Raoul Cauvin

Infobox Comics creator
name = Cauvin


imagesize =
caption =
birthname = Raoul Cauvin
birthdate = birth date and age|1938|9|26
location = Antoing, Belgium
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = Belgian
area = writer
alias =
notable works = "Les Tuniques Bleues" "Sammy" "Les Femmes en Blanc"
awards = full list

Raoul Cauvin (born September 26, 1938) is a Belgian comics author.

Biography

Raoul Cauvin was born in Antoing, Belgium in 1938.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Raoul Cauvin". In België gestript, pp. 176-177. Tielt: Lannoo.] He studied lithography at the Institut Saint-Luc in Tournai, but when he left school there were no longer any lithographers needed. [http://www.topbd.be/cauvin/interview.html Interview on fan site] fr icon Last accessed September 29th, 2006] He started working at Dupuis in 1960 as a cameraman for the small animation studio the publishing house had started, working on early Smurfs cartoons and other short movies produced then. After a few years, he started writing comics for others, and since became one of the most prolific Franco-Belgian comics authors, almost always staying true to Dupuis. Some of his earliest works are for other artists like Claire Bretécher, Gennaux and Eddy Ryssack. He started his first long running series in 1968 with "Les Tuniques Bleues" with drawings by Salvérius, as a replacement for "Lucky Luke", the successful Western series of the comics magazine "Spirou" which after 31 albums moved to its main rival "Pilote". The series was not immediately successful but slowly gathered a following. Since then, more than 15 million albums have been sold. He added other another success in 1972 with "Sammy". A short stint on "Spirou and Fantasio" was not so successful. He continues to work for the animation studio as well, writing the scripts for the "Musti", "Tip and Tap" and "The Pili's" cartoons by Ray Goossens.

He has lived in Nivelles since 1991. In November 1999, he had published already 237 albums, [ [http://membres.lycos.fr/rhinolophe/pageshtml/interviews/cauvin.htm Interview from November 1999] . fr icon Last accessed June 28th, 2006] selling over 45 million albums in total. [ [http://www.actuabd.com/article.php3?id_article=4122 ActuaBD Comics news] fr icon Last accessed September 29th, 2006]

Themes, critics and successes

His work is almost always humoristic, but he produces both long (i.e. 44 pages) stories and short gags (between half a page and 6 pages). He started mainly with historic series: "Les Tuniques Bleues" uses the American Civil War as background, while "Sammy" plays in the time of Al Capone and Eliot Ness, and "Les Mousquetaires" describes the adventures of three musketeers. But with "Agent 212", featuring a rather stupid cop, he starts to make his stories more contemporary, and in the 1980s he breaches more and more taboo subjects and introduces more critical views, with themes like nursing and hospitals in "Les Femmes en Blanc", paparazzi in "Les Paparazzi" or gravediggers in "Pierre Tombal". But he also makes fun of his own life and that of an artist in "Pauvre Lampil", a caricatural autobiography, and starts series about a love angel in "Cupido" or the hard life of a vulture falling in love with an owl in "Les Voraces".

He makes his scripts in the form of a rudimentary comic, suggesting a page lay-out, [ [http://www.topbd.be/cauvin/images/scenario/feb-01.gifImage of a Cauvin scenario for "Les Femmes en Blanc"] . Last accessed September 29th 2006] and he has also made a few comics completely on his own, but with limited success. His works are often seen as more artisanal than artistic by the critics, [ [http://www.bdparadisio.com/scripts/detailbd.cfm?Id=4319 Critic of a recent album by Cauvin] . fr icon Last accessed June 28th, 2006] while others consider him an uncontested master of the humoristic comic. [ [http://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-21-BD-Cauvin-Raoul.html Biography at Bedethèque] fr icon Last accessed September 29th, 2006]

