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Quick & Flupke by Hergé |
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Although best known for the Adventures of Tintin, Hergé also wrote a series of 310 short comic strips known as Quick & Flupke (Quick et Flupke in French and Kwik en Flupke in Dutch) about two street urchins in Brussels named, of course, Quick and Flupke. The two boys unintentionally cause trouble, leading to annoyance with their parents and the police. In addition, Hergé also wrote three Jo, Zette and Jocko adventure stories, spread across five books. The Quick & Flupke strips were published in black and white on the pages of Le Petit Vingtième starting in January 1930 and continuing until 1940. Some of them were republished in the 50's in Tintin magazine, conceived by Raymond Leblanc, this time colored by Studios Hergé. Hergé eventually abandoned the series in order to spend more time on The Adventures of Tintin, his more famous series. After Hergé's death, all the strips were colored by the Studios Hergé and published in two series of books, "Les Exploits de Quick et Flupke" in the 50's and 60's by the Casterman publishing house. Covers of two books from each of the two series are shown below. (Click on image for a larger pic.)  |
 Tintin Magazine, Dec. 1950 had Quick and Flupke on the cover and a 2-page strip inside. |
Years later between 1985 and 1991, 253 of Hergé's strips were re-issued in 12 hardcover volumes. Interestingly, the first book in the new series, Haute Tension, is not by Hergé but by Johan de Moor, the son of Hergé's assistant Bob de Moor. It has an additional 23 strips, for a grand total of 276 in the 1985-91 series.
The first two Quick & Flupke books by Hergé (Jeux Interdits and Tout va Bien) were translated into English by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner, who had previously translated The Adventures of Tintin. They were published in 1992 in paperback form by Mammoth, an imprint of Mandarin, which is part of Reed International Books. The text in the English volumes is lettered in a different style from both the French books and the other Hergé books in English.
 Double Trouble. |
 Two-of-a-Kind. |
In January 2008, Euro Books India (a subsidiary of Egmont, UK) released English translations of all 11 titles that were originally written by Hergé. Currently, these are available only in India. Rumor has it that these will be released by Egmont in the UK but exactly when is the big question.
I am a great fan of Hergé's work and was disappointed that only two Quick & Flupke books were translated into English, both of which are almost impossible to find today. Knowing very little French, I set out on a quest to find people willing to translate the books from French into English with an appaling lack of success. Compounding the problem is the fact that many of the strips actually have two "gags," the visual one, which you often can understand from the drawings alone, and a second verbal or language gag. These do not translate easily, or sometimes at all. It's like translating Inspector Clouseau's scenes from the Pink Panther films into French—it just doesn't work.
For example, in the strip, "Competition," on pages 14-15 in Haute Tension, Flupke is making a sign and asks Quick if the word cravatte has one T or two so the sign will be correct. But then he misspells the word "chez" (home) as "chè" which, for some reason, is hilarious to a native French speaker, but is completely incomprehensible and impossible to translate into English. (You might want to look at that strip below and see how I solved the problem.)
So far I got six strips in the first volume, Haute Tension, translated into English (by Patrick Rennie and myself). I replaced the dialog boxes with the ubiquitous typeface, Comic Sans (which one either loves or hates), and present those six strips for your enjoyment below. Just click on a page to see it full size.
| The Art of Bookbinding | The Sail Wagon (Land Yacht) |
 Haute Tension, page 4. |
 Haute Tension, page 5. |
 Haute Tension, page 6. |
 Haute Tension, page 7. |
| The Knife Sharpener | Next One! |
 Haute Tension, page 8. |
 Haute Tension, page 9. |
 Haute Tension, page 10. |
 Haute Tension, page 11. |
| Singing With Gusto! | Competition |
 Haute Tension, page 12. |
 Haute Tension, page 13. |
 Haute Tension, page 14. |
 Haute Tension, page 15. |
If you or someone you know might be willing to translate additional strips, I will provide copies of the pages in French and will put the translated English dialog onto a scan of the page and post it here. There is no money involved in this project; for all involved it must be regarded as a labor of love. Let me know if you would like to see more of these strips. And for all I know, Casterman or Foundation Hergé may get angry and want the translated pages removed.
Lastly, I have an extra new copy of Jeux Interdits, which I will sell, postage included to any address in the USA, for $10.00. Contact me for payment instructions. — David Ahl
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