Line #21 ComicBook/BarbeRouge


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barbe_rouge_bd_volume_1_integrale_2013_49173.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:299: The Demon of the Caribbean]]
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4	->''You will always be free...''
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6	''Barbe-Rouge'' ("Red Beard") is an action-adventure French comic set in the 18th century. It follows the adventures of the adopted son of the eponymous {{pirate}}, Eric, as he progressively quit the criminal life of his adopted family and instead becomes a French corsair. He is usually accompanied by his trusty acolytes, the strong Baba and the wise Triple-Pattes; Barbe-Rouge himself is often absent from the stories.
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8	The series was created by writer Creator/JeanMichelCharlier and artist Victor Hubinon (of ''ComicBook/BuckDanny'' fame) for the launch of the ''Pilote'' magazine; it survived that series by decades. When Hubinon died after the 18th album, Joseph "Jijé" Gillain (a noted comics veteran) and his son took over the art, until Jijé's death a few years later. The series then alternated between artists Christian Gaty and Patrice Pellerin, until Gaty definitely took over. When Charlier himself died, he was succeeded by Jean Ollivier, and then by Christian Perrissin. The series is currently on hiatus.
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10	The series also had a short-lived AnimatedAdaptation in the late '90s, which aired on Creator/{{Teletoon}} in North America and is ''extremely'' difficult to find for watching online.
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13	!!''Barbe-Rouge'' provides examples of:
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15	* AntiquatedLinguistics: The characters tend to speak with old-fashioned turns of phrases and nautical vocabulary.
16	* ArtShift: The transition from the clean style of Victor Hubinon to the messier style of Jijé and then Gary) was rather striking. And then there were the completely different-looking adventures drawn by Pellerin...
17	* TheAce: Barbe-Rouge and Eric are incredibly competent sailors. Anybody seeing them in action can only marvel at their nautical expertise, even when they are their enemies. Both are also master strategists and impeccable fighters, be it with a sword, a gun, or their fists.
18	* BittersweetEnding: In one of the first books, Eric, who was trying to live a honest life and take courses at the London Naval Academy under the guise of a noble Portuguese youth, decides to [[spoiler:rescue his captured father]] at the cost of blowing his cover. He succeeds, but he has to flee London as a fugitive without having completed his diploma.
19	* BloodlessCarnage: Even though the books feature plenty of battles with swords and firearms, very little blood is ever shown, at least during Hubinon's run. Particularly glaring are the bladed weapons, which are almost always spotless after a fight.
20	* CaptainColorbeard: The titular character is known as Captain Redbeard.
21	* CharacterisationMarchesOn: Baba in the first stories occasionally uses YouNoTakeCandle speech (and does not seem very bright either) and appears to be of normal height and strength. Later books establish him as being noticeably tall and having a herculean strength. He also speaks normally (apart from omitting the 'R's) and is just as resourceful as the rest of the cast.
22	* ChromosomeCasting: Female characters are very rare, at least in the stories written by Charlier, apart from the occasional DamselInDistress.
23	* CoolBoat: The various iterations of the ''Faucon Noir'' ("Black Falcon"), Barbe-Rouge's ship, are described with detailed diagrams to show how awesome they are. Of particular note is the version Barbe-Rouge built after spending a sizeable part of his considerable treasure, and contains anything a pirate could dream of, such as being much faster than any other ship while being crewed by a SkeletonCrew due to an advanced system of ropes, primitive machineguns and flamethrowers, and two huge cannons able to fire at a considerable distance. [[spoiler:Too bad they need to sacrifice it by the end of the story]].
24	* CorruptChurch: Most of the priest characters are associated with the Spanish, who are invariably bad guys. Some of the the later ones are full-blown {{Smug Snake}}s, and/or belong to the Inquisition. Their motives are always money- or power-related.
25	* CrazyPrepared: Triple-Pattes hides an incredible amount of stuff in his cane and peg leg.
26	* DamselInDistress: Several. At least Dona Ines manages to pay back Eric saving her life by allowing him to escape a completely unjust imprisonment.
27	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Barbe-Rouge apparently suffered terrible injustices in his youth, which caused him to embrace his life of piracy. Very little is known of what actually happened, though some later books (written after Charlier's death) give more details on the subject.
28	* DownerEnding: The first books, which detail separate adventures of Eric trying to live a honest life, usually end up badly for him. For instance, one of them ends with [[spoiler:his corrupt cousin destroying all proofs of his (true) noble heritage, robbing him of any other identity than Barbe-Rouge's son]], while another has him [[spoiler:become a galley slave after having been betrayed as the son of Barbe-Rouge while he was trying to fulfil his duty to his employers]]. He does get better and the later books end up on more positive notes.
29	* DressingAsTheEnemy: A common tactic.
