- Jean Graton
Infobox Comics creator
name = Jean Graton
imagesize =
caption =
birthname =
birthdate = birth date|1923|8|10|mf=y
location =Brussels ,Belgium
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = French
area = artist, writer
alias =
notable works = "Michel Vaillant "
awards = listJean Graton (born
August 10 ,1923 ) is acomic book author andcartoonist of French nationality.Fact|date=February 2007. Graton created the famous characterMichel Vaillant and the eponymous series in 1957.Biography
Jean Graton was born in
Nantes , France. He moved toBrussels in 1947, at 24, and first worked inanimation andadvertising companies. He is hired by "Spirou" in 1952, for which he illustrated some "Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul". Determined to create and draw his own characters, he applied for drawing in "Tintin". From 1953, he published his first own stories in "Tintin". Some of these stories, consisting of few strips and most of them related tosport andautomobile , were published in 1957 byLe Lombard in an album entitled "Ca c'est du sport !".En 1957, Jean Graton created the character
Michel Vaillant . Some short comics were first published in "Tintin", and acquired huge popularity. As soon as 1959, a full album is published by Le Lombard. Graton created in 1966 the "Les Labourdet" series with his wife Francine, published between 1967 and 1970 in the "Chez Nous" magazine. In 1972, he created Julie Wood, a character who starred first in her own series, then in the "Michel Vaillant" series. In 1982, Graton crated with his son Philippe Graton his own publishing house, Graton Editeur. In 1995, lauched with Phillippe Graton the "Dossiers Michel Vaillant" series, each album of this series being dedicated to one famous driver. In, 2000, they created the "Palmarès Inedit" series, made up of comics stories which were drawn by Graton in the 1950s and 1960s, including the "Labourdet" series plus comics previously unpublished in albums.From 1994, Jean Graton let the making of the scenarios to his son Philippe. In 2004, Jean Graton, at 80, decided to retire and to stop drawing. His works are continued by Philippe Graton and the
Studio Graton , which he created himself.
=Awards=
* In 1986, he was awarded at theMorzine Avoriaz BD Festival a special price "Le sport : Une oeuvre, un Auteur" ("Sport: A work, an author")
* In 1989, at the Belgian Bande Dessinée Festival at Han sur Lesse, he was rewarded by the president of the festival and the Belgian minister Amand Dalem by a "Prix spécial d'exception pour l'ensemble de son oeuvre" ("special price for his whole work")
* In 2004, lors du Jean Graton was given the Art Great Price at the 19th Automobile Festival.
* In 2005, he was named "Chevalier de l'Ordre de Léopold" byBelgium .Relation with motorsports
Jean Graton's passion for
motorsport goes back to his childhood. Later, he attended a lot of F1 and motorsport races and get aknowledged with famous drivers. His series incited some driver to choose such a career.Graphic style
The huge popularity of Jean Graton's series is partly due to their extreme realism. Graton's works, particularly the "Michel Vaillant" series, are notable for featuring real-life people, drivers, teams, races and places. Jean Graton is widely recognized as a great automobile and motorsport drawer. The several decriptions of places, circuits and cars he gave in his series are highly well-documented, specific and realist. Graton used to take a lot of notes, illustrations and photographs of the various automobile-related places he attended as an automobile-passionated. He was later much helped for this work by his son Philippe, who has a passion for photo.
Bibliography
* "Les Histoires vraies de l'Oncle Paul" (24 stories, published in 12 albums, 1953-1954)
* "Ca, c'est du sport !" (1 album, 1957)
* "Michel Vaillant " (96 albums,1959-2007)
* "Les Labourdet" (9 albums, 1967-2008)
* "Un exploit de Michel Vaillant" (1 album, 1972)
* "Julie Wood" (12 albums, 1976 à 1980)
* "Dossiers Michel Vaillant" (9 albums, 1995-2008)
* "Palmarès inédit" (6 albums, 2000-2006)References
*http://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-312-BD-Graton-Jean.html french icon
*http://www.bdparadisio.com/scripts/detail.cfm?Id=391 french icon
*http://vaillantfanclub.free.fr/ Fan Club french icon
*http://lambiek.net/artists/g/graton_j.htmExternal links
* [http://www.michelvaillant.com/ Michel Vaillant official page]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.