Admiral:
Hi, do any of you recognise this pirate comic book by description? It is drawn in a style not dissimilar to Lucky Luke or Spirou, its story is about pirates and on the last page the pirate crew is captured and made prisoners by the British redcoats.
I once read it, or rather admired the pictures, at a colleague of my child minder when I was about 4-6 years old, and I remember the album very well. I think I received it as a gift from this child minder some sixteen years ago, which made me happy indeed, but I have not yet found the comic book.
After an hour’s worth of Google searching I’ve not even identified the title of the comic book. Can you please help me find it?
Admiral:
Hi, do any of you recognise this pirate comic book by description? It is drawn in a style not dissimilar to Lucky Luke or Spirou, its story is about pirates and on the last page the pirate crew is captured and made prisoners by the British redcoats.
I once read it, or rather admired the pictures, at a colleague of my child minder when I was about 4-6 years old, and I remember the album very well. I think I received it as a gift from this child minder some sixteen years ago, which made me happy indeed, but I have not yet found the comic book.
After an hour’s worth of Google searching I’ve not even identified the title of the comic book. Can you please help me find it?
Admiral:
Thank you. It was only one issue, and it was in colour. It is not Pirates of Polokwan. The ships were drawn realistically and in a detailed style.
Stepper:
Kinda sounds like the lego pirates comic book.
link: The Pirates (Volume) - Comic Vine
Was only 1 issue.
Hope this helps, otherwise i’ll keep looking.
Ciao,
Stepper
Admiral:
Thank you! I didn’t receive this much help even on a comics forum I registered on to find out the title of the comic book. Considering the drawing styles of both of your finds and the fact I didn’t even find Lego Pirates on my search, it seems to be getting closer.
@Stepper: No, though that comic is actually something I’d like to read, since I was an avid Lego Pirate collector as a child. 
@G.2: No, but it’s a good guess!
I wonder if all old comic books are even known on the web. Was it an Anglosaxon or French/Belgian comic? Since the drawing style reminded me somewhat of Lucky Luke, I wonder if any of the publishers of Lucky Luke might have the pirate comic book title hidden in a list of their published comic books. It’s a wild shot, but it might lead somewhere.
I looked on the list of Lucky Luke publishers on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luke#Collected_editions), picked two publishers on random and clicked on any comic titles that could have something to do with pirates. French publisher Dargaud’s comic Redbeard (Barbe-Rogue) was pretty close, alike Isaac the Pirate, but Redbeard’s style is more realistic than Lukcy Luke-ish when it comes to drawing characters (if I remember right, the pirate captain of the comic book I’m searching for looked a bit like the smallest brother Dalton in both looks and temperament): http://www.dargaud.com/barbe-rouge-integrale/album-2033/la-guerre-des-pirates/
A lot of more searches turned up no further candidate. I’ll have to try again later.
snowblizz:
If you say the style is similar to Lucky Luke etc then I think you are on the right track. They were a whole bunch who were inspired and adopted each others’ styles. The annoying thing with Dargaud and Dupuis (the main “Franco-Belgian” publishers) is of course that they don’t believe in English. So it’s really frustrating to find anything at all.
Back in the day they’d have lists of comics published in the back of the books but I don’t have any of that type handy here. I have some of that era lying around at home.
Admiral:
This particuar album was published in Swedish, and since it certainly wasn’t drawn or written by Swedes I expected to find a hint on the internet. Because it was translated I expected to find it with a bit of search. Thesse search difficulties are frustrating, yes.
I wonder when the pirate comic book was published? It might have been during the 1980s, or early 1990s. The colouration wasn’t crass akin to this example, from the 1970s I believe, but more tasteful like this drawing. I’ve looked through the following list, without finding a clue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Franco-Belgian_comic_series
It might be time for a visit at the library’s comic book section, just in case…
G.2:
I started my search on Amazon. Looking for older publications. I did a search for “pirate graphic novel”. I sorted the list by published date, and ended up with about 200 enteries, but most of these were too modern. Maybe if you have a look other counties Amazon sites, you may have better luck.
Admiral:
Amazon, good tip! I’ll give it a shot.
The search words “pirate comic book” provided 20 pages of hits, but not what I’m looking for. “Pirate graphic novel” gave 28 pages, and though some piratey books and comic books looked promising in their own right, they’re off mark.
Are there an exhaustive list or database somewhere of Franco-Belgian comic books published the last 50 years or so? I don’t think the pirate comic book was American. If it is of any help, the comic book obviously was a one-off story, not part of a series.
G.2:
This may help
http://www.europeancomics.net/
Here is the link to Morris - the Lucky Luke artist.
European graphic novels in English
Admiral:
Thank you for your helpfulness! I created an account on a Swedish comics forum and struck gold immediately. Several posters pointed out Le Vieux Nick et Barbe-Noir, “Captain Greybeard” (Kapten Gråskägg), a Franco-Belgian comic series published by Semic during the 1960s, drawn by Marcel Remacle:
Le vieux Nick et Barbe-Noire - BD, informations, cotes
http://www.filesdrop.com/hotfile-bande-dessinee-le-vieux-nick-et-barbe-noire-26-albums-pdf/t214456/
Kapten Gråskägg - Seriewikin
http://www.isnd.be/BDGEST/Reports/ser_vieuxnicketbarbenoirele.html
The comic books seem not to have been translated into English, sadly. The one I read was good value and deserves to get republished. I’ll see if I can trace some of the comic books through E-bay. The one I read was probably this, Pavillons Noirs in French:
http://www.artvalue.com/auctionresult--remacle-marcel-ted-smedley-192-le-vieux-nick-et-barbe-noire-n-2904670.htm
Serietidningar | Köp & sälj begagnat & oanvänt på Tradera
Again, thank you for all the help!
snowblizz:
I also came across this, Comics, comix, and comic strips! - Lambiek Comic History yesterday.
The problem is that most things are listed in original language and as such very difficult to find for us. Or the very unhelpful author lists (if one doesn’t know the authors).
Much of the Franco-Belgian stuff used to be published by Hemmets Journal (back when I was young). I was also looking into Egmont’s publishing and Carlsen comics, but can’t find anything that seems to be it. It doesn’t help that every 5-10 years the publishers changes or get sold/merged.