30	* TheDulcineaEffect: Eric. To the point that it sometimes exploited by the villains.
31	* GreatEscape: A common plot, our protagonists being mostly criminals (or at least wanted in several countries, without counting the rival pirates).
32	* HeroAntagonist: A lot of stories have the antagonists be people trying to capture Barbe-Rouge. Since he is a ruthless, bloodthirsty pirate who terrorises everyone, this is actually quite an understandable goal. On the other hands, a lot of those who try to capture him are shown to be corrupt or using particularly underhanded schemes to do so.
33	* HonorBeforeReason: Eric has this in spades. Half of his problems come from him trying to do the right thing even if it means getting captured as a result.
34	* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Eric. On two occasions, he refuses to have anything with a fabulous treasure because it was accumulated through piracy.
35	* LivingMacGuffin: Caroline de Muratore appears on page for barely half a book, but Eric trying to find her before those who want her dead is the plot of a story spanning over four books, and seeing the heroes travelling from the Caribbean to Turkey.
36	* MoneyMauling: In an early album, when short on cannonballs or grapeshots to face an enemy ship, Barbe-Rouge and his crew decide to use their recently seized treasure instead. The foe goes down under the deadly shot of gold coins, and Barbe-Rouge quips that he can now boast to have fired the most expensive broadside in the history of piracy.
37	* MoralityPet: Eric acts as this for Barbe Rouge, who was much more bloodthirsty and implacable before the start of the comic. Eric rejecting his adoptive father's lifestyle led Barbe Rouge to partly give up piracy and most of his murderous ways.
38	* NamedAfterTheInjury: Redbeard's wise old friend is the old pirate "Triple-Patte" (triple legs) because he walks with one leg of flesh and blood, one wooden peg and one crutch.
39	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Eric suffers a lot of this during his early adventures, as all his attempts to live a honest life tend to explode in his face as soon as his heritage gets known, which sometimes happens because he was trying to help people.
40	* PapaWolf: Barbe Rouge is known in-universe to be ready to get through Hell to save his adopted son Eric. Some villains use this to trap him. On the other hand, Barbe Rouge ''is'' one of the most fearsome pirates alive.
41	* {{Pirate}}: Duh.
42	* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Averted: Barbe-Rouge's crew do lots of real pirating, hence his nickname of "Demon of the Caraibes". On the other hand, Eric has chosen the slightly more legal job of a corsair.
43	* PluckyMiddie: The cabin boy in some of the early stories.
44	* TheProfessor: Triple-Pattes.
45	* RapePillageAndBurn: Barbe-Rouge's modus operandi. Minus the "rape" part, because he's (mostly) a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold gentleman]] and there was no way to get this past the censors anyway.
46	* RedShirtArmy: the pirate/corsair crews often get reduced to only the main characters at the plot progresses.
47	* RenaissanceMan: Triple-Pattes knows a dozen languages, is an accomplished physician, and has at least cursory knowledge in most sciences.
48	* RightUnderTheirNoses: A very common tactic of our heroes. Sometimes suicidal, often very, very effective.
49	* ScaryBlackMan: Baba (though mostly a GentleGiant, at least towards Eric)
50	* SecondaryCharacterTitle: The actual protagonist of the series is Eric, Barbe-Rouge's adopted son. Barbe-Rouge himself is absent from half the stories.
51	* SkeletonCrew: The ''Flying Dutchman''.
52	* SlaveGalley: Happens to both Eric and Baba in the same adventure.
53	* SociopathicHero: Barbe-Rouge
54	* StormingTheCastle: Half the stories revolve around this plot. A few of them inverted it by having our heroes as the defenders.
55	* TraumaCongaLine: Eric's first attempts at living a honest life all end up horribly badly for him. He first tries to follow courses at the London Naval Academy under the guise of a noble Portuguese, but needs to blow up his cover and flee [[spoiler:to save his captured father]]. He then attempts to recover his true heritage of a noble (and very wealthy) Frenchman, but [[spoiler:his corrupt cousin destroys all proofs of his claims to the title]]. He then manages to become captain of a merchant ship, but becomes victim of a mutiny once his identity is known, ending up with him becoming [[spoiler:a galley slave]]. Things get better for him after that.
56	* TreasureMap: A few stories revolve around either those or PirateBooty.
57	* VillainProtagonist: At the start of the series, Barbe-Rouge is a bloodthirsty, remorseless pirate feared by all. The focus soon shifts from him to his son Eric. Barbe-Rouge does mellow his ways as time goes on, but he remains particularly ruthless whenever he appears.
58	* WalkThePlank: Mostly in early stories.
59	* WheelOfPain: When Eric finds himself sold as a slave in Alger and is quick to rebel against his master, he is sent to the oil mill as a punishment.
60	* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: The setting.

Context ComicBook / BarbeRouge