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97-643: The feature first appeared in Tintin magazine, where Jean Graton had already published a number of short stories about real-life sporting heroes. The series appeared in Tintin between 1957 and 1976, in France as well as in Belgium. An estimated 17 million copies of the series' albums have been sold worldwide. On February 7, 1957, Jean Graton created the character Michel Vaillant, with five short stories published in

194-409: A horseless carriage . Based on his experience with, and fondness for, bicycles, he used similar technology when he created an automobile . It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones) with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to

291-408: A mechanic , then became a driver, created his own team and then became chairman of Vaillante. Rather authoritarian, he gave his two children a strict education. Later, he let his son Jean-Pierre take over as the leader and retired. His way of life remains modest, as chairman he went to work on a bicycle . A respectable man, close to his employees , he is very appreciated by them. Elisabeth Vaillant

388-635: A scales factory. In 1868 he went to Pforzheim to work for the bridge building company Gebrüder Benckiser Eisenwerke und Maschinenfabrik . Finally, he went to Vienna for a short period to work at an iron construction company. In 1871, at the age of twenty-seven, Benz joined August Ritter, in launching the Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop in Mannheim , later renamed Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working. The enterprise's first year went very badly. Ritter turned out to be unreliable, and

485-499: A bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. In 1883, the three founded a new company producing industrial machines: Benz & Companie Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik , usually referred to as Benz & Cie. Quickly growing to twenty-five employees, it soon began to produce static gas engines as well. The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing

582-508: A change of art style. In order to keep its readership loyal, Tintin magazine created a sort of fidelity passport, called the "Chèque Tintin" in France (Tintin-voucher) and "Timbre Tintin" in Belgium (Tintin-stamp), which was offered with every issue of the magazine, in every comic album by Le Lombard , and on many food products as well. These stamps could be exchanged for various gifts not available in commercial establishments. Other brands, mostly from food companies, affiliated themselves with

679-656: A cheaper version was created as well: Chez Nous (in French) / Ons Volkske (in Dutch), printed on cheaper paper and featuring mainly reprints from Tintin magazine, plus some new series by Tibet and Studio Vandersteen. In the 1960s the magazine kept on attracting new artists. The editorial line was clearly bent towards humor, with Greg (as editor-in-chief and author of series such as the remake of Zig et Puce ), Jo-El Azara (with Taka Takata ), Dany (with Olivier Rameau ) and Dupa (with Cubitus ). Other authors joined

776-470: A director of Benz & Cie. During a birthday celebration for him in his home town of Karlsruhe on 25 November 1914, the seventy-year-old Benz was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, the Karlsruhe University , thereby becoming—Dr. Ing. h. c.  Benz. Almost from the very beginning of the production of automobiles, participation in sports car racing became

873-461: A driver for the Vaillante team. Drivers, most notably French and Belgians like Vanina and Jacky Ickx , François Cevert , Patrick Tambay , Thierry Boutsen , René Arnoux , Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Éric Bernard , have made appearances in the storylines. Gilles Villeneuve and Jacky Ickx are portrayed as good friends of Michel's as is Didier Pironi , and are the most recurring drivers of

970-414: A driver. Courageous and proud, he later fell in love with Gabriele Spangenberg, and succeeded in marrying her despite his modest origin. Gabriele Spangenberg is a German female driver for the Vaillante team and Yves Douléac's girlfriend. Her father, of noble heritage, first opposed such a union, due to Yves's poor origin, but later gave his permission, in the face of Gabriele's determination. Bob Cramer

1067-481: A few months later. According to German law, the child acquired the name "Benz" by legal marriage of his parents. When he was two years old, his father died of pneumonia , and his name was changed to Karl Friedrich Benz in remembrance of his father. Despite living in near poverty, his mother strove to give him a good education. Benz attended the local school in Karlsruhe and was a prodigious student. In 1853, at

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1164-549: A financial disaster. The circulation of the magazine dropped dramatically, and publication of the Dutch version Kuifje ceased in 1992, and the French version, renamed Hello Bédé , finally disappeared in 1993. From the beginning, Tintin magazine was in competition with Spirou magazine. As part of a gentlemen's agreement between the two publishers, Raymond Leblanc of Le Lombard and Charles Dupuis of Dupuis , if one artist

1261-607: A live-action adaptation of the series, Les Aventures de Michel Vaillant . It ran for 13 episodes and featured stories written and filmed around a real-life world sportscar championship, documenting Henri Grandsire driving an Alpine A110 , interspersed with dramatic interludes acted by Grandsire himself. Episodes offer rare close-up contemporary footage of races and cars that year at the Rallye Du Nord, Magny Cours , Nürburgring , Monza , Targa Florio , Le Mans , Monaco , Rouen-Les-Essarts , Sebring and Reims . The series

