Gérard Lellbach - Luciano Bottaro's Pepito 1 (2nd Series) Page 3

2020 starts well, with the first 3 pages of a vintage Luciano Bottaro's Pepito story. This was published in 1965, arguably his best period, with precise, detailed, pristine artwork and storytelling, that drive the zaniest stories ever.

I mean, these days, where would you find in children's comic books 2 of the main heroes (Here Ventempoupe and La Merluche), whose main goal in life (correction: ONLY goal in life) is to get drunk? This stubborn, one-sided perspective at life goes as far as seeing them clobber one of their own mates (Bec-De-Fer), but, let's be honest, any other hapless character standing between them and said booze would suffer the same fate...

Wow! When I say that they don't make it like this anymore, I mean it!

Update Feb 12th 2020

I have been informed by Luciano Bottaro's daughter that, in fact, this page and the other two of this lot are not from his hands and had been drawn by Gérard Lellbach, a French artist that was sometimes drafted in by Bottaro's French publisher to turn out additional stories. It turns out she had informed the vendor as well, before the auction was closed, but to no avail as the lot description has not been amended...

While that doesn't distract me from appreciating this 3-page sequence, I am obviously upset by how disingenuous some vendors can turn out to be...