''Jerry Spring'' is a Franco-Belgian

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

series created by the Belgian artist

Jijé Joseph Gillain (), better known by his pen name Jijé (; 13 January 1914 – 19 June 1980), was a Belgian comics artist, best known for being a seminal artist on the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' strip (and for having introduced the Fantasio character) ...

. It made its debut in '' Spirou'' magazine on March 4, 1954. The character aimed to replace the American-made ''

Red Ryder ''Red Ryder'' is a Western comic strip created by Stephen Slesinger and artist Fred Harman which served as the basis for a wide array of character merchandising. Syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association, the strip ran from Sunday, Novem ...

'' as Belgian publisher

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now ...

, which had long paid for the series' license, was growing increasingly dissatisfied with its declining quality. Jijé was Dupuis' jack-of-all-trades, and had already authored a few custom-made pages for ''Red Ryder'' during World War II, when the political climate disrupted the availability of the American originals. According to the artist's son, however, his love of the Western genre was sincere and, among his diverse output, ''Jerry Spring'' was most representative of his personal affinities. The replacement of ''Red Ryder'' by ''Jerry Spring'' marked the end of American comics in ''Spirou'', which from now on would be fully based on homegrown material.

Bibliography

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''Jerry Spring'' publications in ''Spirou''
BDoubliées Dupuis titles Bandes dessinées Belgian comic strips Spring, Jerry Spring, Jerry Spring, Jerry 1954 comics debuts Spring, Jerry 1977 comics endings 1990 comics debuts 1990 comics endings Spring, Jerry Western (genre) comics Drama comics {{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub