Ex-libris signed by André Juillard: Mezek - After the Bombs

JUILLARD André

André JUILLARD is a French writer and cartoonist. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and, in parallel, he took drawing classes, oriented comics, taught in Vincennes (between 1972 and 1973), by Druillet, Mézières and Giraud! He published his first drawing in 1974 in Formula 1.
During the 1970s, although he published many historical comics (mainly in Fleurus), they met with little success. It is in Pif Gadget that Hide (on Patrick Cothias scenarios) is published starting in 1980. After Pif’s change of formula, both authors take back their rights to the series and take it to Circus. To adapt to the more adult audience of the new publication, both authors modify their series and now call it The 7 Lives of the Hawk. The albums, published from 1983 onwards, met with immediate success.
Critical recognition increased with the release of Le Cahien Bleu. Screenwriter and cartoonist, he abandons the historical comic to place his story in the contemporary world and manages, by its very precise division, to bring an astonishing modernity to his story.
After the 7 volumes of the 7 Lives of the Hawk, he continues, always with Cothias the adventure with Feather to the Wind (which is a sequel to the Hawk) in 4 volumes. He then takes the masterpiece of Jacobs: Blake and Mortimer (alongside Yves Sente. The 7 albums they will produce will be a public success. He also works with Christin for the Lena series, before publishing one-shot such as Mezek (with Yann) or Double 7.
The classicism of Juillard’s drawing, mixed with a purification of the line that is asserted over the years, its vast compositions and full of details just as its infinitely cinematic close-ups impose it as one of the best draftsmen (and illustrators) of its generation.
He leaves us at the age of 76, on July 31, 2024.

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