Jean Roba

Infobox Comics creator
name = Roba


imagesize = 130px
caption = portrait of Jean Roba
birthname =
birthdate = July 28, 1930
location = Schaarbeek, Belgium
deathdate = death date and age|2006|6|14|1930|7|28
deathplace = Brussels, Belgium
nationality = Belgian
area = artist, writer
alias =
notable works = "Boule et Bill"
awards = full list

Jean Roba (July 28, 1930 - June 14, 2006) was a Belgian comics author from the Marcinelle school. His best-known work is "Boule et Bill".

Biography

Jean Roba was born in Schaarbeek, Belgium.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Roba". In België gestript, pp. 151-152. Tielt: Lannoo.] In his youth, he was a reader of French magazines like "Robinson" and "Mickey", which featured mainly American comics. One of those that was especially influential on Roba was "Katzenjammer Kids".cite book |last=Roba |first=Jean |title=Bollie & Billie vieren feest |origyear=1999 |origmonth=October |format=comic book |accessdate=2007-02-16 |edition=1st edition |publisher=Dargaud |location=Brussels |language=Dutch |isbn=90-6793-515-8 |pages=48] After working as an illustrator for different magazines and publicity agencies, he started to work as an illustrator for "Spirou" in 1957, where he made small cartoons for the front page for a few years. He also worked on "Bonnes Soirées", another magazine from the same publisher Dupuis, where he continued the series "Sa majesté mon mari" after Albert Uderzo stopped. For "Spirou", he made a few short stories with Yvan Delporte and collaborated on different stories of "Spirou et Fantasio" with André Franquin, who taught him the basics of making comics, before starting his own main series "Boule et Bill" in 1959, initially with stories by Maurice Rosy. Next to this series of mainly one page comics, he started in 1962 "La Ribambelle", a series of 6 long stories about a group of kids.

Roba was both an artist and an author, and wrote most of his own gags for "Boule et Bill", while others contributed stories for "La Ribambelle". He handed over the drawing of "Boule et Bill" to Laurent Verron after more than a 1000 pages. His work has been translated in fourteen languages and has sold in excess of 25 million copies. He lived in Jette from 1951 until his death in Brussels in 2006.

In 2005 he ended on nr. 100 in the election for Le plus grand Belge (The Greatest Belgian).

Bibliography

Awards

* 1978: Angoulême International Comics Festival, Best foreign comical work, for "Boule et Bill"
* 1981: Angoulême International Comics Festival, Best comic for 9 to 12 years old, for "Boule et Bill: Bill est maboul "
* 1992: Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, FranceRoba was also a Knight in the Order of Léopold.

ources

* [http://bdoubliees.com/journalspirou/auteurs5/roba.htm Roba publications in "Spirou"] , [http://bdoubliees.com/vaillantpif/auteurs5/roba.htm "Pif gadget"] BDoubliées fr_icon BDoubliées fr_icon
* [http://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-4623-BD-Roba-Jean.html Roba albums] Bedetheque fr_icon;Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.lambiek.net/artists/r/roba.htm Jean Roba biography] on Lambiek Comiclopedia
* [http://www.dupuis.com/servlet/jpecat?pgm=VIEW_AUTHOR&lang=UK&AUTEUR_ID=74 Jean Roba biography] on Dupuis
* [http://www.bdparadisio.com/intervw/roba/roba.htm Jean Roba 2001 interview, with many drawings] on BD Paradisio fr_icon
* [http://www.objectible.net/objectible/Interviews/InterviewRoba/body.html Interview in 2006] on Objectible.net fr_icon