1358-458: A major method to gain publicity for manufacturers. At first, the production models were raced and the Benz Velo participated in the first automobile race: Paris to Rouen 1894 . Later, investment in developing racecars for motorsports produced returns through sales generated by the association of the name of the automobile with the winners. Unique race vehicles were built at the time such as

1455-403: A new page or two from several forthcoming comic albums that had yet to be published as a whole, thus drawing weekly readers who could not bear to wait for entire albums. There were several ongoing stories at any given time, giving wide exposure to lesser-known artists. Tintin was also available bound as a hardcover or softcover collection. The content always included filler material, some of which

1552-551: A new series was launched, the Dossiers Michel Vaillant series, with stories and information on important figures in motorsports and the automobile industry. In 2000, the Palmarès Inedit series was created, with early works and stories previously unpublished in books. In 2007, Studio Graton translated three titles into English : "The Great Challenge" (Tome 1), "China Moon" (Tome 68), "24 Hours Under

1649-403: A small publishing house after World War II, and decided to create an illustrated youth magazine. They decided that Tintin would be the perfect hero, as he was already very well known. Business partner André Sinave went to see Tintin author Hergé , and proposed creating the magazine. Hergé, who had worked for Le Soir during the war, was being prosecuted for having allegedly collaborated with

1746-429: A teenager. At that time, she was a journalist for a newspaper owned by her father Louis Latour, a good friend of Henri Vaillant. In 1966, she appeared again, but as an older, attractive young woman. From that time on, she appeared in every album of the series and saw Vaillant more and more, until his family urged him to marry her. They married in 1974. Françoise has an important role in the series, and in some adventures she

1843-568: A young driver, creates this new team. In the next seventy plus adventures, Michel Vaillant and the Vaillante race team compete in numerous races in Formula One and other driving competitions such as IndyCar , rallying or enduro challenges. Michel, Henri's son, is the main driver, his usual team-mate being the American, Steve Warson. The team is first managed by Henri Vaillant, then by Michel's older brother Jean-Pierre. Henri has remained

1940-491: A young man of about twenty years at the beginning of his adventures, he is seen progressively reaching middle-age. Recently his appearance is younger than previously. Other fictional characters are also shown getting older. In recent years, their general appearance has become steady. In spite of this he is still depicted as quite young for a man who has competed against drivers of multiple generations, including Juan Manuel Fangio , Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna . Michel Vaillant

2037-470: Is Henri Vaillant's wife. She married him when he was a simple mechanic, but does not know anything about cars, motor racing , or mechanics. Julie Wood is an American motorcycle racer and at one time Steve Warson's girlfriend. An orphan, she was brought up by her uncle Chris, in California , with her two brothers, Indy and Phil. She is at ease in any kind of motorcycle race . Before her appearance in

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2134-537: Is a good driver for the Vaillante team and a faithful teammate to Michel, even if his romantic adventures sometimes caused him to be Vaillante's occasional rival. His numerous girlfriends have included Ruth and Julie Wood . As good driver as Michel, he outdoes him in most rallying and American races. The "Leader" is a mysterious character who is the worst enemy of Vaillante and owner of the Leader team. The Leader team uses modern and advanced technology to compete against

2231-435: Is also able to drive trucks and motorcycles , and practice football , gymnastics , tennis , judo and skiing very well. As a kind, serious, helpful, attentive, honest and generous man, Michel is very popular. His many abilities, his courage and his values, his kindness and his physical appearance make him a practically perfect hero, without any flaws. Françoise Vaillant is Michel's wife. She first appeared in 1963, as

2328-456: Is an American driver, Vaillante's enemy and a driver for the Leader team along with his friend and partner Dan Hawkins. A drunkard and a brawler, he is also aggressive in motor races where he caused a lot of crashes. Non-fictional characters As a driver evolving in the motor racing background, Michel Vaillant competes with many existing drivers, some of whom play an important part in the stories. Pierre Dieudonné appeared in some adventures as

2425-499: Is considered the first practical modern automobile and first car put into series production. He received a patent for the motorcar in 1886, the same year he first publicly drove the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. His company Benz & Cie. , based in Mannheim , was the world's first automobile plant and largest of its day. In 1926, it merged with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz , which produces

