Initially titled Michel Tanguy, it made its debut in the first issue of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959. The series provided Pilote with a competitor to the similar series Buck Danny serialised in Spirou magazine, and Dan Cooper, which appeared in Tintin magazine. Started in October 1959, the series was continuously published by Pilote until June 1971. Then its publication went on in Tintin, Super As, the Catholic magazine Le Pélerin, Moustique Junior. In 2002, the series resumed by two new authors, after a long break caused by Charlier's death. Tanguy et Laverdure has been translated into languages such as Italian, German, Dutch, Danish, Indonesian, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Serbocroatian. It was adapted into a televised series, Les Chevaliers du Ciel, initially broadcast 1967-69, and 1988–91, adapted into a 2005 film, Les Chevaliers du Ciel.
English publications
The comic has been published in English in the British comic magazine Lion between April and September 1966 under the title The Flying Furies. The main characters were renamed with English names, Tanguy became Jim 'Jet' Power and Laverdure Terry Madden. "Flying Furies" was the translation of the first Tanguy et Laverdure adventure "L'Ecole des Aigles". There was an annual published in 1973 with the title The Aeronauts, the same title as the TV series received in Britain. This annual was a slightly edited compilation of two original albums, 11. Destination Pacifique and 12. Menace sur Mururoa, and used the characters' French names.
Story
Tanguy and Laverdure are two friends from the flying school with opposite personalities. While Tanguy is serious, honest and obedient, Laverdure is eccentric, blundering and awkward, as well as an irredeemable skirt-chaser. However, Laverdure is a strong team mate for Tanguy in difficult situations. Dangerous missions and spying are everyday tasks for the two pilots, who are flying aces and efficient defenders of their homeland. Leaving the Salon-de-Provence Air School, they are sent to the Meknès Air School to improve their knowledge. Just arrived, they search through the snowy Anti-Atlas to retrieve a lost warhead with confidential information. Later, Michel Tanguy and Ernest Laverdure join the Cigognes squadron, where they pilot the Mirage III plane. Their adventures lead them to Dijon air base, Tel Aviv and Greenland.
Spin-off
Since 2016, a new series of Tanguy et Laverdure adventures has been published. Similar to 'Buck Danny Classic', it traces the adventure of the two heroes in the past, returning to the roots of success.
Matthieu Durand, Patrice Buendia and Jean-Michel Charlier
Matthieu Durand, Hubert Cunin, Patrice Buendia and Ketty Formaggio
''Buck Danny'' crossovers
Tanguy et Laverdure crosses over several times with Buck Danny. Buck is first shown on his own in the adventure Escadrille des Cicognes, talking with two Australian pilots in the canteen of a USAF base in Europe. Buck and his sidekicks also appear in some of the illustrations for the adventure Canon Bleu Ne RèpondPlus. In this story the two French pilots meet Buck Danny and his US Navy squadron of F-8 Crusaders in the US base of Thule. Another tribute is also present at the end of Prisonniers Des Serbes where Erneste Laverdure is reading the Buck Danny album Les Agresseurs. Buck, Tumbler and especially Tuckson play an important role in the albumRencontre De Trois Type. This adventure is placed at Nellis AFB during one of the periodical "Red Flag" exercises on which the Rafale and Mirage 2000 of French Air Force are involved. Buck Danny and his friends help the French aviators to bring a dangerous group of saboteurs to justice who are carrying out attacks against French Rafale fighters, helped by an accomplice journalist, to disqualify the aircraft in the aviation newspapers. In this adventure Lady X also appears, involved in the plot against the French aircraft. Buck, Tuckson and Tumbler are also shown in the second volume of the series Angel Wings. They are depicted watching Jinx Falkenburg during her concert which many squadrons were invited to. The Angel Wings adventure is placed during WWII, in the Burma area, thus in the same period during which Buck Danny and friends are on duty with the Flying Tigers. In 2016 a special box set was published by Dupuis, Dargaud, and Zephyr, dedicated to Buck Danny and Tanguy et Laverdure. The box included the 'Buck Danny Classic' adventure Les Fantomes Du Soleil Levant, the 'Tanguy et Laverdure Classic' adventure Menace Sur Mirage F1 and a short black and white crossover between the two series placed in 1965, written and drawn by Zumbiehl, Buendia and Philippe.
