Bob Morane Week concludes with the character's appearances on-screen. Created in 1953 by Henri Vernes, Bob Morane became a popular hero in the European youth market. As we've seen this week, the scope of his adventures was quite vast, running the gamut from spies and master criminals to Pulp-styled themes like jungle action, Sci-Fi, and rampaging dinosaurs. Although the franchise mirrored James Bond (created in the same year), the character appeared in the movies only once. Released under a title that could have belonged to any Eurospy yarn, The Spy with the Hundred Faces was released in January, 1961 in Brussels. Jacques Santi (The Aeronauts) was cast in the starring role. A few promotional materials and a book tie-in remain, but the movie itself is reported to have been lost. More below.
Fans had to wait until 1965 to see their hero again, this time in a television series called Bob Morane. Produced at the height of the spy boom, the program made its debut on March 28, 1965, and starred Claude Titre as Morane, and American actor Billy Kearns (Mission to Tokyo, Killer Spy, Playtime, Jason King, Philip Marlow: Private Eye), as his Secret Service chum, Bill Ballantine. Twenty-six black-and-white episodes were produced. The stories, each 26 minutes long, featured "the adventures of Bob Morane, the man with forty aerial victories, journalist, engineer, expert in the use of weapons and martial arts, fighting, oftentimes with the help of his great friend, Bill Ballantine, a chilvarous defense of victims confronting dictatorships, dangerous megalomaniacs, and secret societies throughout the world." Sounds like many of my favorite Richard Sala books! At least two DVD box sets are available, which contain episodes and a 1-hour documentary about the author/creator, The Adventures of Bob Morane: Henri Vernes. See video clip and photo stills below!
Bob Morane appeared again on the small screen in an animated series in 1998. Canal + produced twenty-six episodes, with great titles like Terror Commandos, Return of the Yellow Shadow, Puppets of the Yellow Shadow, and Operation Wolf. The format appeared to finally provide a venue for the more way-out and pulp-styled Morane plots, as we can deduce from titles like The Dinosaur Hunters andSolar System Sentinels. The cartoon was pitched as "Bob Morane. International man of action and intrigue. Traveling to exotic locales in search of adventure. A true citizen of the world, he will traverse time and space to face danger and battle evil." Check out the stylish title sequence below. Spy Vibe's Bob Morane series: Intro, Comics, Toys,Pilote Magazine,Records, Screen. Thanks for joining us in our exploration of Bob Morane this week! And thanks to the many Spy Vibers around the world who contacted me with comments, support, and tales of their own enthusiasm for French action hero, Bob Morane. Enjoy!
Bob Morane Week continues with a look at vintage recordings. Henri Vernes' pulp action (and sometimes spy) hero saw great longevity as a franchise in Europe. Created the same year as James Bond, Morane shared 007's popularity, particularly in the juvenile market, as a star of novels, comics, live-action, animation, and toys. With over 200 books published, it's not surprising that some of them were adapted as story albums. Spy Vibers must remember those great Power Records in the United States from the 1970s, and even James Bond's appearance on Kids Stuff Records in the 1980s. Well, young armchair adventurers in France started listening to Bob Morane stories on vinyl in the 1960s.
At least eight records were put out in the original run, jumping from the RCA and Fontana labels to Phillips. A number of old recordings were also reissued with additional stories in the 1990s and 2000s on CD by Big Beat Records. Like many properties, the foundation of the series rested on the continuity of familiar voices. Morane was performed by Jacques Beretti for the first five albums, later being replaced by Claude Titre and Jean Berger. Morane's secret service pal, Bill Ballantine, was voiced by Bill Kearns for the entire series. The tales encompassed most of Morane's area, offering Cold War intrigue and jungle action (no dinosaurs on record?). As you can see in the earliest covers, the record companies relied on original Marabout book designs to promote each release. The series also found cohesion under a cool Jet-Age logo in duotone complete with a modern aircraft soaring above a dynamic sky trail.
Spy Vibers should check their regional Audible websites for available recordings (with audio samples!) for download. Examples can be heard at Amazon UK, Amazon France. The world of Morane was also celebrated by New Wave band Indochine in 1982 with a pop hit, L'Aventurier. Bob Morane series so far: Intro, Comics, Toys. Pilote Magazine. Cover images from Bob Morane BE site here. You can also learn more at Web Bob Morane here. Spy Vibe's Bob Morane series: Intro, Comics, Toys,Pilote Magazine,Records, Screen. Enjoy!
Bob Morane Week continues with a spotlight on Pilote magazine. The journal was founded in 1959, six years after Morane's creation by Henri Vernes, and eventually focussed on comics and articles trending toward humor, action, adventure, sports, and foreign cultures. Chief among the magazine's comic features were Asterix and the western, Lieutenant Blueberry. From what I gather, Bob Morane comics began to appear in Pilote around 1962 with Gerald Forton providing the art until the comic's shift over to Tin Tin magazine in 1969 with art by William Vance. As you can see in the the cover illustrations below, Pilote ran the gamut of Morane tropes, from spies and dinosaurs to jungle adventures (complete with awkward native depictions). I was especially excited to discover the cover of Pilote #481 (1968). Joining our series of Spy Vibe design dopplegangers, I'm amazed the editors allowed what is clearly a well-known image of Sean Connery's James Bond in Dr. No to run as a Bob Morane cover. Especially as the Connery image was so visible in a number of Dr. No posters and other promotional materials. Maybe the choice was tongue-in-cheek, because the headline read, "The hero you were expecting." A sign of rebellious streak? Well, Bob Morane did seem to prefer turtlenecks over neckties, so no copyright foul on the fashion front! Spy Vibe's Bob Morane series: Intro, Comics, Toys,Pilote Magazine,Records, Screen. Some Spy Vibe design doppelgangers: Double 007 Design, Double 007 Design II, Design Dopplegangers. Enjoy!
Bob Morane Week continues with a look in the toy corner. Henri Vernes' pulp action hero generated over 200 books, comic books, TV shows, animation, games, and memorabilia since his creation in 1953 (the same year the Ian Fleming introduced 007). Check out the Modelstories site to also see some fun kit-bashed (fake) models of Bob Morane, Miss Ylang-Ylang, and the Yellow Shadow.
Fans could pick up a series of tiny paper models featuring a number of cars and other vehicles from the adventures of Bob Morane. While searching these kits, I also stumbled across a paper model of the James Bond Citroen from For Your Eyes Only (included below for fun!). Morane's exploits outside of the spy/crime genre inspired a series of quirky animal figurines, including an elephant, white ape, horse, dinosaur, and a golden crocodile! But the real treasure for Spy Vibers is a number of Corgi-style E-Type Jaguar cars, including a really cool recent edition (released in both grey cabriolet and blue) with resin figures of Morane and his secret service pal, Bill Ballantine. Limited and fine-sculpted, these Jags sell for about $550! If you want to see action figures filmed in dioramas with books (who wouldn't?), check out the videos on Youtube here. Spy Vibe's Bob Morane series: Intro, Comics, Toys,Pilote Magazine,Records, Screen. Enjoy!
