Jean-Michel Charlier

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Jean-Michel Charlier
Born	October 30, 1924 Liège, Belgium
Died	July 10, 1989 (aged 64) Saint-Cloud, France
Nationality	Belgian
Area(s)	writer
Notable works	Buck Danny Barbe-Rouge Blueberry
Awards	full list

Jean-Michel Charlier (October 30, 1924 - July 10, 1989) was a Belgian scriptwriter best known as a writer of realistic European comic books and graphic novels. He was a co-founder of the famed European comics magazine Pilote.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Bibliography 3 Awards 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

Charlier was born in Liège, Belgium in 1924.^[1] In 1945 he got a job as a draughtsman in Brussels with World Press, the syndicate of Georges Troisfontaines, which worked mainly for the comic strip magazine Spirou. The following year he and artist Victor Hubinon created the four-page comic strip L'Agonie du Bismarck. Charlier wrote the script and also drew the ships and airplanes. In 1947 Charlier and Hubinon began the long-running air-adventure comic strip Buck Danny. After a few years, Charlier stopped all work on the drawings and concentrated only on the scenarios, on the advice of Jijé, then the senior artist at Spirou.^[1]

Unable to support himself writing comic scripts at a time when Dupuis concentrated almost solely on the magazine and albums were few and far between, Charlier qualified for a pilots license in 1949 and briefly flew for the airline SABENA.

However the following year Charlier returned to comic strips, collaborating with Hubinon once again to create Tiger Joe for La Libre Junior, the weekly comics supplement to the journal La Libre Belgique. Charlier also continued to supply scripts for Spirou magazine, collaborating with Eddy Paape on the strip Valhardi and, in 1955, with future Asterix artist Albert Uderzo on the comic strip Belloy. Together with Hubinon, he also created some biographical comics like Jean Mermoz and Surcouf. Other long running series he started for Spirou in the early 1950s were Le Patrouille des Castors for Mitacq, and in 1951 Les Vraies Histoires de l'Oncle Paul (Uncle Paul's true stories), a weekly comic of four pages telling a true story. The latter series was continued from 1954 on by Octave Joly, and was a place where many young talents published their first comics, including Jean Graton, René Follet and Hermann Huppen.^[1]

Charlier, Hubinon, Uderzo, and comic-strip writer René Goscinny founded the comics agency Edifrance and the magazine Pistolin in 1955, and the influential magazine Pilote in 1959.^[1] Charlier was editor-in-chief and also wrote two stories for the first issue: Redbeard with Hubinon and Tanguy and Laverdure with Uderzo - these latter two characters would later get their own TV series as well: Les Chevaliers du Ciel, featuring Tanguy and Laverdure, was made by ORTF between 1967 and 1969, an English-dubbed version of the show being released under the title The Aeronauts.^[1]

Charlier visited the United States in 1963 and a tour of the American West inspired him to create Fort Navajo, a western series, for Pilote. He chose as artist Jean Giraud (Moebius), then a commercial illustrator who had briefly worked with Jijé on Jerry Spring, a popular European western strip. Fort Navajo, later renamed Blueberry or Lieutenant Blueberry after its main character, became a popular and innovative graphic novel. In 1972 friction among the staff at Pilote caused Charlier to give up his editorial position and he worked in French television until 1976. He then worked as editor-in-chief for two years at Tintin magazine. He continued to write Blueberry and Buck Danny stories.

Jean-Michel Charlier died in Saint-Cloud, France, in 1989. His main series are all continued by other writers, often chosen by Charlier himself.^[1]

[edit] Bibliography

Series	Years	Volumes	Artist	Publisher	Remarks
Buck Danny	1948 - 1988	44	Victor Hubinon (1-40) and Francis Bergèse (41-44)	Dupuis, Novedi and Hachette	Continued by Bergèse alone
Fanfan et Polo Aviateurs	1951	1	Dino Attanasio	La Libre Belgique
Tarawa, atoll sanglant	1951	1	Victor Hubinon and Albert Weinberg	Dupuis
Surcouf	1951 - 1953	3	Victor Hubinon	Dupuis
Tiger Joe	1951 - 1977	3	Hubinon	La Libre Belgique and Deligne
Oncle Paul	1953 - 1955	12	Various artists, including Eddy Paape and Jean Graton	Dupuis	Additional stories by Octave Joly
Valhardi	1953-1975	6	Eddy Paape and Jijé	Dupuis and Deligne	Created by Jean Doisy
Kim Devil	1955 - 1957	4	Gerald Forton	Dupuis
La Patrouille des Castors	1955 - 1984	23	Mitacq	Dupuis	Continued by Mitacq alone
Jean Mermoz	1956	1	Victor Hubinon	Dupuis
Marc Dacier	1960 - 1982	13	Eddy Paape	Dupuis
Tanguy et Laverdure	1961 - 1988	25	Albert Uderzo, Jijé, Serres and Coutelis	Dargaud, Le Lombard, Fleurus, Novedi and Hachette
Barbe-Rouge (Redbeard)	1961 - 1991	26	Victor Hubinon, Jijé, Lorg, Gaty and Patrice Pellerin	Dargaud, Fleurus, Novedi and Hachette
Blueberry	1965 - 1990	23	Jean Giraud	Dargaud, Fleurus, Novedi, Hachette, and Alpen
La jeunesse de Blueberry	1975 - 1990	6	Jean Giraud and Colin Wilson	Dargaud, Novedi, and Dupuis
Guy Lebleu	1976	2	Poivet	Glénat	Originally created in 1961
Belloy	1977	4	Albert Uderzo	Deligne	Originally created in 1948
André Lefort	1978	1	Eddy Paape	Bédéscope	Originally created in 1956
Jim Cutlass	1979	1	Jean Giraud	Les Humanoïdes Associés
Les Gringos	1979 - 1980	2	Victor de la Fuente	Fleurus
Jacques Le Gall	1980 - 1985	4	Mitacq	Dupuis	Originally created in 1959
Brice Bolt	1984 - 1985	2	Puig	Dupuis	Originally created in 1971
Ron Clarke	1991	1	J. Armand	Alpen
Clairette	1997	1	Albert Uderzo	Antarès	Originally created in 1957

[edit] Awards

• 1973: Best Foreign Comic Series at the Shazam Awards, USA

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jean-Michel Charlier official site (French)
• Jean-Michel Charlier biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia