occupation derib
Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe . Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea , Italy shares open land borders with France , Switzerland , Austria , Slovenia , San Marino and Vatican City . Italy covers an area of and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate ; due to its shape , it is often referred to in Italy as " lo Stivale " ( the Boot ). With 61 million inhabitants , it is the fourth most populous EU ___MASK61___ state . In modern popular fiction , a ___MASK1___ ( sometimes rendered super - ___MASK45___ or super ___MASK45___ ) is a type of costumed heroic character who possesses supernatural or superhuman powers and who is dedicated to fighting crime , protecting the public , and usually battling supervillains . A female ___MASK1___ is sometimes called a superheroine ( also rendered super - heroine or super heroine ). Fiction centered on such characters , especially in American comic books since the 1930s , is known as ___MASK1___ fiction . France , officially the French Republic , is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . The European , or metropolitan , area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . France spans and had a total population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017 . It is a unitary semi - presidential republic with the capital in Paris , the country ' s largest city and main cultural and ___MASK65___ centre . Other ___MASK7___ urban centres include Marseille , Lyon , Lille , Nice , Toulouse and Bordeaux . The Adventures of Tintin is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgian ___MASK60___ Georges Remi , who wrote under the pen name Hergé . The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century . By 2007 , a century after Hergé ' s birth in 1907 , " Tintin " had been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies . The Sioux are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America . The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or to any of the nation ' s many language dialects . The Sioux comprise three ___MASK7___ divisions based on language divisions : the Dakota , Lakota , and Nakota . A ___MASK25___ or comicbook , also called comic magazine or simply comic , is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes . Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative , usually dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form . Although some origins in 18th century Japan and 1830s Europe , comic books were first popularized in the United States during the 1930s . The first modern ___MASK25___ , " Famous Funnies ", was released in the United States in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips , which had established many of the story - telling devices used in comics . The term " ___MASK25___ " derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone ; however , this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres , usually not humorous in tone . ___MASK25___ ___MASK31___ was an American magazine founded by Jon B . Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books , with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s . It was published by TwoMorrows Publishing and later Top Shelf Productions from 1998  2005 . Its sequel is " ___MASK25___ ___MASK59___ " magazine which started publishing in 2013 and is also published by TwoMorrows . Derib ( born Claude de Ribaupierre on August 8 , 1944 , in La Tour - de - Peilz , Switzerland ) is a Swiss francophone comics ___MASK59___ , one of the most famous in Europe , who started his professional career at Peyo ' s studio . He is probably best known for his Western comics such as the children ' s comic Yakari , and the more mature works Buddy Longway and Celui - qui - est - né - deux - fois ( He - who - was - born - twice ) . He draws in both a realistic style , and a cartoon style ( similar to other Franco - Belgian cartoonists , such as Peyo , Albert Uderzo etc . inspired by the Marcinelle style ) , with a fondness for drawing majestic landscapes of the American West . Many of his ___MASK7___ works feature Sioux Native Americans in leading roles , and he has stated in interviews that he holds great admiration for the tribe . The history of comics has followed different paths in different cultures . Scholars have posited a pre - history as far back as the Lascaux cave paintings . By the mid - 20th century , comics flourished particularly in the United States , western Europe ( especially in France and Belgium ), and Japan . The history of European comics is often traced to Rodolphe Töpffer ' s cartoon strips of the 1830s , and became popular following the success in the 1930s of strips and books such as " The Adventures of Tintin ". American comics emerged as a mass medium in the early 20th century with the advent of newspaper comic strips ; magazine - style comic books followed in the 1930s , in which the ___MASK1___ genre became prominent after Superman appeared in 1938 . Histories of Japanese comics and cartooning ("") propose origins as early as the 12th century . Modern comic strips emerged in Japan in the early 20th century , and the output of comics magazines and books rapidly expanded in the post - World War II era with the popularity of cartoonists such as Osamu Tezuka . had a lowbrow reputation for much of its history , but towards the end of the 20th century began to find greater acceptance with the public and in academia . Johan and Peewit is a Belgian comics series created by Peyo . Since its initial appearance in 1947 it has been published in 13 albums that appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992 . Thereafter , a team of ___MASK25___ creators from Studio Peyo continued to publish the stories . European comics are comics produced in Europe . The " comic album " is a very common printed medium . The typical " album " is printed in large format , generally with high quality paper and colouring , roughly A4 - sized , approx . 