Jacques Martin (25 September 1921 – 21 January 2010) was a French

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

and

comic book creator developed specialized terminology. Some several attempts have been made to formalize and define the terminology of comics by authors such as Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, R. C. Harvey and Dylan Horrocks. Much of the terminology in English is un ...

. He was one of the classic artists of ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

'' magazine, alongside Edgar P. Jacobs and

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...

, of whom he was a longtime collaborator. He is best known for his series ''

Alix ''Alix'', or ''The Adventures of Alix'', is a Franco-Belgian comics series drawn in the ligne claire style by Jacques Martin. The stories revolve around a young Gallo-Roman man named Alix in the late Roman Republic. Although the series is re ...

''. He was born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

Biography

After pursuing engineering studies as a young man, Jacques Martin began in 1942 to draw his first comic stories. In 1946, following the end of the War, he travelled through Belgium in search of an editor for his work. Soon afterwards he met Georges Remi (aka

) with whom he collaborated on several albums of ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...

'' (and more specifically on ''

Tintin in Tibet ''Tintin in Tibet'' (french: Tintin au Tibet, link=no) is the twentieth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. It was serialised weekly from September 1958 to November 1959 in ''Tintin (magazine ...

'' and ''

The Red Sea Sharks ''The Red Sea Sharks'' (french: link=no, Coke en stock) is the nineteenth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comic series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was initially serialised weekly in Belgium's ''Tintin'' magazine from ...

'') while working on his own albums. It was from Hergé that he learned of the

ligne claire ''Ligne claire'' ( French for "clear line", ; nl, klare lijn) is a style of drawing created and pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist and creator of ''The Adventures of Tintin''. It uses clear strong lines sometimes of varied width and n ...

style and, under Hergé's guidance, began to use it in his own work. He would later be considered one of the great five of the ligne claire style, along with

, Edgar P. Jacobs, Bob de Moor and

Willy Vandersteen Willy Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, selling more than 200 million co ...

. In 1948, he created ''

'', his most famous series, published in the magazine Tintin, whose adventures - extremely well researched - occur in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

antiquity. This historic comic soon became one of the most popular of the genre and went on to be published in several countries worldwide. The story ''Le spectre de Carthage'' won the award for best French realistic comic book at the 1978

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (french: Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lu ...

. Martin went on to create other characters, beginning with the contemporary journalist '' Lefranc'' in 1952. Much later he created others in collaboration with various partners, namely the medieval architect '' Jhen'' (initially entitled ''Xan'') in 1978, the French revolutionary officer ''

Arno The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a s ...

'' in 1984, the Athenian '' Orion'' in 1990, and the Egyptian ''

Keos Kea ( el, Κέα), also known as Tzia ( el, Τζια) and in ancient history, antiquity Keos ( el, Κέως, la, Ceos), is a Greece, Greek island in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Kea is part of the Kea-Kythnos regional unit. Geog ...

'' in 1992. In 2003, he also started a new series - '' Loïs'' set in the court of Louis the sun king of France. In 1998, due to failing eyesight, Martin left the drawing of ''Alix'' to Rafael Morales. ''Alix'' continues running with great success. Martin died on 21 January 2010.

Awards

* 1978:

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a communes of France, commune, the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Charente Departments of France, department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern Franc ...

Best French Realistic Work, for ''Alix: Le spectre de Carthage'' * 2003:

Prix Saint-Michel The Prix Saint-Michel is a series of comic awards presented by the city of Brussels, with a focus on Franco-Belgian comics. They were first awarded in 1971, and although often said to be the oldest European comics awards, they are actually the sec ...

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

References

External links

Jacques Martin biography
in ''Evene''

BDoubliées

Bedetheque {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Jacques 1921 births 2010 deaths Artists from Strasbourg French cartoonists French comics artists French comics writers French male writers Tintin Hergé it:Jacques Martin