ANDRE FRANQUIN (1924-1997)

Gaston and the Philips batteries, what a team India ink on paper. Signed in the upper right corner. 21,5 x 30,1 cm. 1973. Like his friends Roba and Peyo, Franquin was happy to play the game of advertising, mainly with his character Gaston: the orange drink Piedboeuf, The Bank drawn for the Crédit Mutuel, Gaston crazy about the bus!, Novotel, The Laughing Cow, Transat, Solmer, the Red Cross, The Postman is my friend, etc. But the most famous of the advertising albums is certainly Gaston et les piles Philips, what a team. For this project, the author made no less than 14 gags in half-plates, each decorated with a personalized signature. The album was reissued under the title Gaston rempile et désopile in 1989. As for the general public, it had to wait until 1999 to discover this series of gags in the 19th album of Gaston published by Marsu Productions in 1999 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the hero, replacing the name of Philips by Bidule.