The signing session took place, for two and a half hours, in an intimate atmosphere, paced by conversations between the authors and fans of Michel Vaillant in general and of the 24 Hours in particular, including many who are very much looking forward to their favourite character's next return to Le Mans.

"My involvement with Michel Vaillant started as it has for all the kids of my generation, explained Xavier Chimits. It was special on Thursday afternoons when the Tintin magazine came to the house. At the time, there was only one black and white television channel, and we had the choice of Zorro or Thierry la Fronde (smile). So when the Tintin magazines would come (and also Spirou's), it was a big moment in the week for kids, and that's how I discovered Michel Vaillant. Back then, I was living in Pau, and when the Grand Prix was happening in the streets of the city, the high school closed because of the noise of the cars. So, between Tintin and the Grand Prix of Pau in my city, I naturally gravitated toward Michel Vaillant et Jean Graton."

Some Art Strips (reproduction of large-format comics) were on display for the occasion, and some from "Fantôme des 24 Heures" (1968) thrill the imagination, like this nighttime image of Michel Vaillant in the shadows, standing under the Dutray clock overlooking the pits. This adventure holds a very special place in Xavier Chimits' personal imagination: "In 'Le Fantôme des 24 Heures,' there is one of the best comic sequences in the history of Michel Vaillant. It's a night fight in the big grandstand opposite the pits, where Michel Vaillant is up against the guerillas of the Leader, the constructor sworn enemy of his familly. The Leader flees and Michel Vaillant tries to catch him by going down the big grandstand via its façade. It's a really great sequence. Normally, one never sees an empty circuit, when we see the 24 Hours circuit at night there are usually plenty of people (smile)."

This signing session included the new Ouest France special edition dedicated to Michel Vaillant and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In fact, Philippe Graton shared a surprising anecdote. The last image of "Le 13 est au départ" (1960), the first Michel Vaillant album entirely dedicated to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Jean Graton had imagined a Vaillant one-two-three, with a clustered finish under the checkered flag. It was a scene played out six years later in real life with the Ford Mk IIs of McLaren-Amon, Miles-Hulme and Bucknum-Hutcherson. So fiction became reality...but history doesn't tell us if Henry Ford, II had read Michel Vaillant before winning in such as fashion!

The fifth album of Michel Vaillant's new season (and 75th in all), "Renaissance" will be released Friday, June 17th, the day before the 84th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Philippe Graton and his team (co-writer Denis Lapière, as well as illustrators Marc Bourgne and Benjamin Bénéteau) will all come to enjoy the atmosphere of the 24 Hours, the scene of some of the greatest adventures of the most famours driver in the history of  comics.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: Michel Vaillant under the clock at the 24 Hours circuit: an image from the "Fantôme des 24 Heures" (among others from many albums) which will be available in Art Strips in his show!