2522-417: Is shown employing several real-life drivers. The Vaillants own the familial domain "La Jonquière", located a short drive / cycle ride from the factory, and is home throughout the series to Henri and Elisabeth Vaillant. Michel and Jean Pierre lived there in the early books, before striking out on their own. As the context in which the characters evolved, Michel also is shown getting older. While he looked like

2619-466: Is still used by Porsche , Subaru , and some high performance engines used in racing cars . In motorcycles, the most famous boxer engine is found in BMW Motorrad , though the boxer engine design was used in many other models, including Victoria , Harley-Davidson XA, Zündapp , Wooler , Douglas Dragonfly , Ratier , Universal, IMZ-Ural , Dnepr , Gnome et Rhône , Chang Jiang , Marusho , and

2716-702: Is the main character of the series. Michel Vaillant is a complete driver and sportsman. His main occupation is to drive in the Formula 1 Championship . Michel is named world champion in four different albums. He also twice won the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times. He also competed in rally races, winning the East African Safari and the Paris-Dakar . He participated in several stock-car , F2 , F3 and GT races. He

2813-463: Is the main character. Jean-Pierre Vaillant is Michel's older brother by six years. Like Michel, he started as a driver for the Vaillante team. He married Agnès de Chanzy, the daughter of Henri Vaillant's friend living in Argentina, in the very first album. But rapidly, he became more and more interested in managing the family team and to elaborate strategies for Formula One racing . He soon became

2910-494: Is very similar to that of the birth name of automotive pioneer Karl Benz , which was Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant . Realism is also expressed in the fictional background. Vaillant's factories and property are prominently featured in the series. The Vaillante firm is run as a real company, it has financial problems, must launch advertising campaigns and search for sponsors . It owns factories, which employs several engineers and mechanics that are realistically described and

3007-471: The Mercedes-35hp of 1902. The engine was built to the specifications of Emil Jellinek under a contract for him to purchase thirty-six vehicles with the engine, and for him to become a dealer of the special series. Jellinek stipulated the new engine be named Daimler- Mercedes (for his daughter). Maybach would quit DMG in 1907, but he designed the model and all of the important changes. After testing,

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3104-466: The Board of Management . Ganß worked in the commercialization department, which is somewhat similar to marketing in contemporary corporations. The new directors recommended that Benz should create a less expensive automobile suitable for mass production . From 1893 to 1900 Benz sold the four wheel, two seat Victoria , a two-passenger automobile with a 2.2 kW (3.0 hp) engine, which could reach

3201-615: The Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles as Mercedes-Benz , honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the 1902 Mercedes 35 hp , along with the Benz name. The name of Mercedes 35 hp had been chosen for ten-year-old Mercédès Jellinek , the daughter of Emil Jellinek who had set the specifications for the new model. Between 1900 and 1909 he was a member of DMG's board of management, however had resigned long before

3298-542: The Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin , with publication beginning June 12, 1957. With their positive reception, a full-length adventure was written and drawn by Graton, published in Tintin in 1959. The titles were first published in album format by Le Lombard until 1976, then by Dargaud until 1979, by Fleurus in 1979 and 1980, by Novedi in 1981 and 1982, and finally by Graton editeur , created and owned by Philippe and Jean Graton from 1983 on. In 1995,

3395-606: The Honda Gold Wing . Although Gottlieb Daimler died in March 1900—and there is no evidence that Benz and Daimler knew each other nor that they knew about each other's early achievements—eventually, competition with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Stuttgart began to challenge the leadership of Benz & Cie. In October 1900, the main designer of DMG, Wilhelm Maybach , built the engine that would later be used in

3492-534: The Mercedes-Benz among other brands. Benz is widely regarded as "the father of the car", as well as the "father of the automobile industry". Carl Benz was born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant on 25 November 1844 in Mühlburg , now a borough of Karlsruhe , Baden-Württemberg, which is part of modern Germany. His parents were Josephine Vaillant and a locomotive driver, Johann Georg Benz, whom she married

3589-565: The Michel Vaillant comics series, among them four- time Formula One champion Alain Prost . In 1969, Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari personally wished Michel Vaillant a happy 20th birthday. The circuit Zolder , in Belgium, in which several well-known motorsport races take place, have paid tribute to the series, naming the biggest building of the circuit "Michel Vaillant club". Many real cars were adapted from automobile designs from

3686-614: The SEAT Ibiza Vaillante , exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show in 2006. It was also Luc Donckerwolke who transformed a Lola B98/10 – Judd into a Vaillante and a Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S into a Leader car in 2003 for the Besson movie. Donckerwolke also collaborated with Studio Graton on the latest titles of the series, drawing some cars featured in the albums. Many commercial products have been derived from

