Mazel
Topics :
- Adventure
- Children's literature
- Swashbuckling
- Humor
- Western
Mazel, a leading figure in Belgian comics
Born on June 27, 1931, in Herentals, in the province of Antwerp, Mazel spent his childhood immersed in the adventure novels of Jules Verne and Alexandre Dumas. In the late 1950s, he illustrated a Belle Histoire de l'oncle Paul for Spirou, then joined Tintin in 1960, where he produced numerous series drafts while searching for his style: L'Affaire Tarentule, the gag strips featuring the tramps Bôjolet and Riesling, those of Cromagnon, as well as full-length stories created simultaneously for Pilote (The Secret Agent, O.K. 27.43, under the pseudonym Zem). His flair for panache led him to launch the musketeers Fleurdelys and Patacrac in 1966, based on a script by Vicq. In 1969, Charles Dupuis offered him the opportunity to work with Cauvin. They published the series Câline and Calebasse in Spirou, featuring a whimsical d’Artagnan and his hot-tempered mare. The series was phased out in 1976 in favor of a young Tarzan and his gorilla, Boulouloum and Guiliguili, later renamed Kaloum and Kong (in Les Jungles perdues – Lost Jungles). At the same time, he adopted the pseudonym Mavericq to launch a humorous Western, Chacal Bill, in PIF, where he had begun working discreetly at the Greg studio on the series Les As.
For Spirou, he then created a Wild West heroine, Jessie Jane (1981), based on an idea by Gérald Frydman, before reviving Câline et Calebasse under the new title Les Mousquetaires (1989), for which he wrote the script himself this time. Finally, in 1993, he teamed up with Cauvin on a new series very much in tune with the times: Les Paparazzi, featuring a dynamic duo of photojournalists who find themselves in one mishap after another, much to the delight of readers.
Credits :
©Mazel / Cauvin, Dupuis (banner) © Thierry Sauvage, 2026 (portrait)
Pages and artworks from Mazel See all
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Original cover produced for Glénat 2008 reprint, Lettrege collé.
3 600 € -
