The Lake of the Sorcerer

**The Lake of the Sorcerer** (French: **Le Lac de la Sorcière**) is a 2003 pastiche created by Yves Rodier. The story follows Tintin and Milou's vacation in Quebec, Canada and their investigation into an alleged sea monster.

## Synopsis

Tintin and Milou are in Saint-Alexis-des-Monts for a camping trip. Tintin sets up his tent on the banks of Lac au Sorcier, and then the two head into town to pick up supplies at a general store. While there, Milou is frightened by a mounted sea monster's head for sale in the shop. The shopkeeper explains to Tintin that this head, the "Beast of the Sorcerer", is based on an old Indigenous legend that says a sorcerer haunts the lake, and will keep anyone nearby awake with strange and ominous noises. Tintin is amused by this and buys the beast head. On the way back to his campsite, a local farmer warns Tintin that the beast is, in fact, real and living in the lake.

That night, Milou keeps growling at the lake, prompting Tintin to wake up and take a look. He sees what appears to be a long-necked creature looking out of the water, but he trips over a tree root, and the creature is gone by the time Tintin recovers. He continues to stake out the lake, and thinks he sees a beast much like the prop head...but he wakes up, realizing he only dreamt seeing it. Shortly after this, Tintin sees the long-necked creature again and follows it along the shore. Once it's in sight, Tintin realizes the "beast" is actually a maquette of a cow's head. Two men from the village come out of the forest and explain to Tintin that this is a shipment of alcohol from a neighboring village, which was shipped up the river in a wooden barge. The men give Tintin a bottle of the alcohol as a gift. The pastiche ends with Tintin back at Marlinspike Hall, with Captain Haddock trying the alcohol, and the beast's head mounted on the wall over the fireplace.

## Release

Rodier first conceptualized the story in 1996. He began working on the story on-and-off over the years until it was finally completed in 2002, but it would not be until 2003 that he released it in print. High definition physical copies were only given out to Rodier's friends as a New Years' gift. He released lower resolution images of the comic pages online, giving Tintin fans a way to read *Lake of the Sorcerer* while keeping the print DPI low enough to dissuade any pastiche pirates from printing out bootleg copies.

Some fans consider this pastiche Rodier's farewell to making Tintin fan comics. Shortly after *Lake of the Sorcerer*'s release, he began to foray more into original and commissioned works, where he has found much success since then.

## Availability

Digital copies of the pastiche are easy to find online, and are accessible on resource sites such as the Internet Archive. Rodier's original physical copies are generally very rare. Upscaled reprints occasionally appear for sale online, but they are often in low quality and reprinted without Yves Rodier's knowledge nor consent.

## References

1. ↑ Quebec : Rodier - La bête de la sorciere
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 HOMMAGE : C’ÉTAIT EN 2002 OFFERT EN CADEAU DE FIN D'ANNÉE - TINTINOMANIA
3. ↑ Le Aventures de Tintin Pastiches & Parodies : Internet Archive