Michel Vaillant

Michel Vaillant
Cover of Le Grand Defi, the first title of the series.
Publication information
Publisher	Le Lombard, Novedi, Fleurus, Graton éditeur
Format	Bande dessinée
Publication date	1957 - present
Main character(s)	Michel Vaillant
Creative team
Writer(s)	Jean Graton, Phillipe Graton
Artist(s)	Jean Graton, Studio Graton
Colorist(s)	Jean Graton, Studio Graton
Creator(s)	Jean Graton

Michel Vaillant is the title of a French comics series created in 1957 by Frenchcartoonist Jean Graton and published originally by Le Lombard. Later, Graton published the albums by himself when he founded Graton éditeur in 1982. Michel Vaillant is the main character of the eponymous series, a French racing car driver who competes mainly in Formula One.

The feature first appeared in Tintin magazine, where Jean Graton had already published a number of short stories about real-life sporting heroes. The series appeared in Tintin between 1957 and 1976, in France as well as in Belgium. An estimated 17 million copies of the series' albums have been sold worldwide.

On February 7, 1957 Jean Graton created the character Michel Vaillant, with five short stories published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin. Given their positive reception, a full-length adventure was written and drawn by Graton, published in Tintin in 1959.

The titles were first published in album format by Le Lombard until 1976, then by Dargaud until 1979, by Fleurus in 1979 and 1980, by Novedi in 1981 and 1982, and finally by Graton editeur, created and owned by Philippe and Jean Graton from 1983 on. In 1995, a new series was launched, the Dossiers Michel Vaillant series, with stories and information on important figures in motorsports and the automobile industry. In 2000, the Palmarès Inedit series was created, with early works and stories previously unpublished in books. In 2007, Studio Graton translated three titles into English: "The Great Challenge" (Tome 1), "China Moon" (Tome 68), "24 Hours Under the Influence" (Tome 70). In 2008, a new collection was launched by Le Lombard, named Integrale Michel Vaillant. This series plans to reprint all past adventures in 20 volumes of 200 pages, each volume grouping several stories. All the titles of the original series are to be reprinted, and many comments, dossiers and unpublished strips added.