3783-452: The ignition using sparks with battery , the spark plug , the carburetor , the clutch , the gear shift , and the water radiator . Problems arose again when the banks at Mannheim demanded that the Benz's enterprise be incorporated due to the high production costs it maintained. They were forced to improvise an association with photographer Emil Bühler and his brother (a cheese merchant), to get additional bank support. The company became

3880-466: The joint-stock company Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim in 1882. After all the necessary incorporation agreements, Benz was unhappy because he was left with merely five percent of the shares and a modest position as director. Worst of all, his ideas weren't considered when designing new products, so he withdrew from that corporation just one year later, in 1883. [REDACTED] (mechanically operated inlet valves) Benz's lifelong hobby brought him to

3977-494: The 1970s were: And more in the humor vein: The 1980s showed a steady decline of popularity of Tintin magazine, with different short-lived attempts to attract a new audience. Adolescents and adults preferred the magazine À Suivre , if they read comics at all, and younger children seemed less inclined to read comic magazines and preferred albums . Still, some important new authors and series started, including Grzegorz Rosiński , with Thorgal , and Andreas , with Rork . At

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4074-535: The Benz Velo. The early Velo had a 1L 1.5-metric-horsepower (1.5 hp; 1.1 kW) engine, and later a 3-metric-horsepower (3 hp; 2 kW) engine. giving a top speed of 19 km/h (12 mph). The Velo participated in the world's first automobile race, the 1894 Paris to Rouen , where Émile Roger finished 14th, after covering the 126 km (78 mi) in 10 hours 01-minute at an average speed of 12.7 km/h (7.9 mph). In 1895, Benz designed

4171-537: The Germans, and thus was without a publisher. After consulting with his friend Edgar Pierre Jacobs , Hergé agreed. The first issue, published on 26 September 1946, was in French. It featured Hergé, Jacobs, Paul Cuvelier and Jacques Laudy as artists , with their mutual friend Jacques Van Melkebeke serving as editor. (Due to suspicions of incivism left over from the war, Van Melkebeke was forced to step down as editor soon after.) A Dutch edition, entitled Kuifje ,

4268-479: The Influence" (Tome 70). In 2008, a new collection was launched by Le Lombard, named Integrale Michel Vaillant . This series plans to reprint all past adventures in 20 volumes of 200 pages, each volume grouping several stories. All the titles of the original series are to be reprinted, and many comments, dossiers and unpublished strips added. Jean Graton later left the writing to his son Philippe, gradually leaving

4365-420: The Karlsruhe polytechnical school, which he subsequently attended. Benz graduated on 9 July 1864, aged 19. Following his formal education, Benz had seven years of professional training in several companies, but did not fit well in any of them. The training started in Karlsruhe with two years of varied jobs in a mechanical engineering company. He then moved to Mannheim to work as a draftsman and designer in

4462-473: The Michel Vaillant series (in the album "Paris-Dakar"), she starred in her own series, Julie Wood , which ran for eight volumes, from 1976 to 1980. Yves Douleac is a driver for the Vaillante team. He lost his father, a truck driver for Vaillante at Marseilles , at 7. He was brought up by his mother and he was very admirative of Michel Vaillant, getting to know him personally and being employed as

4559-600: The Motorwagen was a Parisian bicycle manufacturer Emile Roger , who had already been building Benz engines under license from Benz for several years. Roger added the Benz automobiles (many built in France) to the line he carried in Paris and initially most were sold there. The early 1888 version of the Motorwagen had only two gears and could not climb hills unaided. This limitation was rectified after Bertha Benz drove one of

4656-506: The Tintin voucher system: they could be found on flour, semolina boxes, etc. A Tintin soda existed, and even Tintin shoes. The French Railways Company went as far as to propose 100 km of railway transportation for 800 stamps. Among the gifts, there were super chromos extracted from the magazine issues, or original art. At the time the vouchers were initiated, the magazine was selling 80,000 copies in Belgium and only 70,000 in France. Due to

4753-433: The Vaillante team drivers' private lives, with concerns in the Vaillante firm and with various outside problems. The comic is notable for depicting real-life motor racing background, featuring many real-life drivers , teams and personalities. Michel Vaillant competes in existing motor races and Grand Prix on real-life circuits . In the course of the series, the background in which the characters are featured evolves:

4850-420: The Vaillante team in motor races. The team resorts to aggressive strategies to win races and uses dangerous drivers, such as Vince Hummer, Bob Cramer, Dan Hawkins, Donald Payntor, Michael Borman, and Jack Moore. The leader was brought up by Buddhist monks. An ambitious and cruel man, he studied a form of Buddhism that gives him amazing powers, which he uses to try to dominate the motor industry. His first appearance

