'Francis Drake'. Scripted by Yves Duval, artwork by Sidney.
Yves Duval was one of the most prominent scriptwriters of the magazine Tintin. He started at Lombard publishers when he was only sixteen years old. His first published work in Tintin was 'Ils l'Appelaient Alcibiade', illustrated by Raymond Reding. In 1952 he adapted Robert Louis Stevenson's 'David Balfour' into a comic illustrated by Jacques Laudy. He soon specialized in short educational stories, of which he made about 1500. These comics were illustrated by many of the "big names", like Jean Graton, René Follet, Hermann, Sidney, Eddy Paape, Juan Cicuendez, Fernand Cheneval, Philippe Delaby, Jean-Claude Servais, Fred Funcken, Ferry, Christian Denayer, Jo-El Azara, Charles Jarry, etc. At the same time, Yves Duval wrote numerous articles, tales, novels and interviews for the magazine for magazines like La Semaine de Suzette, Line, Pilote and Record.
Duval is also the writer of numerous famous series that appeared in Tintin throughout the years. For instance, there were 'Rataplan' (with Berck), 'Hassan et Kadour' (with Laudy), 'Rocky Bill' (with William Vance), 'Howard Flynn' (with René Follet), 'Marc Francval' (with Éduard Aidans), 'Doc Silver', 'Capitan' (with Fred and Liliane Funcken) and 'Spaghetti' (with Dino Attanasio). While writing for Tintin, his name also appeared in Pilote ('Buck Gallo' with Mic Delinx) and Le Soir Jeunesse ('Les Aventures de Christopher' with Franz). Yves Duval was also active as a journalist for the Belgian Paris-Match and Moniteur de l'Automobile. In 1973 he and Christian Lippens created the celebrity comic 'Les Fabuleux Exploits d'Eddy Merckx' (1973), about the career of Belgian cycling champion Eddy Merckx.
Artwork by Eddy Paape.