Eddy Paape - Luc Orient - La Forêt d'Acier Page 5

By the mid 60's, "über-storyteller" Michel Greg really went in overdrive!

Not content to write and draw his own stories and work for no less than Franquin or Hergé, he took over the EIC position on Tintin weekly magazine and created successful series after successful series for 10 years, establishing in the process solid credentials for artists, young and not so,... but all willing to expand their horizons.

Among them, Eddy Paape, already a veteran with 2 decades of adventure strips behind him, almost started a second career with Luc Orient, a Sci-Fi/Space Opera/Adventure/Fantasy series that allowed him to create new worlds at will.

It was especially the case during the first 5-album arc of the series, "Terrango" and is illustrated here on Page 5 of the fifth part, "La Forêt d'Acier", published in Tintin magazine in 1969 and in album format in 1973.

Apart from some gorgeous light work on the first panel, what I like most about this page is the clever usage of the lettering, especially on the captions. This was typical of that period when Greg and Paape were experimenting with large texts to emphasize tension. I still think it worked, though I admit that, after a while, it tends to get formulaic... Well, it was worth a try... and it still makes for a grandiose page!