Italian. It has above all fans in France and Belgium, including Dutch-speaking Belgium, given that Michel Vaillant albums have been translated into Dutch. The series has received various tributes as a masterpiece of the bande dessinée genre. A stamp representing Michel Vaillant was published in Belgium, a rare privilege granted only to the greatest comics series'. It was made available from January 1, 2007 with a face value of 0.50 euros, in all Belgian post offices. Celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the series took place in 2007, among them Strip Turnhout, at the bi-annual official Flanders comics festival, organizing a retrospective exhibition. The series also ranks high on the collector's market, with original editions ranking among the most valuable. Graton's original art pages have fetched high prices at auctions. In January 2006, a page from "Le 13 est au départ" was sold for 4,800 euros at an auction in Paris. In April 2006, in Paris again, an original page from "L'Honneur du Samourai" was auctioned for 12,384 euros (whereas its original value was 3,500 euros), breaking the record of the time. In 2008, an original page from "De l'huile sur la piste" was sold for 11,520 euros at auction in 2008 at Brussels among other works previously published by Tintin magazine, establishing the record sale of that day. See also Formula One portal Sports Portal References External links Michel Vaillant official page Michel Vaillant on Lelombard.com "The largest pilot of all time", The Daily Telegraph Michel Vaillant (TV series) on Internet Movie Database Les Aventures de Michel Vaillant on the Internet Movie Cars Database Michel Vaillant race cars in 3D Errors in Michel Vaillant on jim-on-the-web.com Michel Vaillant Fictional French people French comics characters Fictional racing drivers Comics characters introduced in 1957 Michel Vaillant Michel Vaillant Michel Vaillant Michel Vaillant Michel Vaillant Michel Vaillant Michel Vaillant Michel Vaillant Michel Vaillant Male characters in comics