Jacques Van Melkebeke

Jacques Van Melkebeke (1904-1983) was a Belgian journalist, writer, and scenario writer of comic strips.

Friend of Hergé, he took part in a semi-official way in the development of some of the story lines of The Adventures of Tintin, adding a number of cultural references. He is also supposed to have contributed to certain numbers of Blake and Mortimer, although Edgar P. Jacobs disputes this fact.

His personality was one of the main sources of inspiration for the Blake and Mortimer character Philip Angus Mortimer. During the occupation of Belgium by Nazi Germany, Jacques Van Melkebeke was responsible for main articles in "Le Soir Jeunesse", a supplement of the daily newspaper "Le Soir".

This resulted in a judgment of collaboration and of incitement of racial hatred in 1945 (although he primarily published cultural articles). For this same reason, Jacques Van Melkebeke could not continue in his functions as editor of the Tintin magazine, that Hergé had wanted to entrust to him: this suspicion of "incivism" prevented him from continuing a regular career in journalism. Jacques Van Melkebeke is regarded by many as the "Third man" of the Franco-Belgian comic strip, as ignored as his influence was great at a certain time.

Appearances in Tintin

Like Herge and Jacobs, Van Melkebeke makes a few cameo appearances in the Tintin stories: on page 1, panel 1 of the colour "Tintin in the Congo" as one of the reporters seeing Tintin off; on page 59, panel 6 of "King Ottokar's Sceptre"; and on page 2, panel 14 of "The Secret of the Unicorn", where he is examining a painting as a man calls out that his briefcase is being stolen.

Bibliography

*Benoit Mouchart, "A l'ombre de la ligne claire: Jacques Van Melkebeke, le clandestin de la B.D." Paris: Vertige Graphic, 2002. ISBN 2-908981-71-8