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In terms of science fiction content, the French comics stories of the early 20th century
remained for the most part shy of handling genre elements.
One of the exceptions was Dans la Planète Mars (On The Planet Mars),
published in 1915 in publisher Fayard's magazine, Belles Images (Beautiful Pictures,
1904-1936), and signed G. Ri., a pseudonym
of artist Victor Mousselet. (In French,
"G. Ri" sounds like "J'ai ri" = "I laughed", a well-coined nom-de-plume for a cartoonist.)
Between 1905 and 1915, Mousselet produced several notable genre stories for the periodicals
Belles Images and Jeunesse Illustrée (Youth
Illustrated Stories, 1903-1935) :
- La Pilule Hilarante (The Laughing Pill; 1905),
- Au Fond de la Mer (At the Bottom of the Sea; 1906),
- Dans l'Infini (In
Infinity; 1906-07),
- Dans les Entrailles de la Terre
(In the Bowels of Earth; 1907),
- Au Pôle Nord (At the North Pole; 1908),
- Le Savant Diplodocus à travers les Siècles (Scientist Diplodocus Throughout the Centuries; 1912),
- Le Tour du Monde en Hydroaéroplane
(Around the World in Hydroplane; 1913),
and others.
Very little is known about Mousselet. We know that he was a professional humor cartoonist circa 1900, and that
hestopped collaborating to children's magazines (for reasons unknown) circa 1930. Yet, Mousselet deserves the honor
of being called the pioneer of French science fiction comics.
FOR MORE ART SAMPLES
FROM "G. RI"
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