Jean-Michel Charlier

Career

In addition to the scenarios of several tens of albums of cartoon, it also developed synopses of televised series, summer airline pilot of the Sabena and carried out itself of many illustrations. It was one of the founders of Pilote ; one often sees it caricatured in Achille Talon, with the drafting of the newspaper Polite , permanently striking scenarios a typewriter while swallowing interminable sandwiches.

Principal creations

Blueberry (drawing Jean Giraud alias Gir or Moebius), probably its more remarkable saga.
Buck Danny (drawing Victor Hubinon). In the first albums of this series, it is him which drew the boxes without appearing character of the planes or the boats, generally accompanied by data sheets. It kept this didactic feature in many other series.
Marc Dacier (drawing Eddy Paape), whose episode more the brilliance is incontestably the last, the Phantom Train .
Patrol of the Beavers (drawing MiTacq. One of the albums of this series, the Indian Sign , is revealing way in which Charlier worked: developing several series in parallel which at once were put in drawing and were published in stories to follow in Spirou or Tintin, it had only one vague idea of the synopsis at the time to start a new history. In the above-named album, it would seem that Charlier realized rather late that it had forgotten to introduce famous “the Indian sign” into the scenario, in addition built well; he then had fun to await… the last box of the last page of the history to establish the bond between the title and the account!
One can also note 2 novels illustrated by Rene Follet: Samurais of the black sun and especially Storm in the West , a history of cow servant boys.
Tanguy and Laverdure (drawing Albert Uderzo, Jijé - alias Joseph Gillain -, Patrice Greenhouses, Yvan Fernandez or Al Coutelis)
Bore-Red (drawing Victor Hubinon): the adventures of the son (Eric) of the largest pirate of the Caribbean (Bore-Red) decides not to share the life of his/her father, but the life of adventurer who it wishes does not cease recutting it. In fact, Spanish, French or English are ready with very to finish some with Bore-Red. One will notice in the episodes of Astérix of the winks of Goscinny in Charlier with the regular presence of a pirate… to the red beard.
Gringos (drawing Of Fuente)
daN Cooper (drawing Albert Weinberg): At the request of the creator of the series, Albert Weinberg, he will be the author of three scenarios of this series: " Duel in the ciel" , " Blow of audace" and " The flotilla of the jaguars".
Guy Lebleu
Jacques Gall (drawing Michel Tacq)
Jim Cutlass (drawing Jean Giraud then Christian Rossi)
Kim Devil (drawing Victor Hubinon)
Tiger Joe drawing (Victor Hubinon)
Ron Clarke (drawing Jacques Armand)
Surcouf (drawing Victor Hubinon): Biography of the famous corsair.
Mermoz, knight of the sky (drawing Victor Hubinon)
Tarawa (drawing Victor Hubinon): Account of the American unloading on the atoll of Tarawa defended by Japanese during the War of the Pacific.
Stories of the Uncle Paul
Belloy (drawing Albert Uderzo)

Style

Beyond the Techno-thriller perfectly documented and credible, the style of Charlier is recognized with several characteristic features which are probably sometimes car-parodic:

the expression “I believed that my lungs were going to burst”, stated by a character having carried out a long diving in apnea; “it is a true suicide”, in connection with such action envisaged by the hero of the history; “it is a true miracle”, in connection with a perilous act which has just succeeded;
the aeronautical data sheet in last box of a page;
right in the middle of a dramatic action, the tactical plan of the situation, announcing the positions and the trajectories of the hero, his allies and its enemies;
of the burlesques sequences containing tart with the cream, of roller skates or pots of painting, seeking to slacken a too arid or intense expository scene.

Jean-Michel Charlier is especially an excellent narrator knowing to captivate his readers and to hold them in breath of the beginning until the end of the account. One is interested in the characters, who they are the goods or the malicious ones. The intrigue is not only based on the facts proprements known as. It is often psychological (character doubting itself, character taken of remorse and calling themselves into question, character subjected to a blackmail, etc). The hero of the history generally has a personality of boy-scout (Buck Danny, Michel Tanguy) imposed by the criteria of the time as regards accounts intended for youth, but the supporting characters are often much more interesting from a psychological point of view.

By comparing the various series of cartoons written by Jean-Michel Charlier, one often finds scenes similar. For example, in an adventure of Buck Danny, a civil aircraft is cut down by error by pirates who aimed at a transport of gold. In an album of Tanguy and Laverdure, another civil aircraft is cut down by error by a mercenary aiming at a African political director. In these two accounts, the hero and his friends tighten a trap with the pirates of the sky, but the bad weather conditions come to oppose their plan.

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