21x30 centimetres ( 8 . 4x11 . 6 in ), has around 40  60 pages , but examples with more than 100 pages are common . While sometimes referred to as graphic novels , this term is rarely used in Europe , and is not always applicable as albums often consist of separate short stories , placing them somewhere halfway between a ___MASK25___ and a graphic novel . The European comic genres vary from the humorous adventure vein , such as " The Adventures of Tintin " and " Asterix ", to more adult subjects like " Tex Willer " and " Thorgal ". The Black Sea is a body of water between Eastern Europe and Western Asia , bounded by Bulgaria , Georgia , Romania , Russia , Turkey , and ___MASK75___ . It is supplied by a number of ___MASK7___ rivers , such as the Danube , Dnieper , Rioni , Southern Bug , and Dniester . The Black Sea has an area of ( not including the Sea of Azov ), a maximum depth of , and a volume of . It is constrained by the Pontic Mountains to the south and by the Caucasus Mountains to the east , and features a wide shelf to the northwest . The longest east - west extent is about . Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual , auditory or performing artifacts ( artworks ), expressing the ___MASK36___ ' s imaginative or technical skill , intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power . In their most ___MASK4___ form these activities include the production of works of art , the criticism of art , the study of the history of art , and the aesthetic dissemination of art . Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in central - western Europe . It includes 16 constituent states , covers an area of , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate . With about 82 million inhabitants , Germany is the most populous ___MASK61___ state of the European Union . After the United States , it is the second most popular immigration destination in the world . Germany ' s capital and largest metropolis is Berlin . Other ___MASK7___ cities include Hamburg , Munich , Cologne , Frankfurt , Stuttgart and Düsseldorf . René Goscinny ( 14 August 1926  5 November 1977 ) was a French comics ___MASK9___ and writer , who is best known internationally for the comic book " Astérix ", which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo , and for his work on the comic series " Lucky Luke " with Morris ( considered the series ' golden age ) and " Iznogoud " with Jean Tabary . Yakari is a Franco - Belgian ___MASK25___ series , aimed at a younger audience , written by Job and illustrated by Derib , both from Switzerland . The Swiss Plateau or Central Plateau constitutes one of the three ___MASK7___ landscapes in Switzerland alongside the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps . It covers about 30 % of the Swiss surface . It comprises the regions between the Jura and the Alps , partly flat but mostly hilly , and lies at an average height between 400 and 700 m AMSL . It is by far the most densely populated region of Switzerland , and the most important with respect to economy and transportation . Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia . Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north , the Atlantic Ocean to the west , and the Mediterranean Sea to the south . To the east and southeast , Europe is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian and Black Seas , and the waterways of the Turkish Straits . Yet the non - oceanic borders of Europe  a concept dating back to classical antiquity  are arbitrary . The primarily physiographic term " continent " as applied to Europe also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent ' s current overland boundaries . The Caucasus Mountains are a ___MASK58___ system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region . Superman is a fictional ___MASK1___ appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics . The character was created by ___MASK3___ Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster , high school students living in Cleveland , Ohio , in 1933 . They sold Superman to ___MASK97___ Comics , the future DC Comics , in 1938 . Superman debuted in " Action Comics " # 1 ( cover - dated June 1938 ) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials , newspaper strips , television programs , films , and video games . With this success , Superman helped to create the ___MASK1___ archetype and establish its primacy within the American comic book . The character is also referred to by such epithets as the Man of Steel , the Man of Tomorrow , and The