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Today, 21. December, is the eightieth birthday of Jean De Mesmaeker, known as Jidéhem (from the initials JDM). To Spirou readers he is best known as Franquin’s assistant, who drew most of the backgrounds of the adventures starting with La Peur au bout du fil (“Fear at the End of the Line”) and then Le Prisonnier du Bouddha (Spirou & Fantasio #14, “Prisoner of the Buddha”) in 1958. But Jidéhem was also an important contributor to the Journal de Spirou in his own right.
He began (appropriately!) with the series Starter, originally an illustrated car section, later a comic proper. It was also the launching board for his own original character, Sophie Karamazout, who became the star of his most popular series.
Furthermore, Jidéhem was Franquin’s designated artist for the Gaston series when the initial series of gags was turned into an ongoing comic, and he drew most of the early strips. Even after Franquin took it back as his own project, Jidéhem continued to assist for quite some time. Famously, the businessman Fantasio is always trying to sign a contract with was named after Jidéhem’s father (based on physical resemblance), and became Monsieur De Mesmaeker.
On Spirou & Fantasio, Jidéhem’s backgrounds added a higher level of detail and realism, as well as both rigor and atmosphere. Particularly with the Z comme Zorglub and L’Ombre du Z albums, he contributed a modern flair to the setting. As Franquin’s style evolved to become looser, with almost all straight lines replaced by curves and all elements of the scene exaggerated and caricatured, it became harder to harmonize with Jidéhem’s “dry” style, but Jidéhem kept contributing until Franquin left the series.
Before the Journal, Jidéhem got his first start in comics with the more realistic detective series Ginger, and he returned to it with his last published album to date in 2000. He has also contributed fresh interviews and insights to recent books that delve into comics history. With a long and illustrious career, Jean De Mesmaeker is a living link to the golden age of Franco-Belgian comics. Happy birthday, Jidéhem!
Shouldn’t that be 80th birthday? Jidehem is from 1935 🙂
Oops, yes! I got the wrong number from http://elouarnblade.blogspot.no/2015/12/jean-de-maesmaker.html and didn’t realize that the dates didn’t add up. My apologies!
I’m glad you didn’t get his name from that site too… De Maesmaker, how dare they.
Absolutely! Thanks for the correction.
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This man is awesome, his backgrounds were an essential part of Spirou and Gaston success ! So many details, it’s insane, he must have spent literally days on some drawings. Yey, everything is still perfectly readable and perfectly merged with Franquin’s characters. These 2 guys were a magnificent combination.
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Nice tribute to the Distinguished Competition, there…
And apparently Raoul Cauvin stole that “bulle du silence” idea for one of his own Spirou stories he did together with Nic Broca…
Except there’s a mention of La Bulle du Silence in one of those S&F. It doesn’t make it original but at least it’s aknowledged
As I recall, Cauvin wrote the script, and at some point someone noticed and pointed out the parallels to the [i]Sophie[/i] album, so they inserted the reference/acknowledgment.
I’m inclined to think it was an unintentional borrowing in the first place.
I agree with this opinion.
You’re right. It’s not improbable that Cauvin had read the story decades ago, and didn’t remember from where he got it…
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