Largo Winch

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Comic
title Largo Winch
country Belgium
author Jean Van Hamme , Éric Giacometti (from volume 21)
Illustrator Philippe Francq
publishing company Dupuis
First publication 1990 - ...
expenditure 22nd

Largo Winch is a figure invented by Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme , which as the title character of a successful series of popular fiction - novels and comics (drawn by Philippe Francq ) of the same name is used.

His adventures were first published in a series of six adventure novels between 1977 and 1984 by the publisher Mercure de France . Since 1990 Dupuis has been publishing the stories as a comic series, for which Jean Van Hamme also wrote the scenario up to volume 20 . Since then, Éric Giacometti has been the new scriptwriter for the series. The initial print run of the French-language edition of volume 20 in 2015 was 300,000 copies, making the series one of the most successful bandes dessinées at the moment .

background

Nerio Winch, an old businessman and head of a financial group with sales of just under $ 44 billion and nearly 400,000 employees, has neither children nor heirs. He therefore adopts a Yugoslav orphan boy named Largo.

Largo is an incorrigible adventurer who tirelessly escapes from orphanages and boarding schools and seeks and finds his happiness in women and in vagabond life. Nerio Winch lets him grow up with a trusted couple in Liechtenstein (see Volume II, Group W). When Largo was 26 years old, his adoptive father died and Largo inherited all of his fortune and found himself at the top of the Winch group of companies, where numerous adventures awaited him. As is typical of the genre, Largo gets to know many seductive beauties, but remains unbound.

Largo Winch is supported on his adventures by a colorful troupe from all over the world, most of whom are recruited from his own Winch group of companies. These include his best friend, the perky Swiss thief Simon Ovronnaz, Winch's brittle, reliable right-hand man Dwight E. Cochrane and his predecessor John D. Sullivan (both from the United States), the Israeli ex-soldier and pilot Freddy Kaplan, his strict, grandmotherly secretary Eleanor Pennywinkle (Great Britain) and the lesbian, Chinese-born ex-US Air Force pilot Silky Song.

Novels

  1. Largo Winch et Groupe W ( 1977 ), Mercure de France, 307 pp.
  2. Largo Winch et la Cyclope ( 1977 ), Mercure de France, 333 pp.
  3. Largo Winch et le Dernier des Doges ( 1978 ), Mercure de France, 334 pp.
  4. Largo Winch et la Forteresse de Makiling (l'Heure du Tigre, 1) ( 1979 ), Mercure de France, 330 pp.
  5. Largo Winch et les Révoltés de Zamboanga (l'Heure du Tigre, 2) ( 1979 ), Mercure de France, 331 pp.
  6. Business Blues ( 1980 ), Mercure de France, 326 pp.

What sets the novels apart from the rest of the Largo Winch publications is their raw style, as well as the level of sex and violence. In contrast, the comics and - even more - the television series were modernized and adapted not only in terms of the plot and the characters involved, but also in terms of their compatibility with a broad audience.

comics

All comics are published in French by Dupuis , in the Repérages series . The first volumes were published in German by the Ehapa publishing house, but discontinued in view of the modest sales figures and high license fees. The volumes "Golden Gate" and "Shadow" appeared as sequels in Zack magazine, initially without a subsequent German album publication. In 2006 the Munich comic publisher Schreiber & Reader resumed its publications in German, and in 2010 the German editions fully caught up with the original.

No. Original title published German title published publishing company ISBN
Scenario: Jean Van Hamme , drawings: Philippe Francq
1 L'Héritier 1990 The Heritage 1991/2006 Ehapa / writers & readers ISBN 3-7704-0780-6
2 Le Groupe W 1991 Group W 1991/2006 Ehapa / writers & readers ISBN 3-7704-0781-4
3 GRANDPA 1992 The coup 1992/2007 Ehapa / writers & readers ISBN 3-7704-0782-2
4th Business blues 1993 Business blues 1994/2008 Ehapa / writers & readers ISBN 3-7704-0780-6
5 H 1994 H 2006 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-937102-46-9
6th Dutch Connection 1995 Dutch Connection 2006 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-937102-51-5
7th La Forteresse de Makiling 1996 Maikiling 2007 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-937102-60-4
8th L'Heure du Tigre 1997 tiger 2007 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-937102-61-2
9 Voir Venise ... 1998 See Venice ... 2008 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-937102-84-1
10 … Et mourir 1999 …and die 2008 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-937102-85-X
11 Golden gate 2000 Golden gate 2009 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-941239-08-1
12 Shadow 2002 Shadow 2009 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-941239-09-8
13 Le Prix de l'argent 2004 The price of money 2010 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-941239-32-6
14th La Loi du dollar 2005 In the name of the dollar 2010 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-941239-35-7
15th Les trois yeux des gardiens du Tao 2007 Guardian of the Tao 2007 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-937102-66-3
16 La Voie et la vertu 2008 Way of virtue 2008 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-937102-92-2
17th Mer Noire 2010 Black Sea 2010 Writer & Reader ISBN 3-941239-44-9
18th Colère Rouge 2012 White heat 2012 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-941239-97-5
19th Chassé-Croisé 2014 Double play 2014 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-943808-52-0
20th 20 secondes 2015 Twenty seconds 2016 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-943808-94-0
Scenario: Éric Giacometti, drawings: Philippe Francq
21st L'Étoile du matin 2017 Morning star 2017 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-946337-49-2
22nd Les Voiles écarlates 2019 Red sails 2020 Writer & Reader ISBN 978-3-96582-010-4
23 La Frontière de la nuit 2021

Television series

The character Largo Winch served as a template for a television series that was broadcast in France from January 2001 and is based freely on motifs from the novels and comics. In Germany, the series was shown from May 2005 on the private broadcaster ProSieben . Largo Winch is played by Paolo Seganti , his sidekick Simon Ovronnaz by Diego Wallraff .

Other characters include Largo's bodyguard, ex-CIA agent Joy Arden, played by Sydney Penny , and ex-KGB agent and computer expert Georgy Kerensky, played by Geordie Johnson .

cinemamovies

On December 17th, 2008, the movie Largo Winch - Deadly Legacy was released in Belgian cinemas. This was republished in the USA at the end of 2011 under the title The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch and was shown for the first time on German television on ZDF on July 9, 2012. On February 16, 2011, the theatrical release of the second part in France with the title Largo Winch II , in Germany as Largo Winch II - The Burma Conspiracy was released directly on DVD. The film ran on September 1, 2014 on ZDF.

computer game

Largo Winch.//Commando SAR was released in 2002 at Ubisoft for PlayStation 1. Largo Winch: Empire under threat is the title of 2002 also at Ubisoft published Adventures for PC , GameCube , Xbox and PS2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.dreimalalles.info/node/3068/ ( Memento from May 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ The prochain "Largo Winch" en découverte exceptionnelle! , Dupuis.com, April 15, 2020 (French)