Maurice Tillieux

Maurice Tillieux (7 August 1921 – 2 February 1978) was a Belgian writer and comic artist. He is regarded by many as a major figure of post-war Belgian comics.

Early life Maurice Tillieux was born in Huy in 1921. At first he studied for the merchant navy, but his career prospects were sunk following the German invasion of Belgium in 1940. He claims that while waiting at Bordeaux for a ship that was to take him and his fellow students to South America, a Stuka dive-bomber attacked another ship, forcing Tillieux's to turn round and Tillieux to go home.

He turned to writing and his first novel Le navire qui tue ses capitaines (The Ship that Kills its Captains) was published in 1943. Many of his stories would be set at sea or in the docks where his early ambitions may have developed. Two other novels are supposed to have been written at this time, but there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not they were actually published.

Tillieux had already done some work as an artist. He contributed to various weekly and monthly comics as artist and writer, often signing his work with a variety of English pseudonyms.

Career It was in the weekly comic Heroïc-Albums, which started in 1947, that he developed his style and proved himself a master of detective stories loaded with humour and atmosphere. Heroïc-Albums'''s main appeal was that each issue contained complete stories rather than a number of episodes spread over weekly or monthly instalments.

Tillieux's most notable contribution was Félix, the adventures of a glasses-wearing reporter who travelled the world accompanied by two sidekicks called Allume-Gaz (French for gas lighter) and Inspector Cabarez of the Chilean police. Like most comic strip reporters, Félix spent most of his time fighting crooks and spies rather than simply reporting about them.

Street scene from Gil Jourdan's first adventureHeroïc-Albums ceased publication in 1956, and Tillieux introduced his most famous character, Gil Jourdan, in Spirou'' magazine, where he had already worked as an illustrator since 1940. Jourdan was very similar to Félix, though he had clear vision and was an actual PI. Like Félix, he was also flanked by two sidekicks, including a police contact, both of whom provided most of the comic relief which contrasted to the earnest nature of the title character. Some of Félix's stories were the basis for some of Jourdan's adventures.