HOME | DD

Description
A Year in Comics - February 9th

Spirou and his pet-squirrel Spip deface a wartime Nazi propaganda poster* - Spirou

Robert Velter, also known as Rob-Vel, probably had one of the most unusual career paths leading him to the profession of comic artist. Born in Paris, France on February 9th 1909, Robert Velter was the son of a translator, which led to him moving from Paris to London at the age of 10. At the age of 16, he became a bellboy at the Ritz Charton hotel in London, before becoming a waiter and steward on ocean liners such as the RMS Majestic and SS Ile de France, where he also acted as a translator. During these trips, he also moonlighted as an artist, making caricatures of the passengers by demand, and decorating posters and menus.

During one of the trans-Atlantic journeys, in 1934, Velter encountered the American comic artist Martin Branner (1888-1970), who ended up hiring him as an assistent on his comic strip Winnie Winkle (1920-1996), and taught Velter the profession of comic artist. After his return to France in 1936, Robert Velter started working as a comic artist himself, starting out with the gag-strip M. Subito, before starting the comic Le Journal de Toto in 1937, for which he was assisted by his wife Blanche Dumoulin.

Rob-Vel's most famous character was the result of a commission: in 1937, the Belgian publisher Jean Dupuis asked him to create the titular character of a soon-to-be-created weekly comic magazine. Grabbing back to his experiences as a bellboy and the drawings he made when working on ocean liners, Rob-Vel designed the character Spirou, who started life as the elevator bellboy of the Moustic Hotel in the first issue of the Spirou magazine on April 21st 1938. While it is established that Rob-Vel created the character's design, there still is ambiguity over whether Rob-Vel actually drew the first page featuring the character - spread thin between working on his M. Subito and Babouche gag strips, and the comics Le Journal de Toto, Bibor et Tribar and Spirou as well as his day job as a translator, it appears he instead handed the first Spirou page to his friend and assistant Luc Lafnet - at the time an unseen practice in European comics.

Soon, however, fate would intervene in the most unexpected of ways: in March of 1939, Lafnet was taken ill, eventually dying in September of that year, robbing Rob-Vel of his friend and closest assistant. Equally, September 1939 saw World War Two break out, as a result of which Rob-Vel was mobilised for service in the French Army. In his absence, his wife Blanche "ghosted" his comic work together with a number of colleagues. Things became even worse in May of 1940, when the Blitzkrieg saw both France and Belgium occupied by Nazi forces: Rob-Vel himself was taken prisoner of war, and postal connections between France and Belgium were made nearly impossible by the occupying forces. As a result of this, neither Rob-Vel nor Blanche Dumoulin were able to continue sending contributions to their editor: instead, the Belgian artist Jijé took over the comic until Rob-Vel's release in March of 1941. Rob-Vel continued his work on the Spirou comics until December of 1942, when restrictions on the postal traffic imposed by the Nazis made it impossible to continue his work, after which Jijé fully took over making the Spirou comics from Rob-Vel, until paper rationing and publication restrictions forced Spirou to cease publishing its weekly in 1943.

Following the end of the War, Rob-Vel returned to drawing, however by this time he no longer worked for the Dupuis publishing house, and as a result no longer worked on the Spirou comics (which were taken over from Jijé by André Franquin in 1946). Instead, he continued work on the gag strips Babouche et Babouchette (1947-1953) and M. Subito (1949-1969), his pre-war comic Bibor et Tribar (1947-1951), and a host of newer creations, none of which would enjoy the fame his Spirou stories enjoyed. Following the death of his wife Blance in 1975, Rob-Vel retired from the comic business but continued to attend conventions until his death on April 27th 1991.

Meanwhile, Spirou himself survives to this day as one of the most famous characters of the Franco-Belgian comic scene, having been drawn by Rob-Vel (1938-1942); Jijé (1941; 1942-1946); André Franquin (1946-1968); Jean-Claude Fournier (1969-1979); Nic & Cauvin (1982-1984); Tome & Janry (1984-1998); Morvan & Munuera (2004-2008); and Yoann & Vehlmann (2010-current).

*Note: Naturally, during Rob-Vel's reign as Spirou artist, Spirou never had the occasion to deface Nazi propaganda posters (which would have been rather impractical, or rather, an outright dangerous thing to do under Nazi occupation - as would the act of the artist drawing his character doing so).

----------

47th entry out of ?