Whatever the critics think of him though, he continues to be very successful with the public and sought after by artists, currently writing 11 different series. In 2006 alone, he had six series in the list of best selling new comics of the ABCD, with "Cedric" securing the fourth spot with 288,900 albums and "Les Tuniques Bleues" at ten with 184,800 copies. His other most successfull comics were "Les Femmes en Blanc" (78,000 copies), "Agent 212" (66,000 copies), "Les Psy" (51,500 copîes) and "Pierre Tombal" (45,700 copies). [cite web|last=Ratier|first=Gilles|url=http://www.acbd.fr/bilan/page/bilan-2006.html#5|title=ACBD bilan 2006: Best selling albums of the year in French|publisher=ACBD.fr|accessdate=2007-02-08]

elected bibliography

All stories originally appeared in "Spirou" and published in album by Dupuis unless otherwise stated.

* "Agent 212" (artist: Daniel Kox; 25 albums, since 1975)
* "Boulouloum et Guiliguili" (artist: Mazel; 10 albums, between 1975 and 1988)
* "Cédric" (artist: Laudec; 20 albums, since 1989)
* "CRS=Détresse" (artist: Achdé; 12 albums published by Dargaud, since 1993)
* "Cupidon" (artist Malik; 18 albums, since 1988)
* "Les Femmes en blanc" (artist: Philippe Bercovici; 28 albums, since 1986)
* "Godaille et Godasse" (artist: Sandron; 5 albums, between 1982 and 1988)
* "Les Grandes amours contrariées" (artist: Philippe Bercovici; 1 album in 1982)
* "Les Mousquetaires" (artist: Mazel; 8 albums, between 1972 and 1998)
* "Natacha" (artist: François Walthéry; Album #13 in 1988)
* "Les Naufragés" (artist: Claire Bretécher; 1 album, in 1968)
* "Les Paparazzi" (artist: Mazel; 10 albums, since 1996)
* "Pauvre Lampil" (artist: Lambil; 7 albums, between 1973 and 1995)
* "Pierre Tombal" (artist: Marc Hardy; 23 albums, since 1983)
* "Du côté de chez Poje" (artist: Carpentier); 17 albums, since 1986)
* "Les Psy" (artist: Bédu; 13 albums, since 1992)
* "Sammy" (artist: Berck, since 1995 Jean-Pol; 39 albums, since 1970)
* "Spirou et Fantasio" (artist: Nic Broca; Albums #30, #31 and #32, between 1983 and 1984)
* "Taxi Girl" (artist: Laudec, 2 albums, between 1994 and 1996)
* "Les Tuniques Bleues" (artist: Salvérius, after his death Lambil; 50 albums, since 1968)
* "Le Vieux Bleu" (artist: François Walthéry, 1 album, in 1980)
* "Les Voraces" (artist: Glem; 5 albums, between 1986 and 1994)

Awards

* 1975: Best Comical Album at the Prix Saint-Michel, Brussels, Belgium for "Sammy" [ [http://membres.lycos.fr/chclaute/B/berckt.htm Berck website] fr icon Last accessed September 29th, 2006]
* 1976: Best Foreign Author at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France [ [http://www.toutenbd.com/article.php3?id_article=848 Angoulême Awards 1976] fr icon Last accessed September 29th, 2006]
* 2001: Nomination for Best Youth Album at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France for "CRS = détresse" [ [http://www.toutenbd.com/article.php3?id_article=823 Angoulême Awards 2001] fr icon Last accessed September 29th, 2006]
* 2006: Nomination for Best Album at the Albert Uderzo Awards in Nîmes, France for "Les Tuniques Bleues" [ [http://gb.asterix.com/prix/prix2.htm Site of the Albert Uderzo Awards] . Last accessed June 28th, 2006]

ources

* De Saeger, Kris (1995), "Dossier Cauvin". Arboris. ISBN 90-343-2435-4
* [http://bdoubliees.com/journalspirou/auteurs1/cauvin.htm Cauvin publications in "Spirou"] BDoubliées fr_icon;Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/cauvin.htm Cauvin biography] on Lambiek Comiclopedia
* [http://www.topgame.be/a-cauvin.html Cauvin biography] Top Game fr icon
* [http://www.cauvin.tk/ Raoul Cauvin fansite] fr icon