Last Son of Krypton . Le Lombard or Lombard Editions is a Belgian ___MASK25___ ___MASK47___ established in 1946 when " Tintin " magazine was launched . Le Lombard is now part of Média - Participations . The term Nakota ( or " Nakoda " or also " Nakona ") is the endonym used by those native peoples of North America who usually go by the name of " Assiniboine " ( or " Hohe "), in the United States , and of Stoney , in ___MASK94___ . Buddy Longway is a western ___MASK25___ written by the Swiss ___MASK25___ ___MASK3___ Derib . It is published under the Le Lombard publishing house . The first issue came out in 1972 , and 16 issues were published until 1987 until Derib restarted the series in 2002 , continuing with four further issues until 2006 , until he announced that the 20th issue , " La Source ", would be the last . Oumpah - pah le Peau - Rouge (" Ompa - pa the Redskin ") is a comics series created by ___MASK46___ Albert Uderzo and comics author René Goscinny , best known as the creators of Asterix the Gaul . The series first appeared in the weekly " Tintin " magazine in 1958 though it remained serialised for a relatively short time . The stories were published in book form by Lombard and Dargaud starting in 1961 . In 1995 , the series was reissued by Albert Uderzo ' s own publishing house , Les Éditions Albert - René . Alberto Aleandro Uderzo ( born 25 April 1927 ), known as Albert Uderzo , is a French ___MASK25___ ___MASK31___ and scriptwriter . Son of Italian immigrants , he is best known for his work on the " Astérix " series and also drew other comics such as " Oumpah - pah ", also in collaboration with René Goscinny . Pierre Culliford ( 25 June 1928  24 December 1992 ) was a Belgian ___MASK60___ who worked under the pseudonym Peyo . His best - known works are the comic strips " The Smurfs " and " Johan and Peewit ", in which the Smurfs first appeared . Switzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic in Europe . It consists of 26 cantons , and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities . The country is situated in Western - Central Europe , and is bordered by Italy to the south , France to the west , Germany to the north , and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east . Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps , the Swiss Plateau and the Jura , spanning an area of . While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory , the Swiss population of approximately eight million people is concentrated mostly on the plateau , where the largest cities are to be found : among them are the two global cities and economic centres Zürich and Geneva . Rodolphe Töpffer ( 31 January 1799  8 June 1846 ) was a Swiss ___MASK62___ , author , painter , cartoonist , and caricaturist . He is best known for his illustrated books (" littérature en estampes ", " graphic literature "), which can be seen as the earliest European comics . The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world ' s five ___MASK7___ oceans . The International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) recognizes it as an ocean , although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea , classifying it a mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean . Alternatively , the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all - encompassing World Ocean . Liechtenstein , officially the Principality of Liechtenstein , is a doubly landlocked German - speaking microstate in Central Europe . It is a constitutional monarchy with the rank of principality , headed by the ___MASK91___ of Liechtenstein . A landlocked state or landlocked country is a ___MASK69___ state entirely enclosed by land , or whose only coastlines lie on closed seas . There are currently 48 such countries , including four partially recognised states . Only two , Bolivia and Paraguay in South America , lie outside Afro - Eurasia ( the Old World ). The Alps are the highest and most extensive ___MASK58___ range system that lies entirely in Europe , stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries : Austria , France , Germany , Italy , Liechtenstein , Monaco , Slovenia , and Switzerland . The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided . Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high ___MASK58___ peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn . Mont Blanc spans the French  Italian border , and at is the highest ___MASK58___ in the Alps . The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres ( just over 13 , 000 feet ). The First Nations are the predominant Aboriginal peoples of ___MASK94___ south of the Arctic . Those in the Arctic area are distinct and known as Inuit . The Métis , another distinct ethnicity , developed after European contact and relations primarily between First Nations people and Europeans . There are currently 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across ___MASK94___ , roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia . A federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government . At its core , the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means : " a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected ___MASK48___ ( such as a president ) rather than by a king or queen ".