Sophie - 'Les Quattre Saisons'.
The comic creator Jean De Mesmaeker, better known under his pseudonym Jidéhem, contributed to Spirou magazine from the 1950s through the 1990s. After starting at Héroïc-Albums with his comic series, 'Ginger', Jidéhem joined Spirou as the longtime assistant to André Franquin, working on the backgrounds of the 'Spirou et Fantasio' stories and drawing the early 'Gaston Lagaffe' gags. His signature solo comic series 'Sophie' (1965-1994), about the adventures of a charming young girl and her inventor father, is historically notable for being Spirou's first comic series with a female character as its protagonist. In its wake, other comic heroines followed, Roger Leloup's 'Yoko Tsuno' (1970) and François Walthéry's 'Natacha' (1970). Particularly renowned for his expertise in making technical drawings, especially automobiles, Jidéhem was part of the second generation of the so-called "School of Marcinelle", along with Peyo, Maurice Tillieux and Jean Roba.
Early life and career
Jean De Mesmaeker was born in Brussels in 1935, and picked up drawing at age eight while being at home for a long period due to an illness. His first major influences were the 'Tintin' stories by Hergé. He got his artistic education at the Brussels-based Institut Saint-Luc.
'Ginger' comic from Héroïc-Albums.
Ginger
While still a student, he presented his work to Fernand Cheneval, the publisher of the weekly comic magazine Héroïc-Albums, a publication inspired by the adult tone of American comic books and the popular pulp serials of the time. It featured comics by artists such as Maurice Tillieux, Michel Greg, Albert Weinberg, Marcel Moniquet, François Craenhals, Fred Funcken, Christo, Fernand Dineur and Leika. De Mesmaeker was eighteen years old when he joined the team with the detective series 'Ginger' (1954-1956). He assumed the pen name Jidéhem, which he derived from his initials (JDM). After two longer stories ('Ginger et le Collectionneur' and 'Le Baron est fou'), Jidéhem made seven additional short stories with this detective, characterized by his pinched eyes. The stories brought Ginger and his sidekicks Alan and Vera into supernatural and horrific situations, which were usually solved with shoot-outs and spectacular car chases. The semi-realistic and action-filled stories were an early showcase of the artist's talent for drawing cars. The action and atmosphere of the 'Félix' stories by Tillieux, also from Héroïc, were an obvious inspiration, although in turn, Tillieux's later character 'Gil Jourdan' in Spirou magazine might have borrowed some of his looks from 'Ginger'.
Starter and other editorial illustrations
When Héroïc-Albums folded in 1956, Jidéhem followed his colleague Tillieux to Spirou, one of the foremost Belgian comic magazines, published by Dupuis in Marcinelle. The publisher deemed 'Ginger' too violent and feared a ban from the French censors. Instead, he referred the young artist to their star author André Franquin, who was also working for the competing magazine Tintin at the time. To relieve him from his workload, Jidéhem joined Franquin in his atelier in the Avenue du Brésil in Brussels. Other artists who frequented this studio were Jean Roba, Marcel Denis, Kiko and colorist Jean Verbruggen. One of Jidéhem's first assignments were the illustrations of Spirou's automobile section by Jacques Wauters, who had been writing about the latest car models under the nickname "Starter" since 1950. It wasn't until 1956 when Starter was fully presented as a cartoon character to the readers in an illustration by Franquin. The mechanic in his blue overalls remained the section's mascot since then. Jidéhem took over the illustration duties from Franquin in issue #999 in 1957, and quickly established himself as a leading artist in the technical depiction of cars. After Wauters left in 1965, he also turned to writing most of the articles. The 'Starter' section appeared in Spirou's pages until 1978, although less frequent in its final years. From 1973, Jean-Luc Beghin was also involved in the production. In 2010, 2013 and 2014, Éditions Dupuis released four books with selections of Jidéhem's 'Starter' pages. Between 1979 and 1981, Jidéhem also illustrated 'Chronique de Décibel', a sporadically appearing section about electronics, written by Jean-Claude Pasquiez.
'Starter' illustration for Spirou #1233 (1961).
Assisting Franquin
At Franquin's studio, Jidéhem also assisted on the backgrounds of Spirou's title comic, 'Spirou et Fantasio'. He participated in the stories 'La Foire aux Gangsters' (1958), 'Le Prisonnier du Bouddha' (1958-1959), 'La Peur au Bout du Fil' (1959) and most notably the Zorglub cycle ('Z comme Zorglub', 'L'Ombre du Z', 1959-1960). The latter two stories proved an example of Jidéhem's equal talent for drawing futuristic technology. In 1967, he also worked on the backgrounds of Franquin's swansong of the series, 'Panade à Champignac'. Together with Franquin, Denis and Roba, Jidéhem was part of the collective "Ley Kip" ("L'équipe", meaning "the team"), which produced the one-shot story 'L'Île au Boumptéryx' (1959), about birds laying exploding eggs. Jidéhem provided the background art.