4947-404: The age of nine, he started at the scientifically oriented Lyceum . Next he studied at Karlsruhe's polytechnical school under the instruction of Ferdinand Redtenbacher . Benz had originally focused his studies on locksmithing , but he eventually followed his father's steps toward locomotive engineering. On 30 September 1860, at age 15, he passed the entrance exam for mechanical engineering for

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5044-599: The artwork to the Studio Graton , which he established. Since Graton stopped drawing the series himself, the graphic style has evolved, with Philippe Graton continuing with the writing and three artists providing the artwork. Philippe Graton admitted that the draftsmanship isn't as rigorous as it once was. Vaillante is a family-run French business which, in the beginning, was a transporting company. They also create their own trucks and cars and so decide to enter Formula One racing competition. In 1939, Henri Vaillant,

5141-400: The business's tools were impounded. The difficulty was overcome when Benz's fiancée, Bertha Ringer , bought out Ritter's share in the company, using her dowry . On 20 July 1872, Benz and Bertha Ringer married. They had five children: Eugen (1873), Richard (1874), Clara (1877), Thilde (1882), and Ellen (1890). Despite the business misfortunes, Benz led in the development of new engines in

5238-593: The car on 3 July 1886 in Mannheim at a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph). The next year Benz created the Motorwagen Model 2, which had several modifications, and in 1889, the definitive Model 3 with wooden wheels was introduced, showing at the Paris Expo the same year. Benz began to sell the vehicle (advertising it as " Benz Patent-Motorwagen ") in the late summer of 1888, making it the first commercially available automobile in history. The second customer of

5335-402: The chairman of the Vaillante firm, but was replaced by Jean-Pierre when he retired. As the Vaillante firm grows, Vaillante's drivers, among them Michel, accumulate victories, but their success is either disrupted by rivals, by internal problems in the Vaillante team or by the "Leader", the greatest of Vaillante's enemies. Most of the adventures deal with motor racing life, but they also deal with

5432-432: The company in 1904 as the designer of passenger vehicles. That year, sales of Benz & Cie. reached 3,480 automobiles, and the company remained the leading manufacturer of automobiles. Along with continuing as a director of Benz & Cie., Benz founded another company, C. Benz Söhne , (with his son Eugen and closely held within the family), a privately held company for manufacturing automobiles. The brand name used

5529-414: The early factory he and his wife owned. To get more revenue, in 1878 he began to work on new patents. First, he concentrated on creating a reliable petrol two-stroke engine . Benz finished his two-stroke engine on 31 December 1879, and was granted a patent for it on 28 June 1880. While designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine, Benz patented the speed regulation system,

5626-689: The end of 1980, the Belgian edition was cancelled, leaving the French edition remaining. In 1988, the circulation of the French version had dropped to 100,000, and when the contract between the Hergé family and Raymond Leblanc finished, the name was changed to Tintin Reporter . Alain Baran, a friend of Hergé, tried to revive the magazine in December 1992. The magazine disappeared after six months, leaving behind

5723-486: The end of his contract. Some artists moved from Spirou to Tintin like Eddy Paape and Liliane & Fred Funcken , while some went from Tintin to Spirou like Raymond Macherot and Berck . Karl Benz Carl (or Karl ) Friedrich Benz ( German: [kaʁl ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈbɛnts] ; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant ; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer and automotive engineer . His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885

5820-746: The first mid-engine and aerodynamically designed, Tropfenwagen , a "teardrop" body introduced at the 1923 European Grand Prix at Monza . In the last production year of the Benz Sons company, 1923, three hundred and fifty units were built. During the following year, 1924, Benz built two additional 8/25 hp units of the automobile manufactured by this company, tailored for his personal use, which he never sold; they are still preserved. The German economic crisis worsened. In 1923 Benz & Cie. produced only 1,382 units in Mannheim, and DMG made only 1,020 in Stuttgart. The average cost of an automobile

5917-483: The first initial of Benz's first name, "Carl". In 1909, the Blitzen Benz was built in Mannheim by Benz & Cie. The bird-beaked vehicle had a 21.5-liter (1312ci), 150 kW (200 hp) engine, and on 9 November 1909 in the hands of Victor Hémery of France, the land speed racer at Brooklands , set a record of 226.91 km/h (141.00 mph), said to be "faster than any plane, train, or automobile" at