<- Back to February 8th ----- February 9th alternative entry ----- Forward to February 10th ->

Description
A Year in Comics - February 9th

Spirou and his pet-squirrel Spip deface a wartime Nazi propaganda poster* - Spirou

Robert Velter, also known as Rob-Vel, probably had one of the most unusual career paths leading him to the profession of comic artist. Born in Paris, France on February 9th 1909, Robert Velter was the son of a translator, which led to him moving from Paris to London at the age of 10. At the age of 16, he became a bellboy at the Ritz Charton hotel in London, before becoming a waiter and steward on ocean liners such as the RMS Majestic and SS Ile de France, where he also acted as a translator. During these trips, he also moonlighted as an artist, making caricatures of the passengers by demand, and decorating posters and menus.

During one of the trans-Atlantic journeys, in 1934, Velter encountered the American comic artist Martin Branner (1888-1970), who ended up hiring him as an assistent on his comic strip Winnie Winkle (1920-1996), and taught Velter the profession of comic artist. After his return to France in 1936, Robert Velter started working as a comic artist himself, starting out with the gag-strip M. Subito, before starting the comic Le Journal de Toto in 1937, for which he was assisted by his wife Blanche Dumoulin.

Rob-Vel's most famous character was the result of a commission: in 1937, the Belgian publisher Jean Dupuis asked him to create the titular character of a soon-to-be-created weekly comic magazine. Grabbing back to his experiences as a bellboy and the drawings he made when working on ocean liners, Rob-Vel designed the character Spirou, who started life as the elevator bellboy of the Moustic Hotel in the first issue of the Spirou magazine on April 21st 1938. While it is established that Rob-Vel created the character's design, there still is ambiguity over whether Rob-Vel actually drew the first page featuring the character - spread thin between working on his M. Subito and Babouche gag strips, and the comics Le Journal de Toto, Bibor et Tribar and Spirou as well as his day job as a translator, it appears he instead handed the first Spirou page to his friend and assistant Luc Lafnet - at the time an unseen practice in European comics.

Soon, however, fate would intervene in the most unexpected of ways: in March of 1939, Lafnet was taken ill, eventually dying in September of that year, robbing Rob-Vel of his friend and closest assistant. Equally, September 1939 saw World War Two break out, as a result of which Rob-Vel was mobilised for service in the French Army. In his absence, his wife Blanche "ghosted" his comic work together with a number of colleagues. Things became even worse in May of 1940, when the Blitzkrieg saw both France and Belgium occupied by Nazi forces: Rob-Vel himself was taken prisoner of war, and postal connections between France and Belgium were made nearly impossible by the occupying forces. As a result of this, neither Rob-Vel nor Blanche Dumoulin were able to continue sending contributions to their editor: instead, the Belgian artist Jijé took over the comic until Rob-Vel's release in March of 1941. Rob-Vel continued his work on the Spirou comics until December of 1942, when restrictions on the postal traffic imposed by the Nazis made it impossible to continue his work, after which Jijé fully took over making the Spirou comics from Rob-Vel, until paper rationing and publication restrictions forced Spirou to cease publishing its weekly in 1943.

Following the end of the War, Rob-Vel returned to drawing, however by this time he no longer worked for the Dupuis publishing house, and as a result no longer worked on the Spirou comics (which were taken over from Jijé by André Franquin in 1946). Instead, he continued work on the gag strips Babouche et Babouchette (1947-1953) and M. Subito (1949-1969), his pre-war comic Bibor et Tribar (1947-1951), and a host of newer creations, none of which would enjoy the fame his Spirou stories enjoyed. Following the death of his wife Blance in 1975, Rob-Vel retired from the comic business but continued to attend conventions until his death on April 27th 1991.

Meanwhile, Spirou himself survives to this day as one of the most famous characters of the Franco-Belgian comic scene, having been drawn by Rob-Vel (1938-1942); Jijé (1941; 1942-1946); André Franquin (1946-1968); Jean-Claude Fournier (1969-1979); Nic & Cauvin (1982-1984); Tome & Janry (1984-1998); Morvan & Munuera (2004-2008); and Yoann & Vehlmann (2010-current).

*Note: Naturally, during Rob-Vel's reign as Spirou artist, Spirou never had the occasion to deface Nazi propaganda posters (which would have been rather impractical, or rather, an outright dangerous thing to do under Nazi occupation - as would the act of the artist drawing his character doing so).

----------

47th entry out of ?

<- Back to February 8th ----- February 9th alternative entry ----- Forward to February 10th ->