{{Short description|Belgian film director}} {{For|the professional hockey player|Ray LeBlanc}} {{Infobox comics creator | image = Raymond_Leblanc.png | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1915|5|22}} | birth_place = Neufchâteau, Belgium | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2008|3|21|1915|5|22}} | death_place = Brussels, Belgium | area = Comic book publisher, film producer | alias = | notable works = ''The Adventures of Tintin'' | website = {{URL|www.raymondleblanc.be/r-leblanc}} | awards = Alph-Art d'Honneur prize (2003) | subcat = | nonUS = y }}
'''Raymond Leblanc''' ({{IPA|fr|ləblɑ̃|lang}}; 22 May 1915 – 21 March 2008) was a Belgian comic book publisher, film director and film producer, best known for publishing works such as ''The Adventures of Tintin'' by Hergé and ''Blake and Mortimer'' by Edgar P. Jacobs. He debuted, published, and promoted many of the most famous Franco-Belgian comics. Leblanc and his two partners created Le Lombard publishing, ''Tintin'' magazine, PubliArt advertising agency, and Belvision Studios.
== Biography == Raymond Leblanc was a resistance fighter during the Second World War in the ''Mouvement National Royaliste'' (MNR) group.<ref name="Thompson">{{cite book | last=Thompson | first=Harry | author-link=Harry Thompson | year=1991 | title=Tintin: Hergé and His Creation | publisher=John Murray Publishers Ltd | location=London | isbn=978-1-84854-672-1 | page=173}}</ref><ref name="ec">{{cite news | date=22 March 2008 | title=Tintin publisher Raymond Leblanc dies at 92 | url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Tintin_publisher_Leblanc_dies_at_92/articleshow/2888782.cms | work=The Economic Times | access-date=24 March 2008}}</ref><ref name="cm">{{cite news | date=22 March 2008 | title='Tintin' Publisher Raymond Leblanc Dies at 92 | url=http://www.comicmix.com/news/2008/03/22/tintin-publisher-raymond-leblanc-dies-at-92/ | work=ComicMix.com | location=Tertiary source | access-date=24 March 2008}}</ref> When the war ended in 1945, Leblanc set up new offices at 55, Rue du Lombard, establishing his publishing house, Le Lombard. Years later after Leblanc's retirement, he explained in an interview the beginnings of the Tintin legacy. On the subject of creating a new magazine for young people, he said, "We thought this was an interesting idea, and started looking for a name. We ended up eventually with Tintin, Hergé’s comic book hero. Literally everyone knew that character at that moment. The question however was, where was Hergé?"<ref name="cm"/>
''The Adventures of Tintin'' creator Hergé, having worked for the collaborationist newspaper ''Le Soir'', was out of a job and even denied the right to work.<ref name="Thompson"/>{{efn|Hergé had been sacked, arrested, cleared of charges, released, and then denied the right to work. The ''Adventures of Tintin'' serial had been interrupted near the end of ''The Seven Crystal Balls'', on page 49; page 50 would be the first page published in ''Tintin'' magazine, eighteen months later.<ref name="Thompson"/>}} Leblanc arranged a meeting with Hergé, understood his dilemma, and saw an opportunity. Leblanc offered to clear Hergé's name and, that settled, offered him a new publishing venue for ''The Adventures of Tintin'': the opportunity to continue to serialise his title in Leblanc's new weekly 12-page, comics journal, ''{{lang|fr|Le journal de Tintin}}'' (''Tintin'' magazine), the first project of Le Lombard.<ref name="Thompson"/> Hergé accepted, and in 1946, Belgian comics fans were treated, not only to the return of ''Tintin'', but to the debut of many new Franco-Belgian comics on a weekly basis, some appearing in Hergé's signature {{lang|fr|ligne claire}} style.<ref name="Thompson"/>
The years 1954 and 1956 saw Leblanc launching two other creative ventures: the advertising agency PubliArt, a publicity division of Le Lombard using comics characters in its projects, and Belvision Studios, which produced short and full-length animated films for television and cinema.<ref name="cbc">{{cite news | date=22 March 2008 | title=Tintin publisher Raymond Leblanc dies | url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/tintin-publisher-raymond-leblanc-dies-1.712976?ref=rss | publisher=CBC News | access-date=24 March 2008}}</ref>
==Filmography==
'''Animated TV series''' * ''Chlorophylle'' (1954) * ''Suske en Wiske'' (1955) * ''Hergé's Adventures of Tintin'' (1957–1964)
'''Animated feature films''' *{{ill|L'Affaire Tournesol (téléfilm)|fr}} (1964) * ''Pinocchio in Outer Space'' (1965) * ''Asterix the Gaul'' (1967) * ''Asterix and Cleopatra'' (1968) * ''Tintin and the Temple of the Sun'' (1969) * ''Daisy Town'' (1971) – based on ''Lucky Luke'' * ''Tintin and the Lake of Sharks'' (1972) * ''I, Tintin'' (1975) – documentary * ''The Smurfs and the Magic Flute'' (1976) * ''Gulliver's Travels'' (1977)
'''Animated shorts''' * ''Cubitus'' (1977) * ''Clifton'' (1984) * ''Oumpah-pah'' * ''Spaghetti à la Romaine''
== Notes == {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *[http://www.fondationrleblanc.be/En/index.php?page=home.html Official website of Raymond Leblanc foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825090339/http://fondationrleblanc.be/En/index.php?page=home.html |date=2013-08-25 }} *[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/raymond-leblanc-publisher-of-tintin-magazine-799897.html The Telegraph: Raymond Leblanc: Publisher of ''Tintin'' magazine] *[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/28/culture.obituaries Guardian: Raymond Leblanc, Enthusiast who enabled Tintin to make a postwar return to publication ] *[http://www.respectance.com/RaymondLeblanc Online Memorial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122100512/http://respectance.com/RaymondLeblanc |date=2008-11-22 }} *[http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2007/from-our-continental-correspondent-raymond-leblancs-nine-lives/ Forbidden Planet Blog Log: Raymond Leblanc’s nine lives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202185709/http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2007/from-our-continental-correspondent-raymond-leblancs-nine-lives/ |date=2012-02-02 }}
{{Animation industry in Europe}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leblanc, Raymond}} Category:1915 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Belgian magazine publishers (people) Category:Belgian magazine founders Category:Belgian resistance members Category:Belgian film directors Category:Belgian film producers Category:Belgian animated film directors Category:Belgian animated film producers Category:Comic book publishers (people) Category:The Adventures of Tintin Category:People from Neufchâteau, Luxembourg Province Category:Tintin (magazine) people