Jacques Martin

• Born 1921-09-25 · Died 2010-01-21

Jacques Martin was a French comics artist and comic book creator. He was one of the classic artists of Tintin magazine, alongside Edgar P. Jacobs and Hergé, of whom he was a longtime collaborator. He is best known for his series Alix. Jacques Martin began in 1942 to draw his first comic stories. In 1946, following the end of the War, he travelled through Belgium in search of an editor for his work. Soon afterwards he met Hergé, with whom he collaborated on several albums of The Adventures of Tintin (and more specifically on Tintin in Tibet and The Red Sea Sharks) while working on his own albums. It was from Hergé that he learned of the ligne claire style. In 1948, he created Alix, his most famous series, published in the magazine Tintin, whose adventures - extremely well researched - occur in Roman antiquity. Martin went on to create other characters, beginning with the contemporary journalist Lefranc in 1952. Much later he created others in collaboration with various partners, namely the medieval architect Jhen (initially entitled Xan) in 1978, the French revolutionary officer Arno in 1984, the Athenian Orion in 1990, and the Egyptian Keos in 1992.