André Franquin is considered one of the pillars of post-war Franco-Belgian comics. He stands out for the quality of his lines, the rendering of movements, the originality of his characters, and his humor tinged with poetry. Drawing at a time when illustrated books (we are not yet talking about comics) are subject to the rigors of the 1949 law on publications intended for young people, the artist finds himself forced to create stories modeled on strict moral criteria. .
Franquin started in 1944 at Editions Dupuis, whose weekly Journal de Spirou competed with Hergé's Journal de Tintin. Two years later, he took over Spirou and Fantasio and skilfully developed their universe, enriching it. He thus invents several essential characters: the Count of Champignac, Zorglub and, finally, the Marsupilami, who very quickly becomes the key figure of the series.
At the end of the 1950s, Franquin created Gaston Lagaffe for a weekly gag which would soon occupy an entire page. We still remember Mademoiselle Jeanne, whose feelings for Gaston are obvious, the crazy cat, the black-headed gull and the indescribable Gaffophone.
Later, the designer would turn to an adult audience with, for example, two albums entitled Idées noirs. A man of conviction, he is also committed to ecology, the protection of whales, against armaments and injustice in general.
André Franquin was decorated in 1991 with the Order of Léopold, the most important Belgian honorary distinction. He returned to the spotlight in 1996 on the occasion of the release of Gaston Lagaffe's 15th album, awaited for ten years by his fans. It will be the last. The following year, he died of a heart attack, two days after his 73rd birthday.