From the start, Jidéhem was involved with Franquin's signature series 'Gaston Lagaffe'. The always-lazy office clerk made its first appearance in Spirou's editorial pages in 1957, and then starred in mostly half-page gag strips. The setting was a fictional depiction of Spirou's editorial offices, and Gaston's main antagonist was his superior, Fantasio. Initially, Jidéhem mostly did the inking of the strip, but later also the finished pencils from Franquin's lay-outs. For some episodes he did the entire pencil work as well. When in one of the gags a bad-tempered business man came by to sign contracts, Jidéhem remarked that he reminded him of his father. As a result, the man was given Jidéhem's family name, and Monsieur De Mesmaeker became one of the feature's most enduring and hilarious characters. Contrary to common use at the time, Franquin always gave his assistant Jidéhem full credit for his contributions to the series, like he did with all his co-workers.
First appearance of M. De Mesmaeker (although still unnamed) in the Gaston Lagaffe strip.
Starter's comic adventures
Franquin initially wanted his assistant to take over 'Gaston' completely. However, Jidéhem didn't feel at ease with the fluidly drawn gag strip, and desired a series of his own. Publisher Charles Dupuis was not so keen on that idea; instead he wanted Jidéhem to focus on his work for Franquin. The conservative publisher was even less supportive towards Jidéhem's idea to make a comic series about a young teenage girl. However, with the help of editor-in-chief Yvan Delporte, Jidéhem was eventually allowed to draw comic stories with the 'Starter' character. After all, the character was a Franquin creation, and Jidéhem had promised to not let his personal projects interfere with his assistance work. Written by Delporte, the first comic stories with Starter, 'La Révolte des Autos' (1959) and 'L'Histoire de l'Automobile' (1960), were part of Spirou magazine's fold-in mini-books section.
'Starter contre les Casseurs'.
These first efforts were followed in 1961 by Jidéhem and Delporte's comic serial 'Starter contre les Casseurs', which was drawn in the normal magazine format in a style close to Franquin. It also introduced Starter's sidekick Pipette, a garage owner who later also hosted the 'Starter' articles about motorcycles. By 1963, Franquin had scaled down his workload, and Jidéhem found time to write a story of his own. With 'La Maison d'en Face' (1963), the series found most of its definitive tone and style. The artist inked the story with a brush instead of a pen, which diverted its style from his work for Franquin. Slapstick humor, vicious thugs and weird science became the key elements of the stories. Most notable was the introduction of Zoé, the sentient and conscious car.
First appearance of Sophie in 'L'Oeuf de Karamazout'.
Sophie
Strange inventions were even more prominently featured in the next story, 'L'Oeuf de Karamazout' (1964). It dealt with a gang of criminals trying to steal an egg-shaped floating vehicle created by the inventor Karamazout. With the addition of Karamazout's young daughter Sophie and his butler Joseph, the series' initial cast was largely complete. While Jidéhem named Zoé after his cocker spaniel, he gave Sophie the name of his newborn daughter. Sophie and her father were also prominently featured in the next story, 'La Bulle du Silence' (1965), which also introduced the recurring villain Ptikochonof. This was Jidéhem's first collaboration with scriptwriter Vicq, who would remain the series' regular scriptwriter until 1976.
'La Bulle du Silence'.
By then, it was obvious that fan favorite Sophie had become the series' real star. Also in 1965, Jidéhem and Vicq started making short solo stories with the friendly and playful girl, which appeared under the title 'Les Bonheurs de Sophie'. Initially, these were mostly commissioned by Delporte for special Spirou issues about Easter, Christmas, holidays, etc. Instead of adventure and technology, the short stories were humorous and aimed at younger readers. Starter and Pipette were reduced to secondary characters, and most of the time, Sophie teamed up with the little boy Bernard. Another notable introduction to the series was the stingy mister Happepognon, a character inspired by the equally stingy Harpagnon from Molière's play 'The Miser'. In 1968, the 'Sophie' book series kicked off with the volume collecting 'L'Oeuf de Karamazout'. In that same year, Jidéhem and Vicq made 'Sophie et l'Esprit Frappeur', the first longer story appearing in Spirou under the 'Sophie' header. At this point, Jidéhem ended his collaboration with Franquin. Since Franquin had handed 'Spirou et Fantasio' over to Fournier, he could fully concentrate on 'Gaston'. The final 'Gaston' page with Jidéhem's participation was gag number 445.
Sophie and Bertrand in 'Le Goinfre Volant' (1968).
Throughout most of the 1970s, Jidéhem and Vicq produced both short and longer stories with Sophie and her friends. The serials 'Sophie et le Rayon Ka' (1970), 'Sophie et le Cube qui parle' (1971), 'La Tiare de Matlotl Halatomatl' (1972), 'Le Douanier Rousseau' (1973) and 'L'Haleine du Dragon' (1974) were a mix of playful comedy, criminal plots, fantasy and sci-fi. 'Les Quatre Saisons' (1977) was Jidéhem's first self-written story since 'L'Oeuf de Karamazout' and marked a more realistic approach. 'Sophie et l'Inspecteur Céleste' (1978) and 'Sophie et Donald MacDonald' (1980) also involved more serious crime plots, and were the final major appearances of the character for several years, apart from a couple of short stories written by Vicq and Mittéï in 1981 and 1982.
Sophie - 'Le Douanier Rousseau'.
Female comic characters
With 'Les Bonheurs de Sophie' in 1965, Sophie became the first female character in Spirou to star in her own series, although she wasn't the first female Belgian comic hero ever. In the history of French-language comics, Emile-Joseph Pinchon's 'Bécassine' already made her debut in 1905. In Belgian comics, Hergé's 'Jo, Zette and Jocko' (1936) and Willy Vandersteen's 'Suske en Wiske' (1945) were the first series to have young girls in starring roles, even though they were still teamed up with a boy. Some Belgian comic series had recurring female cast members, such as Bianca Castafiore in Hergé's 'Tintin', Madam Pheip in Marc Sleen's 'Nero', Seccotine in 'Spirou et Fantasio', Queue-de-Cerise in Maurice Tillieux's 'Gil Jourdan', Susan in Pom's 'Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber', Pompon in André Franquin's 'Modeste et Pompon', Annemieke and Rozemieke in Jef Nys' 'Jommeke' and Grenadine in Jean Roba's 'La Ribambelle', but all of them were mostly secondary characters who played supportive roles in stories headed by male protagonists.
The first female Belgian comics star was Maurice Maréchal's 'Prudence Petitpas' (1957-1987) who made her debut in the magazine Tintin. She was followed by Bob Mau's 'Kari Lente' (1962), serialized in the Flemish newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen. On 14 March 1965, Raymond Macherot created 'Sibylline' in Spirou, only five issues before Sophie's solo career debuted in the same magazine. But Prudence was an old lady, Kari Lente starred in a newspaper and Sibylline was a female mouse, which made their femininity less problematic to the prudent and conservative magazine editors. In that regard, Jidéhem's 'Sophie' was indeed the first female human protagonist in Spirou and the first young girl to star solo in a Belgian comic magazine. Since she quickly became popular with readers, and the times changed, Spirou's editors became less uptight about creating new series with female lead characters. As such, 'Sophie' paved the way for Delporte, Macherot and Will's 'Isabelle' (1969), Roger Leloup's 'Yoko Tsuno' (1970) and François Walthéry's 'Natacha' (1970).
From the 'Natacha' episode 'Les Machines Incertaines'.
Assistance of colleagues
While working on 'Sophie', Jidéhem continued to give a helping hand to his colleagues. As early as 1963, he temporarily replaced Will as the background artist of the 'Benoît Brisefer' story 'Madame Adolphine' by Peyo (Jidéhem drew the prison escape sequence). He assisted Jean Roba on the stories 'La Ribambelle enquête' (1968) and 'La Ribambelle contre-attaque' (1975). Roba needed all of his time for his weekly 'Boule et Bill' gag page, and left most of the artwork for this kids' gang adventure comic to Jidéhem. In 1980 and 1981 Jidéhem provided the backgrounds for the science fiction diptych 'Instantanés pour Caltech' and 'Les Machines Incertaines' by François Walthéry and Étienne Borgers in the 'Natacha' series.
Return of Ginger
The graphical challenge of the sci-fi 'Natacha' stories inspired Jidéhem to revive his original character, 'Ginger'. Since 'Gil Jourdan' was no longer present in Spirou after the 1978 death of Maurice Tillieux, the time was right for a new hardboiled detective comic. For his revival of 'Ginger' (1979-1985), the artist applied a drawing style closer to Tillieux and his co-worker Gos, and threw his heroes into an adventure full of mysteries, explosions and science fiction. After a six-page short story in 1979, the first serial was published in two parts: 'Les Yeux de Feu' (1981) and 'L'Affaire Azinski' (1982), which were subsequently published in book format by Dupuis. Two half-length stories, 'Les Jeux sont Faits' (1984) and 'Les Mouches de Satan' (1985) were collected in a third album.
Return of Sophie
In the second half of the 1980s, Spirou's editorial policy changed, and the editors demanded that Jidéhem return 'Sophie'. The three new stories Jidéhem created, 'Don Giovanni' (1989), 'L'Odyssée du U.522' (1991) and 'Le Tombeau des Glyphes' (1994), were miles removed from the tone of the 1970s era of the comic. Sophie had aged a bit, and the drawings had an almost Clear Line approach. The stories were also less playful than before. The reason for these changes was that Jidéhem had reworked new plots he had originally conceived for his 'Ginger' series into 'Sophie' stories. Since they were more realistic in tone, the stories demanded a more mature lead character and a more serious approach. The readers didn't respond well to the changes, and Sophie's career came to an end with her 20th album in 1995. The artist's attempt to launch a gag strip with a character called 'Zinzinc' stalled out in the conceptual phase. Jidéhem's career with Dupuis and Spirou ended after almost 40 years of loyal service.
Sophie - 'Le Tombeau des Glyphes'.
Auto-Journal
Throughout his career, Jidéhem also did a couple of commercial projects in addition to his regular series. In 1959, he was contracted by the magazine Auto-Journal to make drawings of car tests at the racing circuit of Montlhéry. The editors also asked him to illustrate reconstructions of accidents. The collaboration ended when the artist refused to draw a motorcyclist who was cut in half after a crash with a Citroën DS. However, he returned to Auto-Journal in the mid-1990s with new 'Starter' reviews.
Advertising comics
In 1960 and 1961, Jidéhem was a contributor to the Bonux-Boy mini-comics that came with Bonux washing powder produced by Benoît Gillain. Jidéhem created three short stories with 'Sylvain Tripotté', a collector of old-timers. In 1966, Jidéhem redrew these stories for their reprints in Spirou magazine. Also, he made about a dozen gags with the character 'Uhu-man' with Yvan Delporte for Uhu glue, while 'Starter' was regularly used in advertisements for car brands. 'Sophie' starred in advertisements for Tesa tape and Kellogg's cereals. With writer Geo Salmon, Jidéhem made the 1964 comic album 'Mission BX 415' by commission of the truck manufacturer Berliet.
Sophie - 'La Cube qui Parle'.
Graphic contributions
In 1980 Jidéhem was one of many Belgian comic artists to make a graphic contribution to the book 'Il était une fois... les Belges'/'Er waren eens Belgen' (1980), a collection of columns and one-page comics, published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Belgium. Between 1990 and 1993, he adapted several naughty student's songs for the series 'Chansons Cochonnes' by Louis-Michel Carpentier's Éditions Top Game. Other contributors to the collection were Carpentier, Daniel Kox, Laurent and Malik.
Final years and death
In 2000, Éditions Joker published one new 'Ginger' book, 'Le Prisonnier du Kibu'. The effort wasn't a success, and Jidéhem went into retirement. The royalties of the 'Gaston' books with his participation assured him of a steady income. Jean De Mesmaeker passed away in Brussels on 30 April 2017 at the age of 81. The artist had lived to see the revaluation of his 'Sophie' series with the launch of the collected works in luxury books by Dupuis in 2011. The fifth and final volume appeared in 2017.
Legacy and influence
Although Jidéhem has never become a household name like his contemporaries Franquin, Tillieux and Peyo, he has left his mark on Belgian comics. He was widely praised by his colleagues for his high quality background art and technical drawings. It was Jidéhem who inspired Franquin to find joy in making these kinds of drawings as well. His way of staging, his precise backgrounds and his finely caricatured vehicles set a new standard for background art in Spirou magazine. Traces of Jidéhem's influence can be found in the work of Janry, Didier Conrad, François Walthéry, Olivier Schwartz, Yoann, Stéphane Colman, Simon Léturgie and Bruno Gazzotti.
Jidéhem's 'Sophie' comic was spoofed as a sex parody by Roger Brunel in 'Pastiches 3' (1984). Storywise, the device for absorbing all sounds from Jidéhem and Vicq's 'Sophie' story 'La Bulle du Silence' was subconsciously copied by Raoul Cauvin for his 'Spirou et Fantasio' story 'Les Faiseurs de Silence' (1982). When confronted with the similarities, Cauvin and artist Nic Broca quickly added a scene to the story which paid homage to the source. But perhaps Jidéhem's greatest accomplishment was paving the way for all the female heroes that found their way to Spirou magazine after Sophie.
Jidéhem performing with Sophie in the photocomic 'Carrosseries en vrac' (Robbedoes/Spirou #1724, 1971).