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6014-712: The first truck with an internal combustion engine in history. Benz also built the first motor buses in history in 1895, for the Netphener bus company. In 1896, Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first flat engine . It had horizontally opposed pistons , a design in which the corresponding pistons reach top dead centre simultaneously, thus balancing each other with respect to momentum . Many flat engines, particularly those with four or fewer cylinders, are arranged as "boxer engines", boxermotor in German, and also are known as "horizontally opposed engines". This design

6111-451: The first was delivered to Jellinek on 22 December 1900. Jellinek continued to make suggestions for changes to the model and obtained good results racing the automobile in the next few years, encouraging DMG to engage in commercial production of automobiles, which they did in 1902. Benz countered with Parsifal , introduced in 1903 with a vertical twin engine that achieved a top speed of 60 km/h (37 mph). Then, without consulting Benz,

6208-420: The greatest comics series'. It was made available from January 1, 2007 with a face value of 0.50 euros, in all Belgian post offices . Celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the series took place in 2007, among them Strip Turnhout , at the bi-annual official Flanders comics festival, organizing a retrospective exhibition. The series also ranks high on the collector's market, with original editions ranking among

6305-472: The largest European animation studio, producing ten feature-length movies, including a few featuring Tintin. It was Van Milleghem who also introduced Bob De Moor to the magazine and to Hergé. De Moor became a regular in the magazine and the main artist in the Studio Hergé .) In 1948, the magazine grew from 12 to 20 pages and a separate version for France was launched. A group of new young artists joined

6402-454: The leader of the Vaillante society, replacing his father. Able to make difficult decisions, he also does not hesitate to launch ambitious projects. He has a son, Jean-Michel Vaillant, who is Michel's godson . Steve Warson is an American driver and Michel's best friend. He first appeared in the series in 1957. Steve has a different personality than Michel: he smokes, drinks, flirts, fights, and defies other drivers. Despite his several flaws, he

6499-409: The magazine, like William Vance (with Ringo and Bruno Brazil ) and Hermann (with Bernard Prince ). In the 1970s the comics scene in France and Belgium went through important changes. The mood for magazines had declined in favor of albums in the late 1960s. In 1965, Greg was appointed chief editor. He transformed the editorial line, in order to keep the pace with the new way of thinking of

6596-698: The manner now referred to as live marketing. Today, the event is celebrated every two years in Germany with an antique automobile rally. In 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially approved as a route of the industrial heritage of mankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's tracks of the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888. The public can now follow the 194 km (121 mi) of signposted route from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim ( Black Forest ) and back. The return trip – which didn't go through Heidelberg –

6693-416: The merger. Benz was a member of the new Daimler-Benz board of management for the remainder of his life. A new logo was created in 1926, consisting of a three pointed star (representing Daimler's motto : "engines for land, air, and water" ) surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo, and the brand of all of its automobiles was labeled Mercedes-Benz . Model names would follow the brand name in

6790-430: The most valuable. Graton's original art pages have fetched high prices at auctions. In January 2006, a page from "Le 13 est au départ" was sold for 4,800 euros at an auction in Paris. In April 2006, in Paris again, an original page from "L'Honneur du Samourai" was auctioned for 12,384 euros (whereas its original value was 3,500 euros), breaking the record of the time. In 2008, an original page from "De l'huile sur la piste"

6887-588: The other directors hired some French designers. France was a country with an extensive automobile industry based on Maybach's creations. Because of this action, after difficult discussions, Benz announced his retirement from design management on 24 January 1903, although he remained as director on the Board of Management through its merger with DMG in 1926 and, remained on the board of the new Daimler-Benz corporation until his death in 1929. Benz's sons Eugen and Richard left Benz & Cie. in 1903, but Richard returned to

6984-408: The rear axle. Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it " Benz Patent-Motorwagen ". The Motorwagen was patented on 29 January 1886 as DRP-37435: "automobile fueled by gas". The 1885 version was difficult to control, leading to a collision with a wall during a public demonstration. The first successful tests on public roads were carried out in the early summer of 1886. Benz first publicly drove

7081-684: The second feature race of the event (round 14) under the name M. Vaillant, even dying his hair and shaving his beard to resemble the look of the character. In 2017 Rebellion Racing entered the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship , including the 24 Hours of Le Mans as "Vaillant Rebellion" using Vaillant colours on cars #13 and #31. The series is very popular among fans of automobiles, because it features real-life cars, including renowned and prestigious models. The series have fans throughout several countries, though it has not translated into other languages except for English, Dutch , German , Danish , Norwegian (with Michel Vaillant renamed Mark Breton in

