Created & Written by: Lieutenant X (pseudonym of Vladimir Volkoff) (1932-2005)
Illustrator: Maurice Paulin (Nos. 1-32); Robert Bressy (Nos. 33-40; Corinne)


Langelot is a Young Adult book series starring a young secret agent working for the SNIF (Service National d'Information Fonctionelle), a super-secret French intelligence service.  Several of the novels pit Langelot against James Bond-like megalomaniacal villains, such as Mister T, an obese and crippled mad scientist whose lair was a satellite orbiting the Earth; the international spy cartel SPHINX; the mysterious Country 4584; the arch-traitor Cordovan; etc.  Corinne, a young female SNIF agent and Langelot's occasional girl-friend, starred in two spin-off novels.
 

The Novels

 
Langelot series

Illustrator: Maurice Paulin 
  
1. Langelot Agent Secret [Langelot Secret Agent] (BV 284, 1965) 
2. Langelot et les Espions [Langelot And The Spies] (BV 293, 1966) 
3. Langelot et le Satellite [Langelot And The Satellite] (BV 297, 1966) 
4. Langelot et les Saboteurs [Langelot And The Saboteurs] (BV 301, 1966) 
5. Langelot et le Gratte-Ciel [Langelot And The Skyscraper] (BV 318, 1967) 
6. Langelot contre Monsieur T [Langelot vs. Mr. T] (BV 334, 1967) 
7. Langelot Pickpocket (BV, 1967) 
8. Une Offensive Signée Langelot [An Attack Signed Langelot] (BV 353, 1968) 
9. Langelot et l'Inconnue [Langelot And The Unknown Girl] (BV 363, 1968) 
10. Langelot contre Six [Langelot vs. Six] (BV 372, 1968) 
11. Langelot et les Crocodiles [Langelot And The Crocodiles] (BV 386, 1969) 
12. Langelot chez les Pa-Pous [Langelot Among The Pa-Pous] (BV 403, 1969) 
13. Langelot Suspect (BV 420, 1970) 
14. Langelot et les Cosmonautes [Langelot And The Astronauts] (BV, 1970) 
15. Langelot et le Sous-Marin Jaune [Langelot And The Yellow Submarine] (BV 456, 1971) 
16. Langelot Mène la Vie de Château [Langelot Lives Like A King] (BV, 1971) 
17. Langelot et la Danseuse [Langelot And The Ballerina] (BV, 1972) 
18. Langelot et l'Avion Détourné [Langelot And The Hijacked Plane] (BV, 1972) 
19. Langelot fait le Malin [Langelot Plays It Smart] (BV, 1972) 
20. Langelot et les Exterminateurs [Langelot And the Exterminators] (BV, 1973) 
21. Langelot et le Fils du Roi [Langelot And The King's Son] (BV, 1974) 
22. Langelot fait le Singe [Langelot Plays With The Monkeys] (BV, 1974) 
23. Langelot Kidnappé [Langelot Kidnapped] (BV, 1975) 
24. Langelot et la Voyante [Langelot And The Medium] (BV, 1975) 
25. Langelot sur la Côte d'Azur [Langelot On The French Riviera] (BV, 1976) 
26. Langelot à la Maison Blanche [Langelot At The White House] (BV, 1976) 
27. Langelot sur l'Île Déserte [Langelot On The Desert Island] (BV, 1977) 
28. Langelot et le Plan Rubis [Langelot And The Ruby Plan] (BV, 1977) 
29. Langelot passe à l'Ennemi [Langelot Defects] (BV, 1978) 
30. Langelot chez le Présidentissime [Langelot And The Presidentissime] (BV, 1978) 
31. Langelot en Permission [Langelot On Leave] (BV, 1979) 
32. Langelot Garde du Corps [Langelot Bodyguard] (BV, 1979) 

Illustrator: Robert Bressy 
 
33. Langelot Gagne la Dernière Manche [Langelot Wins The Last Hand] (BV, 1980) 
34. Langelot Mauvais Esprit [Langelot And The Evil Spirits] (BV, 1980) 
35. Langelot et la Clef de la Guerre [Langelot And The War Key] (BV, 1982) 
36. Langelot contre la Marée Noire [Langelot vs. The Black Tide] (BV, 1981) 
37. Langelot et le Général Kidnappé [Langelot And The Kidnapped General] (BV, 1983) 
38. Langelot aux Arrêts de Rigueur [Langelot Confined To Quarters] (BV, 1984) 
39. Langelot et le Commando Perdu [Langelot And The Lost Commando] (BV, 1985) 
40. Langelot Donne l'Assaut [Langelot Launches The Attack] (BV, 1986) 
 

Corinne Series

Illustrator: Robert Bressy 

1. Premiere Mission [First Mission] (1981) 
2. Corinne et l'As de Trefle [Corinne And the Ace Of Clubs] (1983) 
 
 
 GALLERY OF MAJOR HEROES & VILLAINS.

 COVER GALLERY

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Publishing History


Langelot is one of the oldest and most popular young adult series of the 1960s and 1970s, published by Hachette in their long-established YA imprint, Bibliothèque Verte [Green Library], which also published Michel.

Langelot was created by writer Vladimir Volkoff under the pseudonym of "Lieutenant X".  It began in 1965 and, to-date, number forty volumes, the last published in 1986.  Volkoff also penned a short-lived spin-off series, Corinne, in the early 1980s.   

The Langelot novels were illustrated by the dynamic artist Maurice Paulin.  In 1980, comic artist Robert Bressy (Fu Manchu) took over from Paulin.  (Bressy also illustrated the two Corinne novels.) 

2000: The Langelot series is currently being reissued (under Volkoff's name) in France by the Editions du Triomphe!

 

The Author

Vladimir Volkoff (1932-2005), the son of exiled Russian parents, penned the satirical, surrealist novel, Métro pour l'Enfer [Metro For Hell] (1963), which won the 1963 Jules Verne Award.  Volkoff then embarked on the writing of the Langelot series under the pseudonym of “Lieutenant X”.  He eventually returned to science fiction in the 1980s with two novels, Le Tire-Bouchon du Bon Dieu [The Corkscrew Of God] (1982), in which Earth was surrendered by the humans to an alien fungus, and La Guerre des Pieuvres [The War Of The Octopuses] (1983).  More importantly, he also established himself as a major writer of critically-acclaimed John Le Carré-like spy thrillers such as Le Retournement [The Turning] (1979) and Le Montage [The Machination] (1982), and Le Bouclage [The Wrap-Up] (1990).