While an auction is preparing Friday in Paris, with works by Hergé, Dominique Bussereau, creator in his time of the Parliamentarians Club tintinophiles, explains why the hero in the puff consensus.

INTERVIEW

Friday, at the House of Latin America, in Paris, many objects related to comics will be auctioned. Among them, an original board signed Hergé, representing the cover of The Black Island , one of Tintin's albums, was estimated between 270,000 and 300,000 euros. A crazy sum, which confirms that Tintin remains the most popular comic book hero.

For Dominique Bussereau, president of the Assembly of the departments of France, it is the universal character of the hero that explains its popularity. "Tintin, everyone is there," he said during his stay as "unexpected guest" of the morning of Europe 1 Friday.

And to illustrate his point, Dominique Bussereau has a very concrete example. When he was deputy for Charente-Maritime, he presided over the Club of Parliamentarians tintinophiles. "Nearly one in five MPs, when the club was created, decided to join," says the current president of Charente-Maritime. "It feels good in this sometimes rather dramatic place of the Assembly, to see that on the warm personality of Tintin and all his work, everyone gets together."

"There was Santini who said he was centrist, a Gaullist MP he was Gaullist, a socialist he was left ..."

And even a question as potentially controversial as "Tintin is right or left," did not trigger (too much) the passions. "There was naturally no answer," smiles Dominique Bussereau. "The idea was that everyone could choose his Tintin, so there was Santini who said he was centrist, a Gaullist MP he was Gaullist, a socialist he was left, Tintin, everyone The children from 7 to 77 years, and politically, can see the Tintin a bit of the colonial era in Tintin in the Congo and the Tupamaros, Tintin who supports rather the progressive forces. and the face of his childhood that he wants to remember. "

Now, the sums advanced for the auction are not fully validated by the former MP. "It's crazy, it's a little crazy to see the price level in all these auctions that concern Tintin.I think there is still a form of exaggeration, even if all passion leads to sacrifices," slides Dominique Bussereau, himself a collector. "I have a lot of objects around Tintin, I have a lot of Tintin in all languages, I have a lot of fake Tintin, because the fake Tintin, even if the Hergé foundation hates them, they are pretty funny. There are even porn Tintin, Chinese Tintin ... "