Dia Nacional da Banda Desenhada Portuguesa

Raul Correia (texto) e Eduardo Teixeira Coelho (desenhos), "A Lei Da Selva", O Mosquito #104, 21 de Fevereiro de 1948

Leram bem! Repito: Dia Nacional da Banda Desenhada Portuguesa! Sim, porque a nossa Assembleia da República agora aprova redundâncias. A não ser que isto sirva para distinguir, num espírito de ecumenísmo notável, o Dia Nacional da Banda Desenhada Portuguesa de um putativo Dia Nacional da Banda Desenhada Espanhola ou algo do género...

Seja como for, ele aí está:

E o que é que aconteceu de tão importante para a banda desenhada portuguesa no dia 18 de Outubro para assim, e para todo o sempre, comemorarmos tal data?

Aparentemente, absolutamente nada! Ou seja, a Academia Nacional de Belas Artes, vetusta instituição que, durante os seis anos em que frequentei o mesmo edifício que a dita, quase que foi apenas uma porta pomposa ao fundo do corredor (não vem ao caso, mas o "quase" vai para um livrito que lá fui buscar sobre os azulejos da Quinta da Bacalhoa), a dita Academia, dizia, reconheceu a banda desenhada como arte legítima. Ou seja, e repito, no dia 18 de Outubro, não aconteceu absolutamente nada de relevante para a banda desenhada portuguesa. 

Por mim, escolhia o dia 21 de Fevereiro, dia da publicação, na revista O Mosquito, da primeira prancha de "A Lei da Selva" por Raul Correia, Eduardo Teixeira Coelho e, calculo, José Ruy na cor.

New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium - Coda #2

 

If I knew how, I would show this video at the end of my talk.

New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium - Coda

 

My participation in the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium can be watched, here.

Two corrections: Martin Vaughn-James is not Canadian. The Cage was published in Canada, but he was from the UK; Charlotte Salomon's book is Life! Or Theater?.

New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium

 

I'm the next guest of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium.

The Usual Intellectual Dishonesty - Coda #2

 

Omaggio a.... Hector German Oesterheld [homage to Héctor Germán Oesterheld]

Luca mentioned the book Donde Esta Oesterheld? What you can see above is another homage to Oesterheld made in Italy. A portfolio which is, unfortunately, not dated. The subtitle says "the heart of Argentine comics" which is a poetical way of putting things, but is very true. Inside there's a good text by Giulio C. Cuccolini.

 

The Usual Intellectual Dishonesty - Coda

As I told Luca in comments I have never seen Sgt. Kirk magazine #31-60, but, looking on eBay I found the table of contents (see above) of #31 and lo and behold, it's precisely in #31 that things changed and, finally, Oesterheld got credited.

The Usual Intelectual Dishonesty

Sgt. Kirk #4, October 1967

What you are seeing above is the table of contents of Sgt. Kirk magazine #4. On it, "Sgt. Kirk" is by Hugo Pratt, "Randall" is by Arturo del Castillo and "Ernie Pike" is by Hugo Pratt also. Héctor Germán Oesterheld's name is nowhere to be seen as you can also confirm below.

Sgt. Kirk #4, October 1967

Hora Cero #3, July 1957

We all know this, there's no need to beat the dead horse. What is new to me is that almost sixty years later there are Italians like Claudio de Nisco here whitewashing the situation on behalf of the sacred cow. Here's what he wrote all over the Sgt. Kirk issues at the GCD: "Héctor Germán Oesterheld (credited as Hector. G. Oesterheld)." I corrected the situation until issue #30, but, since that's as far as I can go and not wanting to be like him, consider yourselves warned, dear readers!

PS A last comment: in this very issue Carlo della Corte "presents" Ernie Pike. Not once is Héctor Germán Oesterheld mentioned, obviously. With infinite cynicism he even says that the face of Ernie Pike is the face of a friend of Hugo Pratt. A friend, who, according to him, got involuntarily involved in Pratt's saga!

Forgotten Again, In The USA, This Time

Answering to this blog post I wrote the following: "When you laud Hugo Pratt’s characterization you are really lauding his master, Héctor Germán Oesterheld." My comment is awaiting moderation, or so it seems... My guess is that I can wait ad Calendas Grecas.

Forgotten Yet Again?

People are excited about the new set of comics related exhibitions at the Beaubourg in Paris. I haven't been there, so I can't say anything about it, but there's a blatant flaw I want to address. To quote the site of the Centre Pompidou:

Corto Maltese une vie romanesque [...] Une exposition qui met en évidence les sources littéraires d’Hugo Pratt : Hermann Melville, Joseph Conrad, Jack London…

I don't know if I need to translate the phrase or not, but, since I'm writing in English: "Corto Maltese an adventurous life [...] An exhibition that underlines the literary sources of Hugo Pratt: Hermann Melville, Joseph Conrad, Jack London…" 

Hugo Pratt, himself, also cited Zane Grey, but he's too lowbrow, I guess...

But I digress... This is all fine and dandy to continue the myth of the great man. The great European artist who brought true literature to the lowly comic...

Being serious: the real literary source of Hugo Pratt was Héctor Germán Oesterheld and not only these French, I guess, curators forgot him, they forgot all the rich Argentinian comics tradition. The Venice Biennale invited a Brazilian curator this year. Maybe the comics habitus needs a similar revolution.  Unfortunately comics are always apart from what's going on in the rest of the world...