Over on the Facebook page I have posted
an album of pictures relating to an interesting curiosity: a charity fund-raising book, sold to make money for famine relief in the eighties, which contains a complete copy of
The Black Island amongst tales of Superman, The Hulk, Batman, Spider-man, Danger Mouse, Tom and Jerry, The Flinstones, Casper, Cathy, Ziggy and Dennis (The Menace) [U.S.-style] and Dennis the Menace (and Gnasher) [U.K.-style], to name but a few.
The Tintin story is the longest by far in the collection, although other Franco-Belgian comics are represented, with short stories for Lucky Luke (
Perilous Passage), Asterix (
Kissing under the Mistletoe in the Year IX and
Mini, Midi, Maxi) and a single page for the Smurfs.
Another Tintin-related entry are a couple of
Achille Talon entries from Michel Regnier, under his pen-name of "Greg". Greg was editor of
Tintin magazine, and also wrote the animated film,
Tintin and the Lake of Sharks.
In addition, Greg provided Hergé with the script for
Le Thermozéro, an unfinished project.
Achille Talon had only been translated into English in a single volume at the time that these strips appeared, under the name of "Walter Melon". While he remains Achille for the Cartoon Aid appearance, his neighbour Hilarion Lefuneste becomes "Dudley Nightshade".
Last but not least, the final Franco Belgian comic of interest in the book is
Leonard (sometimes known as Leonardo), a Renaissance inventor who creates often anachronistic devices, which often operate at the expense of his somewhat grumpy assistant Basil. There have been a few collections in English, but this series by Turk & De Groot remains little known.
Altogether an odd and unusual collection, worth hunting down if you can find it - it's relatively common, so don't pay over-the odds for it... ;-)
