François Boucq (; born 28 November 1955 in

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

), is a French

comic book 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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

. He is most famous for his

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

and surreal comics revolving around the main character .

Career

Boucq published cartoons in magazines like ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and conservative news magazine published in Paris. It is one of the three major French news magazines. ''Le Point'' was founded in 1972 by former journalists of ''L'Express'' and quickly rose to be ...

'' or ''

L'Expansion ''L'Expansion'' was a French former monthly business magazine based in Paris, France, which existed between 1967 and 2017. History and profile ''L'Expansion'' was founded by Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber and Jean Boissonnat in 1967. In 1994 the m ...

'' at an early age. Soon, he also created comic albums, becoming famous with '' Les pionniers de l'aventure humaine''. Many more have been published in the meantime, including ' (1986) ' (1990) and ' (2014) with American novelist Jerome Charyn. Boucq created the successful series '' Face de Lune'' in cooperation with the artist Alexandro Jodorowsky. 1994 saw the publication of '' Les dents du recoin'', the first album of a series of surreal comics that feature Jérôme Moucherot, a door-to-door insurance salesman with a fountain pen through his nose, who is dressed in a

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

fur suit; his bizarre adventures take place in a world where Smurfs are jungle-dwelling headhunters and sharks swim around in the blue wallpapers of

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

living rooms. Boucq later teamed up with Jodorowsky again, creating the graphic novel series ''

Bouncer A bouncer (also known as a door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at licensed or sanctioned venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, strip clubs and casinos. A bouncer's duties are to provide security, to check legal ag ...

'', set in a bleak

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 ...

scenario. In 1998, Boucq was awarded the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême. In keeping with the festival's tradition, he was the president of the jury in the following year.

Personal life

Apart from his comic book career he is an enthusiast of kendo (Japanese fencing), in which he achieved a 5 Dan master grade.

Selected bibliography

* '' Les pionniers de l'aventure humaine (Pioneers Of The Human Adventure)'' * ' (''The Magician's Wife'') with writer Jerome Charyn * '' La pédagogie du trottoir'' * ' (''Billy Budd, KGB'') with writer Jerome Charyn * '' Face de Lune'' with

Alejandro Jodorowsky Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean and French Experimental film, avant-garde filmmaker. Known for his films ''El Topo'' (1970), ''The Holy Mountain (1973 film), The Holy Mountain'' (1973) and ''Santa Sangre'' ...

* '' Un point c'est tout'' * '' Les dents du recoin'' * ' with writer Jerome Charyn * ''

'', with

Awards

* 1985:

Prix de la critique The Prix de la critique is a prize awarded by the Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée to the best comic album released for a year in France. Previously, from 1984 to 2003, it was called ''Prix Bloody Mary'' and awarded ...

at the

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF; ) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lucca Comics & Games and the Comiket of Japan. It has occur ...

, France * 1986: Best French Comic at the Angoulême International Comics Festival * 1992: nominated for Best German-language Comic/Comic-related Publication at the

Max & Moritz Prizes The Max und Moritz Award ( German:Max und Moritz-Preis), also known as the Max & Moritz Prize , is a prize for comic books, comic strips, and other similar materials. It has been awarded at each of the biennial International Comics Shows of Erla ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

* 1996: nominated for Best Drawing at the

Haxtur Award The Haxtur Award (''Premios Haxtur'') is a Spanish award for Spanish comics. It is awarded annually at the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias (International Comics Convention of the Principality of Asturias). It takes its n ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

* 1998: Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême, France * 1999: nominated for Best Short Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards * 2001: nominated for the Humour Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival * 2002: nominated for the Canal BD Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival * 2003: **nominated for the Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival ** La Plumilla de Plata (The silver inkpen) in Mexico. * 2004: **nominated for the Audience Award and the Series Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival **nominated for Best international series at the

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 ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

* 2006: **Award for Best Drawing at the Albert Uderzo Awards **nominated for the Audience Award and the Series Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival * 2008: nominated for Best Artwork at the Prix Saint-Michel * 2010: nominated for Best French Language Comic at the Prix Saint-Michel * 2012: Award for Best Artwork at the Prix Saint Michel

Notes

External links

Website of Éditions Casterman, Boucq's publisher

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boucq, Francois 1955 births Living people Artists from Lille French comics artists French satirical comics artists French surrealist artists French graphic novelists French humorists Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême winners