7178-553: The series' environment has always been updated, so that cars, teams and personalities have constantly changed. Graton's graphic style also aims at being realistic, as the illustrations are very technically accurate. Notably, Graton is recognized for the meticulous details he provides on cars illustrations. The numerous depictions of cars and circuits featured in the series are very specific and detailed; Graton used to personally attend races and circuits to take notes. Philippe Graton later continued this practice. Michel Vaillant's name

7275-616: The series, among them figurines, collected by automobile fans as well as comics fans. There's also a video game featuring Michel Vaillant which has ranked first in the auto racing video games in Benelux , and has been the top download on commercial websites. In June 2012, Swiss racing driver Alain Menu competed in the World Touring Car Championship Race of Portugal with a Vaillante-themed livery. Menu won

7372-855: The series. Cars bearing the logo Vaillante ran in Le Mans in 1997 and 2003: A Courage in 1997, while in 2003, Vaillante cars have been designed to be used in the Luc Besson's movie . Some fans have built a real Vaillante Grand Defi, a model which appeared several times in the comics series. The car has participated in real races, under the brand Vaillante. A model was marketed in Belgium, the Honda Civic Vaillante , of which 50 models have been produced. Automobile designer Luc Donckerwolke (current designer of Lamborghini , previously of SEAT ) has drawn his inspiration from cars drawn by Jean Graton to design some real car models. He also designed

7469-514: The series. Didier Pironi played an important part in the album: Un pilote a disparu (1980). Non-fictional team managers and journalists also appear regularly, as do some statesmen and celebrities. Michel himself is often seen being interviewed by real-life journalist Gérard "Jabby" Crombac . New series In 1986, the album Irish coffee was awarded the Avoriaz Festival's Grand Prix ( Morzine , France). In 1967, French TV broadcast

7566-494: The success of the vouchers, the circulation in France quickly rose to 300,000 a week. The vouchers disappeared by the end of the 1960s. In the 1950s new artists and series showed up: The magazine became more and more international and successful: at one time, there were separate versions for France, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands, with about 600,000 copies a week. The magazine had increased to 32 pages, and

7663-545: The team: the French Étienne Le Rallic and Jacques Martin , Dino Attanasio and the Flemish Willy Vandersteen . For decades, Hergé had artistic control over the magazine, even though he was sometimes absent for long periods and new work of his became rarer. His influence is highly evident in Vandersteen's Suske en Wiske for which Hergé imposed a stronger attention to the stories, editing, and

7760-559: The time, a record that was not exceeded for ten years by any other vehicle. It was transported to several countries, including the United States, to establish multiple records of this achievement. Carl Benz, Bertha Benz, and their son, Eugen, moved 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of Mannheim to live in nearby Ladenburg , and solely with their own capital, founded the private company, C. Benz Sons (German: Benz Söhne ) in 1906, producing automobiles and gas engines. The latter type

7857-581: The time. The characters gained psychological dimensions, real women characters appeared, and sex. New foreign artists series were added to the magazine. Moralizing articles and long biographies disappeared as well. These transformations were crowned with success, leading to the Yellow Kid prize at the Lucca comics festival , awarded to the magazine in 1972 for the best publication of the year. Greg quit his chief editor position in 1974. The major new authors in

7954-470: The top speed of 18 km/h (11 mph) and had a pivotal front axle operated by a roller-chained tiller for steering . The model was successful with 85 units sold in 1893, and was produced in a four-seated version with face-to-face seat benches called the "Vis-à-Vis". From 1894 to 1902, Benz produced over 1,200 of what some consider the first mass-produced car, the Velocipede , later known as

8051-413: The two latter), Portuguese , Serbian , Croatian , Finnish and Italian . It has above all fans in France and Belgium, including Dutch-speaking Belgium, given that Michel Vaillant albums have been translated into Dutch. The series has received various tributes as a masterpiece of the bande dessinée genre. A stamp representing Michel Vaillant was published in Belgium, a rare privilege granted only to

8148-547: The vehicles a great distance and suggested to her husband the addition of a third gear for climbing hills. In the course of this trip she also invented brake pads. The world's first long distance automobile trip was undertaken by Bertha Benz using a Model 3. On the morning of 5 August 1888 Bertha – supposedly without the knowledge of her husband – took the vehicle on a 104 km (65 mi) trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit her mother, taking her sons Eugen and Richard with her. In addition to having to locate pharmacies along

