The Adventures of Alix

Comics series by Jacques Martin

Alix, or The Adventures of Alix, is a Franco Belgian comics series drawn in the ligne claire style by Jacques Martin. The stories revolve around a young Gallo Roman man named Alix in the late Roman Republic. Although the series is renowned for its historical accuracy and stunning set detail, the hero has been known to wander into anachronistic situations up to two centuries out of his era. The stories unfold throughout the reaches of the Roman world, including the city of Rome, Gaul, the German frontier, Mesopotamia, Africa and Asia Minor. One voyage goes as far as China.

Alix is stunning, fearless, generous and devoted to just causes. Born in Gaul, separated from his parents and sold into slavery, he is later adopted by a Roman noble contemporary to Julius Caesar. This mixed background provides Alix with an identity crisis and divided loyalties, especially in the context of the founding myths of French nationalism revolving around Vercingetorix. In the second adventure Alix is joined by Enak, a slightly younger Egyptian orphan, who remains his constant companion and sounding board. Originally forbidden to have a female companion by the 1949 law governing children's literature, Alix later finds himself entangled with amorous women, but he always hesitates to commit. The pursuit of social justice provides a pretext for moving on.

Jacques Martin created the Alix series as one of his earliest heroes, and he continued solo conception, plot, dialogue and illustration for 50 years, even while developing other series such as Lefranc. Due to failing eyesight and advancing age, since 1998 Martin gradually retired from the series, turning over tasks to various assistants. Rafael Morales became his first assistant, taking charge of the final illustrations with some assistance by Marc Henniquiau, while Martin continued writing the stories and performing the first sketches and layouts. In 2006, Martin turned over the final writing task to François Maingoval, while still conceiving the main storyline in rough draft form. In 2008, Maingoval shifted his attention to a spin off series Alix raconte, while Patrick Weber assumed the mantle of writing the main Alix series.

Alix Graccus: the hero of the series in the title role, pure of heart, perpetually sixteen and wise for his years. Enak: a boy of fourteen, who meets Alix in Le sphinx d'or. Not originally intended as a principal character, he becomes Alix's constant and faithful companion. Arbacès: sworn enemy of the heroes, this crafty and cruel Greek keeps turning up in their path. Julius Caesar: friend and protector of Alix, the latter nevertheless finds himself sometimes torn between just causes and the interests of the great man. Pompey: Caesar's rival, he repeatedly seeks to eliminate Alix, obviously without succeeding to end the series. Vanik: cousin of Alix. Astorix: Gallic chieftain, and father of Alix, not to be confused with Asterix, who was created over a decade later. Honorus Galla: Roman governor, friend and loyal lieutenant of Julius Caesar, who adopted Alix as his son. Heraklion: an orphan approximately the same age as Enak, entrusted to Alix's care after the death of Heraklion's mother who was a Grecian queen.

The series first appeared as a serial in the Franco Belgian comics magazine Tintin on 16 September 1948. Three more adventures appeared before Les Editions du Lombard (the publishing house responsible for Tintin magazine) began reissuing them in hardcover book form. Lapsing in 1959, Lombard turned over rights to Casterman (publisher of The Adventures of Tintin) in 1965. After going out of print for several years, the earlier Lombard volumes were also reintroduced to new readers in 1969–1973. As Tintin magazine declined in sales and popularity, Vercingetorix (1985) was the last Alix story to appear in its pages. Thereafter Alix was only published in book form.

Title Tintin Lombard Casterman 1. Alix l'intrépide 1948–1949 1956 1973 2. Le sphinx d'or 1949–1950 1956 1971 3. L'île maudite 1951–1952 1957 1969 4. La tiare d'Oribal 1955–1956 1958 1969 5. La griffe noire 1958–1959 1959 1965 6. Les légions perdues 1962–1963 1965 7. Le dernier Spartiate 1966–1967 1967 8. Le tombeau étrusque 1967–1968 1968 9. Le dieu sauvage 1969 1970 10. Iorix le grand 1971–1972 1972 11. Le prince du Nil 1973 1974 12. Le fils de Spartacus 1974 1975 13. Le spectre de Carthage 1976 1977 14. Les proies du volcan 1977 1978 15. L'enfant grec 1979 1980 16. La tour de Babel 1981 17. L'empereur de Chine 1983 18. Vercingétorix 1985 19. Le cheval de Troie 1988 20. Ô Alexandrie 1996

