Fueled by the success of Dumas’ novel, d’Artagnan quickly became an inspiration for novelists and then comic book creators worldwide. Adapted in countless forms over the past 180 years, the musketeer has entered the collective imagination. The 17th-century Gascon hero has thus become a part of universal popular culture, lending himself like any myth to the most unexpected transformations — for better or worse. This phenomenon has only grown stronger with the multiplying effects of cinema and television today.
Comic writers first discovered The Three Musketeers in the 1930s, with adaptations being published in France, in the United States and in Argentina. Since then, there have been countless comic versions of Dumas’ novel, from Mexico to China and from the Philippines to Japan, quite apart from European countries such as Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. These adaptations vary in faithfulness and length but they appear in all major global comic traditions, whether Franco-Belgian, American comics or manga. It is thanks to these works that countless children have had their first encounter with the musketeers.
