René Pellos - Les Pieds Nickelés 74 Page 2

René Pellos enjoyed a life-long career that led him from creating avant-garde fantasy/science-fictions strips to being one of the top caricaturists of his age. But his most celebrated work is the staggering 100+ albums he did on the satirical strip Les Pieds Nickelés from 1948 to 1981...
That's an average of 3 albums per year on top of all his other projects, ample proof that Pellos worked fast, with a real punchy style that greatly enhanced the adventures of the trio of crooks, as can be seen from these large-art pages...

I was lucky enough to grab the first 4 pages of a 1971 story, making up for a coherent sequence. In fact, the St-Tropez link boosted on the opening page was the original title when the story was published in magazine form. But it only lasted on these first 4 pages which is why the whole story was renamed as Opération Congélation ("Operation Deep Freeze") when it was later republished in album.

Still, I think the new title, while more accurately describing the whole story, lacks the evocative power of the original St-Tropez tag and I really see these 4 pages as a splendid period piece, with its quite faithdul rendition of the St-Tropez port and its trendy crowd (complete with Brigitte Bardot) on the first panel, its fast and funny action and even the unique inclusion of French movie superstar Louis de Funes, a personal favourite of my wife...

This certainly explains why the whole sequence is proudly displayed on one of our walls, ready to be read and enjoyed!