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Taken from Simon Doyle's The World of Tintin Conference article from this site...

What seems less well known is that Bob de Moor worked on an unpublished "Jo, Zette and Jocko" book, *also* called Le ThermoZéro...

Anyone got any information on this at all?

Was M. Tordeur basically saying there is a new J,Z&J book sitting in the archives somewhere?

Rik

Yes, in effect he was. Unfortunately what I wrote above was pretty much it: the book isn't finished, as far as could be told, but the story would all be there.

Was it you who wrote that article then Jock123? Would you mind if I quoted some of your info on my site? (properly credited of course)

Running a Jo, Zette & Jocko site I feel it's my duty to find as much info as I can.

Does Le ThermoZéro mean anything?

Rik

Yes, it's by me. As for your request, I'll give it some thought, Rik.

Le ThermoZéro seems to be sort of zero heat; in Bernard Tordeur's book on Bob De Moor there are a couple of pages of rough notes shown, and one of these has a note about "absolute zero" (0° Kelvin, -273.15°C), which is the lowest possible temperature according to physics.

My guess is that either this is Le ThermoZéro, or that there would have been some device or plot-device which would make it lower than that - what has been called a negative temperature (just my guess).

Ok, let me know.

I was figuring along the same lines for the title, the only place the word appears in google is to do with Tintin's adventure. Sadly the few pages of the Tintin sketches don't give much information either.

Do you reckon if I asked Moulinsart nicely they'd let me publish a limited run in the UK?
I think I'll write a letter and see what they say.
They may allow a strictly limited run of, say 1000 books, and I have the contacts to get the book printed, and would pay the proper commission to Moulinsart.

I'm a massive fan of Quick & Flupke as well and I've often thought that to get the complete lot published over here would mean I need to acquire the rights myself.

Rik

I'd repeat that there is probably a potential book there, not anything ready to go, off-the-shelf.
If you are not yourself a publisher already, with the facilities and reputation to carry off such an undertaking, then I doubt that you would be entertained.

You would have to go through the process of getting permissions, which would no doubt involve Moulinsart, the Fondation, Mme. Rodwell, and possibly the estate of Bob De Moor.

Following that there would be the collating of the information, which may comprise notes, sketches, roughs, pencils etc. These would then need to be edited (and translated), and all the material no doubt approved by the above people. Remember that this would have to be done in Brussels (without besmirching your reputation, Rik, if Michael Farr had to go and sit in the archives to do his book, I doubt that the likes of you or I would get sent a jiffy-bag of material to sort through - you'd have to be on site).

A book would need to be designed to accommodate the material, and then reproductions of the artwork etc. prepared for it, and type-set.

After which no doubt lengthy period of time, it would be only a matter of getting film run, presses set, books printed, marketing it, etc. etc. etc.

Can't really see it getting off the ground as a home project, myself...!

If it is feasible, and can be done, then Moulinsart, Casterman or one of the other big boys of publishing will undoubtedly do it at some point...

I dunno about you but it's one of my lifelong dreams to sit in the Hergé archives and read!

Rik

If I am wel informed, the project called Le ThermoZéro is a project for a Tintin book and not for a Jo, Zette & Jocko adventure.

The scenario was written by Greg (author of Achille Talon and others) but Hergé didn't feel comfortable to have to work with someone else's scenario.

More details here (in French).

chevet
If I am wel informed, the project called Le ThermoZéro is a project for a Tintin book and not for a Jo, Zette & Jocko adventure.

No, Chevet, it is both, but you are not the first person I have had trouble convincing of this!

Thanks for the link to the Greg page, it is very interesting: it is particularly so because it points out that while Hergé could not work with the script, he did in fact think that it was good (a crucial point missed by many, who assume it was dropped fo reasons of quality).

What it misses is what he did with it next.

As I explained in the conference article quoted above, once Hergé had given up Greg's script for a Tintin book, he passed it to Bob De Moor to transform the same basic scenario into a JZ&J story.

This actually isn't in itself news, as in their biography of Bob de Moor (Bob de Moor. 40 ans de bandes dessinées, 35 ans aux côtés d'Hergé, [Lombard, 1986]), Bernard Tordeur and Pierre-Yves Bourdil published some of Bob's notes and sketches for the JZ&J re-working.

What was news was that the JZ&J book which Bob developed was substantially complete, and the possibility was that it could be published. Apparently nobody had ever asked that question of him before...

Hope this clarifies things for you - I can really recommend the de Moor biography, if you want a look behind the scenes at his work with Hergé, and his solo career.

Just to back up what jock123 says, as I was also at the conference, and the Jock, Zette & Jocko connection and details of ThermoZéro came straight from Monsieur Tordeur who is one of the three full-time staff at the Hergé archives. I didn't know about the De Moor biography though.