Jijé

Joseph Gillain (French: [ʒilɛ̃]), better known by his pen name Jijé ([ʒiʒe]; 13 January 1914 – 19 June 1980), was a Belgian comics artist, best known for being a seminal artist on the Spirou et Fantasio strip (and for having introduced the Fantasio character) and the creator of one of the first major European western strips, Jerry Spring. Born Joseph Gillain in Gedinne, Namur, he completed various art studies (woodcraft, goldsmithing, drawing and painting) at the abbey of Maredsous. In 1936, he created his first comics character, Jojo in the catholic newspaper Le Croisé. Jojo was strongly inspired by The Adventures of Tintin, but Jijé gradually developed his own style. Soon a second series followed, Blondin et Cirage, for the catholic youth magazine Petits Belges. Jijé also produced many illustrations for various Walloon magazines.

In 1939, he started to work for the new Spirou magazine, where he would produce the largest part of his oeuvre and with whom he would remain associated with until the end of his life. Because the magazine could not receive foreign comic strip material during the war, as the main local artist, he drew most of the comics during that period. He took over the main series, Spirou et Fantasio, from the Frenchman Rob-Vel: he added the sidekick Fantasio to the lone hero Spirou in order to add some comic relief in the series. He then created his own series, Jean Valhardi, and drew episodes of the American series published during the war, like Red Ryder and Superman, when due to the war, the American pages could not reach the publisher.

His Catholic faith inspired biographies of Don Bosco and Christopher Columbus, as well as a gospel in comics form, Emmanuel. After the war, he handed over his existing series' to younger artists: André Franquin got Spirou et Fantasio, Eddy Paape Jean Valhardi and Victor Hubinon Blondin et Cirage. In the 1950s, he drew new adventures of Jean Valhardi and Blondin et Cirage, while starting a new series, the western Jerry Spring. He also drew a biography of Baden-Powell. In the mid-1960s, he took over the artwork of Tanguy et Laverdure from Albert Uderzo and Redbeard from Victor Hubinon, both in Pilote magazine. He died at Versailles after a prolonged illness.