
- 4: The Captain Without A Name (1961)
- 5: The Brand Of The King (1961)
- 6: Mutiny On The Ocean (1965)
- 7: The Ghost Ship (1966)
- 8: Dead Man's Island (1967)
- 9: The Spanish Ambush (1968)
- 10: The Downfall Of The Black Falcon (1969)
- 11: The Reckoning (1970)
- 12: The Treasure Of Redbeard (1971)
- 13: The Letter Of Marque And Reprisal (1971)
- 14: The Liberation Of Fort-de-France (1972)
- 15: The Invisible Pirate (1972)
- 16: Fight With The Moors (1973)
- 17: The Prisoner (1973)
- 18: The Ship From Hell (1974)
- 19: Hellfire (1979)
- 20: Island Of The Missing Ships (1980)
- 21: The Missing Of The Black Falcon (1982)
- 22: The Cursed Gold Of Huacapac (1987)
- 23: The City Of Death (1987)
- 24: Con With Slaves (1983)
- 25: Uprise In Jamaica (1987)
- 26: Pirates in Indian Waters (1991)
- 27: The Grand-Mongol (1992)
- 28: The Pirate Of "The Merciless" (1994)
- 29: Fight Over Tortuga (1995)
- 30: Gold And Glory (1996)
- 31: The War Of The Pirates (1997)
- 32: The Shadow Of The Devil (1999)
- 33: The Path Of The Inca (2000)
- 34: The Secret Of Elisa Davis - part 1 (2001)
- 35: The Secret Of Elisa Davis - part 2 (2004)
* ^ Previously unpublished chapter, also contains two short prequel stories:
*The Gold Of The San Christobal
*The Cobra
End of the series?
After Victor Hubinon died unexpectedly in 1979, Jijé (Joseph Gillain) took over. But when he also died, the series was almost ended, as Jean-Michel Charlier believed nobody could take over. However, he finally managed to find not one, but two artists; Christian Gaty and Patrice Pellerin. As Charlier wrote in the book "Uprise In Jamaica" (1987): "Why not have two different artists? If James Bond can be played by different actors, so can Readbeard". Charlier himself dies in 1989. The series is then continued by Jean Ollivier and Gaty in 1991, with the addition: "The new adventures", however in 1999 it is changed back to just 'Readbeard'. But in 2006 the publisher Dargaud announced the series will be ended, as it would not be appealing anymore to youngsters, who were the original target audience. But artist Marc Bourgne things there will be a comeback of the series somewhere in the future.
Spin-off
Since 1996 there is also a spin-off series, called "The Young Years Of Readbeard", created by different authors then the main series: the scenario is by Christian Perrissin and the artist is Daniel Redondo. These stories deal with Redbeard's youth before he was a pirate and how he decided to become one. His name is given as Jean-Baptiste Cornic, a servant of the French king. Also explained is how he lost his eye.
- The Brothers Of The Coast (1996)
- The Lion Pit (1997)
- The Duel Of The Captains (1998)
- The island Of The Red Devil (1999)
- The Mutineers Of Port Royal (2001)
TV
In 1997 the animated series Barbe-Rouge was made by the French TF1 and italian RAI. This series consists of 26 episodes of 24 minutes. It has also been broadcasted in English ("Captain Red Beard") and Italy ("Barbarossa"). The scenarios were written by Jean Cubaud. The animations were done by Pasquale Moreau and Thibault Deschamps, from PRH Création Images.[1] In 2005, a DVD with five episodes of the animated Redbeard series was released in France (Barbe-Rouge).