Title Year Script Illustration 21. Les barbares 1998 Jacques Martin Rafael Moralès Marc Henniquiau 22. La chute d'Icare 2001 Jacques Martin Rafael Moralès Marc Henniquiau 23. Le fleuve de jade 2003 Jacques Martin Rafael Moralès Marc Henniquiau 24. Roma, Roma 2005 Jacques Martin Rafael Moralès Marc Henniquiau 25. C'était à Khorsabad 2006 François Maingoval Cédric Hervan Christophe Simon 26. L'Ibère 2007 François Maingoval Patrick Weber Christophe Simon 27. Le démon de Pharos 2008 Patrick Weber Christophe Simon 28. La Cité engloutie 2009 Patrick Weber Ferry

Alix has seen little translation into English. In 1971 the London publisher Ward Lock & Co issued two titles, The Sacred Helmet (La tiare d'Oribal), and The Black Claw (La griffe noire). These books are now considered relatively rare. Two more titles, The Lost Legions (Les légions perdues), and The Altar of Fire (Le dernier Spartiate) were also projected for publication that year, but never appeared. A reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement found Alix singularly lacking in humour compared to Asterix, effectively killing prospects for continued publication in a market not yet accustomed to the wider Franco Belgian tradition.

The strip has been translated into several other European languages, such as Portuguese, German, Dutch, Spanish, Greek (10 books) Finnish, Danish, Swedish at least 9 books, Italian (3 books), English (only 2 books), Icelandic (6 books), Catalan. It was also translated into other languages such as Indonesian (4 books), Vietnamese (1 book) and Chinese (non official version 2 books). Le fils de Spartacus has been published in Latin as Spartaci Filius. The name of Alix in Dutch language is Alex. (source)

In Sweden, Alix was presumably the second most popular adventure albums, after Tintin. However, the funny magazines Asterix and Lucky Luke sold better than Alix.

L'odyssée d'Alix, by Jacques Martin (Casterman, 1987).

Each book in this series presents a somewhat fictionalized biography of a famous person of Antiquity in comic strip form. When Alix is a contemporary of the subject, he occasionally appears as a secondary character. The scripts are written by François Maingoval, while the illustration has been done by different artists. The series is not available in English. Title Year Script Illustration1. Alexandre le Grand2008François MaingovalJean Torton2. Cléopâtre2008François MaingovalÉric Lenaerts3. Néron2008François MaingovalYves Plateau

A spin off series that started in 2012. It is set in 12 BC when Alix is an older Roman senator, looking after Titus, his son, and Khephren, the son of Enak. This series is more realistic and darker than the original series. Title Year Script Illustration 1. Les Aigles de sang2012Valérie ManginThierry Démarez2. Le Dernier Pharaon2013Valérie ManginThierry Démarez3. La Conjuration des rapaces2014Valérie ManginThierry Démarez4. Les Démons de Sparte2015Valérie ManginThierry Démarez5. Le Hurlement de Cybèle2016Valérie ManginThierry Démarez6. La montagne des morts2017Valérie ManginThierry Démarez7. La Puissance et l'Éternité2018Valérie ManginThierry Démarez8. La Cité des poisons2018Valérie ManginThierry Démarez9. Les Spectres de Rome2019Valérie ManginThierry Démarez10. La Forêt carnivore2020Valérie ManginThierry Démarez11. L'Esclave de Khorsabad2020Valérie ManginThierry Démarez12. Le Disque D'Osiris2021Valérie ManginThierry Démarez13. L'Antre du Minotaure2022Valérie ManginThierry Démarez

In 2004, 4 novels about Alix were published by Casterman 4, written by Alain Hammerstein (pen name of Alain De Kuyssche) with illustrations by Jean François Charles. Alix l'intrépide, 2004. (based on album 1: Alix l'Intrépide)
Le Sortilège de Khorsabad, 2004. L'Ombre de César, 2004. Le Sphinx d'or, 2004. (based on album 2: The Golden Sphinx)

Starting in 1999, an animated television series of 26 episodes was created that aired on France 3.

In the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels the permanent exhibition brings homage to the pioneers of Belgian comics, among them Jacques Martin (despite being born in France). The room dedicated to his work is designed as a Roman balcony. Alix is among the many Belgian comics characters to jokingly have a Brussels street named after them. Since 2006 the Boulevard Anspach/Anspach Boulevard has a commemorative plaque with the name Rue Alix/ Alex straat placed under the actual street sign.