The exhibition “René Goscinny scriptwriter, what a job!”, which opened on Tuesday at the comic strip museum, presents some 200 unpublished or rare pieces, coming in particular from the archives of the René Goscinny Institute and the Bnf (National Library of France ).

These plates, letters or manuscripts illustrate the “very rigorous” methods of the famous screenwriter, Jean-Pierre Mercier, curator of the exhibition with Romain Brethes, told AFP.

“For each album, Goscinny discussed with its designer, Uderzo, Morris or Sempé, in order to compare their ideas, around a beer or by exchange of letters”, explains the curator of the exhibition, “he then got down to his typewriter, and wrote down the course of the story. A paragraph equaled a page”.

A visitor looks at boards on February 22, 2022 at the Angoulême comic strip museum which presents an exhibition devoted to the work of screenwriter René Goscinny Yohan BONNET AFP

As proof, the copy of the plate of the first page of Asterix the Gaul - "the original plate has disappeared, no one knows where it is", says Mr. Mercier.

Next to the working notes, "we can see the scenario thought out by Goscinny. On the left of the sheet, there is the description of what the designer must draw and on the right, the commentary text and the dialogues".

Thus, as a commentary, Goscinny typed the phrase "Leaders such as Vercingetorix must lay down their arms at Caesar's feet" then the "Oop" of pain from the Roman leader who receives his arms on his feet.

“If you look, that's what you find on the board”, says Mr. Mercier.

“In 22 years in the business, Goscinny has done absolutely phenomenal work.

He wrote 450 comic scripts, that's thousands and thousands of pages," exclaims Mr. Mercier.

A portrait of René Goscinny is displayed at the Angoulême comics museum which devotes an exhibition to his work as a screenwriter, February 22, 2022 Yohan BONNET AFP

Jam and wild boar

And for these scenarios, he documented himself.

“For Lucky Luke, he was reading biographies of Billy the Kid, Jesse James, etc.

And he was absolutely mad about movies.

He never missed a single western on TV.

He also said that his real inspiration was Laurel and Hardy”.

For Asterix, beyond the famous pink pages of Latin quotations from the Larousse dictionary, "he read many books on Roman history". His dictionary and some of his history books are on display.

A visitor looks at boards at the Angoulême comic strip museum which devotes an exhibition to the work of screenwriter René Goscinny, February 22, 2022 Yohan BONNET AFP

“We also wanted to show what defines Goscinny.

He was an infinite source of gags, of cult phrases - + wants to be caliph instead of the caliph + - of leitmotifs.

At Goscinny, we eat all the time.

Alceste, in Le Petit Nicolas, he always has a slice of jam in his hand.

Asterix abounds with wild boars”.

The journey recounts his beginnings as a draftsman, his time in New York, his various collaborations up to his position as editor-in-chief of the comic book weekly Pilote.

The exhibition highlights the moment when, in 1956, René Goscinny and the other great creators of the time such as Uderzo, Franquin or Charlier, tried to create an independent Syndicate of designers and screenwriters in Brussels, at a time where "the cartoonists weren't treated very well and the screenwriters were invisible".

In addition, the "millions of copies sold of Asterix have helped bring the scriptwriter's profession out of the shadows", he adds.

A visitor looks at boards at the Angoulême comic strip museum which devotes an exhibition to the work of screenwriter René Goscinny, February 22, 2022 Yohan BONNET AFP

The exhibition is presented until March 17 and then will go from April to the Château de Malbrouck in Manderen (Moselle).

© 2022 AFP