Pif gadget

"Pif gadget" was a monthly (initially weekly) comics magazine for the youth, created in February 1969. Its audience peaked in the early 1970s.

History

Created as an outlet of the French Communist Party, it was initially entitled "Le Jeune Patriote", published 1944–1945, which was succeeded by "Vaillant, Le Jeune Patriote" in 1945.cite web | last =BDoubliées | title = Vaillant, le journal de PIF et Pif gadget en 1945 | url =http://bdoubliees.com/vaillantpif/annees/1945.htm fr_icon] The title was moderated in 1946 to read simply "Vaillant", with the tag, "le journal le plus captivant" ("The Most Captivating Magazine"). For the April issue of 1965, the title was changed to "Vaillant, le journal de Pif", in honour of the prominently featured "Pif le chien", a dog character created by José Cabrero Arnal. Until 1969, "Vaillant" had, like all its competitors, printed "to be continued"-stories, but the magazine in this incarnation ended with issue number 1238 on February 23, 1969.cite web | last =BDoubliées | title = Vaillant, le journal de PIF et Pif gadget en 1969 | url =http://bdoubliees.com/vaillantpif/annees/1969.htm fr_icon]

"Pif gadget" started again with issue number 1, released on February 24, 1969, but retained the old number relative to "Vaillant". The magazine was called "Pif et son gadget surprise" for a few months in the beginning. The name "gadget" was a reference to objects offered with each issues, including the very popular "Pifises" (brine shrimp in stasis, which readers could raise as minuscule pets).

A German Spin-off was "Yps".

"Pif gadget" gathered interest through its determination to publish only "complete stories" (i.e.: unserialized). Its featured comics included:
*"Rahan"
*"Doc Justice"
*Hugo Pratt's "Corto Maltese"
*Marcel Gotlib's "Gai-Luron"
*Nikita Mandryka's "Les Aventures potagères du Concombre masqué"
*Raymond Poïvet and Roger Lecureux's "Les Pionniers de l'Espérance"
*"Le Grêlé 7/13", "Nasdine Hodja", "Arthur le fantôme justicier", "Les Rigolus et les Tristus", "Corinne et Jeannot", "Dicentim le petit Franc" etc.

"Pif gadget"'s record print was 1 million issues on April 6 1970, matched by another in September 1971. It was, and still is, the record for a European comic strip. The paper also benefitted from being able to reach the Newly industrialized countries, and was one of the select few Western magazines to be allowed circulation behind the Iron Curtain (due to its left-wing credentials). It went into rapid decline (decreasing in content and starting the publishing of comics which were serialized more often than not), one linked to the weakness of the Soviet Union; its last major feature was during the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989. The original version was last printed in 1993, the paper being revived in 2004.

References

* Richard Médioni, "Pif gadget : la véritable histoire des origines à 1973", édition Vaillant collector, 2003.
* [http://bdoubliees.com/vaillantpif/index.html La mémoire de "Vaillant" et "Pif"] BDoubliées fr_icon

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.pif-gadget.net "Pif gadget" - Collection Index] fr_icon
* [http://www.vaillant-collection.com "Vaillant collection" - Vaillant le journal de Pif Collection Index] fr_icon
* [http://pifgadget27.free.fr/index.htm "Pif gadget", 27th issue] fr_icon
* [http://www.pif-collection.com "Pif Collection"] fr_icon
* [http://www.pifomanie.com Pifomanie : auctions of "Pif Gadget" and "Vaillant"] fr_icon
* [http://jesweb.net/?2005/11/06/44-le-bozo-bozo-dans-pif-gadget "Le bozo-bozo, génial casse-tête/tour de magie"] fr_icon
* [http://www.rahan.org Rahan's site] fr_icon