Nick Rodwell, 68, is not used to court failures. The president of Moulinsart who, for thirty years, jealously watches over the heritage of the designer Hergé, has yet suffered a serious setback at the Rennes tribunal de grande instance. On May 10, the Belgian company was dismissed from the action it had brought against the artist Xavier Marabout for infringement and violation of moral rights.
The painter’s fault? To have “Eroticized” Tintin by merging the universe of the journalist with powder puff and that of the American painter Edward Hopper. “Far be it from me to denigrate Tintin. It was a parody to have fun with his rather manly world ”, Xavier Marabout explains over the phone, relieved to have won this round against Moulinsart.
An “aggressive and inappropriate” mail
This judgment could give some hope to Christophe Tixier, alias Peppone, also sued by Moulinsart for infringement, and whose fate will be decided on June 17 at the Marseille court. At issue: 90 resin busts bearing the image of the reporter, which the Provencal artist has mounted with the thumbnails of Tintin’s albums that belonged to his father.
Unsuccessful for the first time by the criminal court, Nick Rodwell claims civil damages of 200,000 euros. To Tintin fans who evoke the tribute, Nick Rodwell replies on France Culture: “I don’t need tributes from other artists to bring Hergé’s work to life. ”
It’s been thirty years since lawsuits and formal notices, this Briton with white locks has turned against the community of tintinophiles and tintinologists. The author of thrillers and jazzman Bob Garcia keeps a stinging memory of the 40,000 euros in damages he had to pay in 2009 for having parodied Tintin’s vignettes.
Launching hostilities at the slightest use of Hergé’s imagery, Nick Rodwell also attacks non-commercial structures. Thus, in 2019, he obtained the withdrawal of the white and red checkered rocket fromObjective moon of the poster intended to celebrate the 30 years of the Belgian Comic Strip Center.
“I found that pathetic, we would like to slowly kill the heritage that we would not do otherwise”, sighs Pierre Lungheretti, director general of the Cité internationale de la comic strip, in Angoulême, who had given up organizing a Hergé season in 2017 after receiving a letter. “Aggressive and out of place”.
You have 58.36% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.