Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
comics author
A script is a document describing the narrative and dialogue of a comic book in detail. It is the comic book equivalent of a television program teleplay or a film screenplay.
In comics, a script may be preceded by a plot outline, and is almost ...
from the
Marcinelle school
The term "Marcinelle school" (french: École de Marcinelle) or "Charleroi school" (''École de Charleroi'') refers to a group of Belgian cartoonists formed by Joseph Gillain (known as Jijé) following World War II. The first generation, known as ...
. His best-known work is ''
Boule et Bill ''Boule et Bill'' (known in English as ''Billy & Buddy'') is a popular comic, created in 1959 by Belgian writer-artist Jean Roba in collaboration with Maurice Rosy. In 2003, the artistic responsibility of the series was passed on to Roba's former a ...
''.
Biography
Jean Roba was born in
Schaerbeek
(French language, French and History of Dutch orthography, archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Re ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
.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 Robinson may refer to:
People and names
* Robinson (name)
Fictional characters
* Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719
Geography
* Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...
'' and ''
Mickey
Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael (given name), Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include:
People Given name or nickname Men ...
'', which featured mainly American comics. One of those that was especially influential on Roba was ''
Katzenjammer Kids
''The Katzenjammer Kids'' is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years (1914 to 1949). After working as an illustrator for different magazines and publicity agencies, he started to work as an illustrator for '' Spirou'' magazine 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
Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.
Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. It is ...
, where he continued the series ''Sa majesté mon mari'' after
Albert Uderzo
Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (; ; 25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020), better known as Albert Uderzo, was a French comic book artist and scriptwriter. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the ''Astérix'' series in collaboration with Re ...
stopped. For ''Spirou'', he made a few short stories with
Yvan Delporte
Yvan Delporte (24 June 1928 – 5 March 2007) was a Belgian comics writer, and was editor-in-chief of '' Spirou'' magazine between 1955 and 1968 during a period considered by many the golden age of Franco-Belgian comics. He is credited with seve ...
and collaborated on different stories of ''
Spirou et Fantasio
''Spirou & Fantasio'' (french: Spirou et Fantasio, wa, Spirou eyet Fantasio) is one of the most popular classic Franco-Belgian comics. The series, which has been running since 1938, shares many characteristics with other European comics, European ...
'' with
André Franquin
André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are '' Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to 1968, a period s ...
, 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
''La Ribambelle'' (French for " flock" or " throng") is a Belgian comics series about a gang of kids living in the same neighbourhood. There were two versions of this strip: Joseph Loeckx (better known under the pen-name of "Jo-El Azara") drew a ...
'' about a group of kids from various countries and racial backgrounds.
Roba was both an artist and writer, 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
Laurent may refer to:
*Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname
**Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent
**Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician
**Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...
after more than 1000 pages. His work has been translated in fourteen languages and has sold in excess of 25 million copies. He lived in
Jette
Jette (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Ganshoren, Koekelberg, and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, as well as the Flemi ...
from 1951 until his death in Brussels in 2006.
In 2005, he ended on No. 100 in the election for
Le plus grand Belge
''Les plus grands Belges'' ( French for "The Greatest Belgians"), is a television show that aired in 2005 on the Belgian French-speaking public channel RTBF. In the program the audience could vote for the greatest Belgian by using the website, se ...
(The Greatest Belgian). On 6 June 2006, Roba died in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
of natural causes at the age of 75.
Bibliography
Awards
* 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 ...
Order of Léopold
The Order of Leopold ( nl, Leopoldsorde, french: Ordre de Léopold, ) is one of the three current Belgian national honorary orders of knighthood. It is the oldest and highest order of Belgium and is named in honour of its founder, King Le ...