After five dormant years Comic book publisher Dupuis has released the latest in the long running Buck Danny series, Buck Danny #53: Cobra Noir. To celebrate the release, we take an in depth look at one of the all time great military comic series.

Buck Danny is a Belgian/French comic strip created in the aftermath of the Second World War by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Hubinon, which chronicles the adventures of a trio of pilots in the United States Navy or the United States Air Force. Buck Danny and his comrades Jerry Tumbler and Sonny Tuckson are the most celebrated pilots in the universe of comics with 53 albums under their belt.

Originally published in the Spirou magazine in 1947, the first half dozen Buck Danny albums recount the aviator’s exploits in the Pacific War. He duels over Midway, parachutes into Burma, and fights the Japanese all over the Pacific Ocean, while moving up in rank. Although Colonel Danny and his comrades have never aged, they have advanced in history, and the series has always remained faithful to the most recent technology.

The 30 years of collaboration between writer Jean-Michel Charlier and designer Victor Hubinon (1947 to 1979) produced the series first 40 albums. After Hubinon passed away, Charlier reignited the series for 4 more albums with new draughtsman Francis Bergèse. Charlier died in 1989 and Bergèse continued the series with 8 more albums combining realistic penmanship with increasingly complex scenarios. Since Bergèse’s retirement in 2008 (album 52) no new material had been released until Frédéric Zumbiehl and draftsman Francis Winis combined for the series’ re-birth with Buck Danny #53: Cobra Noir (Black Cobra) released in Nov 2013.

It took a while for the publisher Dupuis to find the right fit to replace Bergèse. The successors needed the pedigree to maintain the staples of the series: realism, historical facts and the true to life detail of planes and military bases. Dupuis was able to find everything they were looking for in Frédéric Zumbiehl and Francis Winis. Zumbiehl, the writer, is a former pilot of the French naval aviation. Winis, the designer, is an aerospace engineer and former astronauts instructor at NASA.

Danny #53 Cobra Noir

Synopsis:

Just arrived for their new assignment at the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, Buck, Sonny and Tumbler are responsible for conducting a black op to know the real military capabilities of Basran (fictional country that looks like Iran) who just took down an F-22 Raptor. In order not to rise suspicion, they choose to operate under unidentified Soviet plane, the Sukhoi-34*, a first for American pilots! The mission is extremely risky because Basran received secret military aid from Russia who is testing brain new anti aircraft technology. (*The Sukhoi is one of the only fighters to be able to make the “cobra” figure, where the plane can makes a sudden and abrupt vertical nose up move before stabilizing.)

Thanks to publisher Dupuis, the adventures of the three American pilots continue. Buck Danny will remain a pillar of the Franco-Belgian comic world and THE reference series on cartoon aviation.

Albums in English can be ordered through Cinebook.

@editionsDupuis #BuckDanny #federiczumbiehl #FrancisWinis #JeanMichelcCharlier #VictorHubinon #FrancisBergese #JerryTumbler #SonnyTuckson

Christophe Chanel

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