Jean Roba (28 July 1930 – 14 June 2006) was a Belgian comics author from the Marcinelle school. His best-known work is ''

Boule et Bill ''Boule et Bill'' (known in English as ''Billy & Buddy'') is a popular comic, created in 1959 by Belgian writer-artist Jean Roba in collaboration with Maurice Rosy. In 2003, the artistic responsibility of the series was passed on to Roba's former a ...

''.

Biography

Jean Roba was born in

Schaerbeek ( French and archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Evere and ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Roba". In België gestript, pp. 151–152. Tielt: Lannoo. In his youth, he was a reader of French magazines like '' Robinson'' and ''

Mickey Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name or nickname Men * Mickey Andrews (bor ...

'', which featured mainly American comics. One of those that was especially influential on Roba was '' Katzenjammer Kids''. After working as an illustrator for different magazines and publicity agencies, he started to work as an illustrator for '' Spirou'' magazine in 1957, where he made small cartoons for the front page for a few years. He also worked on ''Bonnes Soirées'', another magazine from the same publisher

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic albums and magazines. It is originally a French lan ...

, where he continued the series ''Sa majesté mon mari'' after Albert Uderzo stopped. For ''Spirou'', he made a few short stories with Yvan Delporte and collaborated on different stories of ''

Spirou et Fantasio ''Spirou & Fantasio'' (french: Spirou et Fantasio, wa, Spirou eyet Fantasio) is one of the most popular classic Franco-Belgian comics. The series, which has been running since 1938, shares many characteristics with other European humorous advent ...

'' with

André Franquin André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are '' Gaston'' and '' Marsupilami''. He also produced the '' Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to 1968, a perio ...

, who taught him the basics of making comics, before starting his own main series ''Boule et Bill'' in 1959, initially with stories by Maurice Rosy. Next to this series of mainly one-page comics, he started in 1962 '' La Ribambelle'' about a group of kids from various countries and racial backgrounds. Roba was both an artist and writer, and wrote most of his own gags for ''Boule et Bill'', while others contributed stories for ''La Ribambelle''. He handed over the drawing of ''Boule et Bill'' to

Laurent Verron Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

after more than 1000 pages. His work has been translated in fourteen languages and has sold in excess of 25 million copies. He lived in

Jette Jette (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Ganshoren, Koekelberg, and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, as well as the Fl ...

from 1951 until his death in Brussels in 2006. In 2005, he ended on No. 100 in the election for Le plus grand Belge (The Greatest Belgian). On 6 June 2006, Roba died in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

of natural causes at the age of 75.

Bibliography

Awards

* 1978:

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (french: Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after L ...

, Best foreign comical work, for ''Boule et Bill'' * 1981: Angoulême International Comics Festival, Best comic for 9 to 12 years old, for ''Boule et Bill: Bill est maboul '' * 1992: Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, France Roba was also a Knight in the Order of Léopold.

Sources

Roba publications in ''Spirou''
BDoubliées

Bedetheque ;Footnotes

External links

on Lambiek Comiclopedia
Jean Roba biography
on Dupuis

on BD Paradisio

on Objectible.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Roba, Jean 1930 births 2006 deaths People from Schaerbeek Belgian comics artists Belgian comics writers Belgian humorists