Olympio
Real Name: Olympio
Identity/Class: Genetically-engineered human
Occupation: Adventurer
Affiliations: Vincent Larcher
Enemies: Professor Spoliansky, the Triangle, Professor Sato, Doctor Ketzal
Known Relatives: Professor Spoliansky (father)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile
First Appearance: Tintin #984 (1967)
Powers/Abilities: Unknown
History: Olympio, a genetically-engineered superman, worked alongside French football star Vincent Larcher to defeat a variety of super-threats. Larcher had rescued Olympio from the clutches of his father, Prof. Spoliansky, a mad scientist who planned to create a new breed of supermen. In their second adventure together Larcher and Olympio exposed a conspiracy by the mysterious "Triangle" (who might have been Spoliansky in disguise), and his eleven assistants, to frighten the world into world peace by using faked alien manifestations at global sports events. One of the scientists, Professor Sato, turned out to be a traitor, who murdered the Triangle and tried to gain control of Olympio. In their final adventure Larcher and Olympio travelled to Mexico for the 1968 Olympic Games, where they battled the power-mad Doctor Ketzal, who planned to rule the world using three powerful magical Aztec artefacts.
Comments: Created by Raymond Reding.
Olympio shared three adventures with Vincent Larcher:
Olympic 2004 (TI Nos. 984-1004, 1967)
11 Gauchers pour Mexico [11 Left-Handed Players For Mexico] (TI Nos. 1011-1030, 1968)
Le Zoo du Dr. Ketzal [The Zoo Of Dr. Ketzal] (TI Nos. 1039-1059, 1969)
Vincent Larcher was created by writer/artist Raymond Reding for the weekly comic magazine "Tintin" in 1963. After an "origin" story with no fantasy elements ("Vincent Larcher Avant-Centre", TI Nos. 770-802), the character went into a hiatus, but returned with a vengeance in 1967 with the superheroic "Olympio Trilogy" mentioned above. This, however, turned out to be a short-lived experiment, and Reding returned to telling more conventional, sports-themed stories. Two more Vincent Larcher stories followed, "Le Condottiere" (TI Nos. 1088-1109, 1970) and "Mini-Jupes & Maxi-Foot" (TI Nos. 1142-1157, 1970), none of which contained any fantasy elements. The "Olympio Trilogy" was collected in the graphic novel format by publisher Editions du Lombard as volumes 1, 2 and 5 of their Vincent Larcher collection, published respectively in 1969, 1970 and 1973.
CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with
The Olympians, Australian interpretation of a British hero team
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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