François Boucq
Encyclopedia
François Boucq is a French
comic book artist
. He is most famous for his surreal
comics revolving around the main character Jérôme Moucherot.
or L'Expansion
at an early age. Soon, he also created comic albums, becoming famous with Les pionniers de l'aventure humaine. Many more have been published in the meantime, including La femme du magicien (1986) and the series Face de Lune, which was created in cooperation with the artist Alexandro Jodorowsky. 1994 saw the publication of Les dents du recoin, the first album of a series of surreal comics that feature Jérôme Moucherot, a door-to-door insurance salesman with a fountain pen through his nose, who is dressed in a leopard
fur suit; his bizarre adventures take place in a world where Smurfs are jungle-dwelling headhunters and sharks swim around in the blue wallpapers of bourgeois
living rooms.
In recent years, Boucq has teamed up with Jodorowsky again, creating the graphic novel series Bouncer, set in a bleak Western
scenario.
In 1998, Boucq was awarded the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
. In keeping with the festival's tradition, he was the president of the jury in the following year.
Apart of his comic book career he is real enthusiast of kendo (Japanese fencing), and achieved 5 Dan master grade.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
comic book artist
Comic Book Artist
Comic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...
. He is most famous for his surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
comics revolving around the main character Jérôme Moucherot.
Biography
Boucq published cartoons in magazines like Le PointLe Point
Le Point is a French weekly news magazine. It was founded in 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of L'Express, which was then owned by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, a député of the Parti Radical...
or L'Expansion
L'Expansion
L'Expansion is a French monthly business magazine, founded in 1967. It is published by Groupe Express-Roularta, which also owns the weekly news magazine L'Express, Lire, L'Étudiant.The 2006 paid circulation for the magazine was 160,514....
at an early age. Soon, he also created comic albums, becoming famous with Les pionniers de l'aventure humaine. Many more have been published in the meantime, including La femme du magicien (1986) and the series Face de Lune, which was created in cooperation with the artist Alexandro Jodorowsky. 1994 saw the publication of Les dents du recoin, the first album of a series of surreal comics that feature Jérôme Moucherot, a door-to-door insurance salesman with a fountain pen through his nose, who is dressed in a leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
fur suit; his bizarre adventures take place in a world where Smurfs are jungle-dwelling headhunters and sharks swim around in the blue wallpapers of bourgeois
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
living rooms.
In recent years, Boucq has teamed up with Jodorowsky again, creating the graphic novel series Bouncer, set in a bleak Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
scenario.
In 1998, Boucq was awarded the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême
Every year, the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême is awarded during the Angoulême International Comics Festival to an author for his body of work and/or for his achievement in the evolution of comics....
. In keeping with the festival's tradition, he was the president of the jury in the following year.
Apart of his comic book career he is real enthusiast of kendo (Japanese fencing), and achieved 5 Dan master grade.
Selected bibliography
- Les pionniers de l'aventure humaine (Pioneers Of The Human Adventure)
- La femme du magicien (The Magician's Wife)
- La pédagogie du trottoir
- Bouche du diable (Billy Budd, KGB) with writer Jérôme CharynJerome CharynJerome Charyn is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life...
- Face de Lune with Alejandro JodorowskyAlejandro JodorowskyAlejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...
- Un point c'est tout
- Les dents du recoin
- Bouncer, with Alejandro Jodorowsky
Awards
- 1985: Prix de la critiquePrix de la critiqueThe Prix de la critique is a prize awarded by the Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée to the best comic album released for a year in France. Previously, from 1984 to 2003, it was called Prix Bloody Mary and awarded at the Angoulême International Comics Festival...
at the Angoulême International Comics FestivalAngoulême International Comics FestivalThe Angoulême International Comics Festival is the largest comics festival in Europe. It has occurred every year since 1974 in Angoulême, France, in the month of January.The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning...
, France - 1986: Best French ComicAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic BookThe Prize for Best Album , also known as the Golden Wildcat , is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival....
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival - 1992: nominated for Best German-language Comic/Comic-related Publication at the Max & Moritz PrizesMax & Moritz PrizesThe Max & Moritz Prize is a prize for comic books, comic strips, and other similar materials which has been awarded at each of the biennial International Comics Shows of Erlangen since 1984...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... - 1996: nominated for Best Drawing at the Haxtur AwardHaxtur AwardThe Haxtur Award is a Spanish award for comics published in Spain. It is awarded annually at the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias ....
s, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... - 1998: Grand Prix de la ville d'AngoulêmeGrand Prix de la ville d'AngoulêmeEvery year, the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême is awarded during the Angoulême International Comics Festival to an author for his body of work and/or for his achievement in the evolution of comics....
, France - 1999: nominated for Best Short Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards
- 2001: nominated for the Humour AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Humour awardThe Humour award was presented to a comic at the Angoulême International Comics Festival from 1989 until 2001.-1990s:* 1990: Raoul Fulgurex: Le secret du mystère by Tronchet and Gelli* 1991: Le pauvre chevalier by F'Murr...
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival - 2002: nominated for the Canal BD AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Media awardThis media award was presented at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. It was given by different media over the years, with sometimes different awards in one year...
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival - 2003:
- nominated for the Audience AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize Awarded by the AudienceThis Prize Awarded by the Audience is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival since 1989.The prize was known as Alph-Art du public from 1989-2003, the Prix du public from 2004-2006, and since 2007 the Essentiel FNAC-SNCF, since it is sponsored by the retailer Fnac...
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival - La Plumilla de Plata (The silver inkpen) in Mexico.
- nominated for the Audience Award
- 2004:
- nominated for the Audience Award and the Series AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize for a SeriesThis Prize for a Series is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival since 2004.As is the customary practice in Wikipedia for listing awards such as Oscar results, the winner of the award for that year is listed first, the others listed below are the nominees.* 2004:...
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival - nominated for Best international series at the Prix Saint-MichelPrix Saint-MichelThe Prix Saint-Michel is a series of comic awards presented by the city of Brussels, with a focus on Franco-Belgian comics. They were first awarded in 1971, and are the second oldest comics award in Europe still presented, behind the Adamson Awards...
, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
- nominated for the Audience Award and the Series Award
- 2006:
- Award for Best Drawing at the Albert Uderzo Awards
- nominated for the Audience Award and the Series Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
- 2008: nominated for Best Artwork at the Prix Saint-Michel
- 2010: nominated for Best French lLanguage Comic at the Prix Saint-Michel