8245-518: The way to refuel, she repaired various technical and mechanical problems. One of these included the invention of brake lining ; after some longer downhill slopes she ordered a shoemaker to nail leather onto the brake blocks. Bertha Benz and sons finally arrived at nightfall, announcing the achievement to Karl by telegram . It had been her intention to demonstrate the feasibility of using the Benz Motorwagen for travel and to generate publicity in

8342-418: Was 25 million marks because of rapid inflation. Negotiations between the two companies resumed and in 1924 they signed an "Agreement of Mutual Interest" valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising—marketing their automobile models jointly—although keeping their respective brands. On 28 June 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as

8439-404: Was added. Benz & Cie. had grown in the interim from 50 employees in 1889 to 430 in 1899. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899. Because of its size, in 1899, Benz & Cie. became a joint-stock company with the arrival of Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß, who came aboard as members of

8536-523: Was along a different, slightly shorter route, as shown on the maps of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Benz's Model 3 made its wide-scale debut to the world in the 1889 World's Fair in Paris; about twenty-five Motorwagens were built between 1886 and 1893. The great demand for static internal combustion engines forced Benz to enlarge the factory in Mannheim, and in 1886 a new building located on Waldhofstrasse (operating until 1908)

8633-410: Was also adapted into a Michel Vaillant animated series. 65 episodes of 26 minutes were produced in 1990 in France by la Cinq . It was released in the U.S. in 1991-1992 as Heroes on Hot Wheels , produced by Jetlag Productions and the former Family Channel , sponsored by Mattel 's Hot Wheels franchise (hence the title) and distributed by France 3 Video and Pacific Media Ventures. Michel's name

8730-456: Was anglicized to "Michael Valiant". It was broadcast again in France in 1993 and 1998 by France 2 , and sold in more than 30 countries. A Michel Vaillant film was made in 2003, and the soundtrack to the movie composed by the band Archive was released at the same time. The series has been influential in the world of auto racing . Some famous Formula One drivers have admitted that their passion for automobile racing originated from reading

8827-437: Was in the album "Mach 1 pour Steve Warson". Ruth alias Jo Barett is the Leader's daughter and was briefly Steve Warson's girlfriend. Before knowing her real origin, Ruth was a kind girl and friendly towards the Vaillante team. She became cruel and mean, taking over as the new Leader at her father's death, and tried to avenge him by fighting against his enemies. Henri Vaillant is Michel and Jean-Pierre's father. He began as

8924-544: Was of considerable interest to fans, for example alternate versions of pages of the Tintin stories, and interviews with authors and artists. Not every comic appearing in Tintin was later put into book form, which was another incentive to subscribe to the magazine. If the quality of Tintin printing was high compared to American comic books through the 1970s, the quality of the albums was superb, utilizing expensive paper and printing processes (and having correspondingly high prices). Raymond Leblanc and his partners had started

9021-412: Was one of the major publications of the Franco-Belgian comics scene and published such notable series as Blake and Mortimer , Alix , and the principal title The Adventures of Tintin . Originally published by Le Lombard , the first issue was released in 1946, and it ceased publication in 1993. Tintin magazine was part of an elaborate publishing scheme. The magazine's primary content focused on

9118-441: Was published by one of the magazines, he would not be published by the other one. One notable exception, however, was André Franquin , who in 1955, after a dispute with his editor, moved from the more popular Spirou to Tintin . The dispute was quickly settled, but by then Franquin had signed an agreement with Tintin for five years. He created Modeste et Pompon for Tintin while pursuing work for Spirou . He quit Tintin at

9215-444: Was published simultaneously (Kuifje being the name of the eponymous character Tintin in Dutch). 40,000 copies were released in French, and 20,000 in Dutch. For Kuifje , a separate editor-in-chief was appointed, Karel Van Milleghem. He invented the famous slogan "The magazine for the youth from 7 to 77", later picked up by the other editions. (Van Milleghem gave Raymond Leblanc the idea for the animation studio Belvision , which became

9312-609: Was replaced by petrol engines because of lack of demand. This company never issued stocks publicly, building its own line of automobiles independently from Benz & Cie., which was located in Mannheim. The Benz Sons automobiles were of good quality and became popular in London as taxis . In 1912, Benz liquidated all of his shares in Benz Sons and left the family-held company in Ladenburg to Eugen and Richard, but he remained as

9409-454: Was sold for 11,520 euros at auction in 2008 at Brussels among other works previously published by Tintin magazine, establishing the record sale of that day. Tintin (magazine) Tintin ( French : Le Journal de Tintin ; Dutch : Kuifje ) was a weekly Belgian comics magazine of the second half of the 20th century. Subtitled "The Magazine for the Youth from 7 to 77" , it

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