Edgar P. Jacobs

Edgard Felix Pierre Jacobs (30 March 1904 - 20 February 1987), better known under his pen name Edgar P. Jacobs, was a Belgian comic book writer and artist. Jacobs was one of the founding fathers of the European comics movement. He worked with Herge on the graphic novel series that made him famous, Blake and Mortimer.
Biography
Edgar Pierre Jacobs was born in Brussels in 1904. In 1919 he graduated from school. He took on odd jobs at the opera, including decoration, scenography, and painting. Sometimes he worked as an extra. In 1929 he received the annual Belgian government medal for excellence in classical singing.
In 1940 Jacobs turned permanently to illustration. He drew commercial illustrations and collaborated in the Bravo review until 1946.
The American comic strip Flash Gordon was not allowed in Belgium by the German forces during World War II. He was asked to write an end to the comic. But German censorship stopped this after only a couple of weeks. Jacobs then published in Bravo his first comic strip, Le Rayon U (The U Ray). This was in the same Flash Gordon style.
Around this time, he became a stage painter for a theatre adaptation for Herge's Cigars of the Pharaoh. This led to friendship with Herge. As a direct result, he helped Herge in colorizing the black and white strips of The Shooting Star to be ready for book publication in 1942. From 1944 on he helped in the recasting of his earlier albums Tintin in the Congo, Tintin in America, King Ottokar's Sceptre and The Blue Lotus for color book publication. After the project, he continued to contribute directly in the drawing as well as the storyline for the new Tintin double-albums The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun.
Jacobs, as a fan of opera, decided to take Herge with him to a concert. Herge did not like opera, however, and for decades he would gently joke with his friend Jacobs through opera singer Bianca Castafiore, a supporting character in The Adventures of Tintin. Herge also gave him tiny cameo roles in Tintin adventures, sometimes under the name Jacobini.
In 1946, he was part of the team gathered by Raymond Leblanc around the new comics magazine Le Journal de Tintin. His story Le secret de l'Espadon (The Secret of the Swordfish) was published on September 26. This was the first of the Blake and Mortimer series.
Bibliography
Le Rayon U (The U Ray), in 1943
Le Secret de l'Espadon (The Secret of the Swordfish), in 1947 (3 volumes)
Le Mystere de la Grande Pyramide, (The Mystery of the Great Pyramid), in 1950 (2 volumes)
La Marque Jaune (The Yellow "M"), in 1953
L'Enigme de l'Atlantide (Atlantis Mystery), in 1955
S.O.S. Meteores: Mortimer a Paris (S.O.S. Meteors), in 1958
Le Piege diabolique (The Time Trap) in 1960
L'Affaire du Collier (The Necklace Affair) in 1965
Les trois Formules du Professeur Sato: Mortimer a Tokyo (Mortimer in Tokyo) in 1970 (vol. 1). Vol. 2 Mortimer contre Mortimer (Mortimer versus Mortimer) completed by Bob De Moor, 1990
Awards
1971: Grand Prix Saint-Michel, Belgium
References
Guyard, Jean-Marc. Le Baryton du neuvieme art. Bruxelles: Editions Blake et Mortimer, 1996.
Jacobs, Edgar P. Un opera de papier: Les memoires de Blake et Mortimer. Paris: Gallimard, 1981.
Lenne, Gerard. L'Affaire Jacobs. Paris: Megawave, 1990.
Mouchart, Benoit. A l'ombre de la ligne claire: Jacques Van Melkebeke, le clandestin de la B.D. Paris: Vertige Graphic, 2002.
Mouchart, Benoit and Riviere, Francois La Damnation d'Edgar P. Jacobs, Seuil-Archimbaud, 2003.
Valentinitsch,Bernhard, Ein Sich-Losen von und Brechen mit Traditionen - der Comic-Klassiker 'Blake und Mortimer', der 'Ketzer'-Pharao Echnaton und andere agyptische 'Ketzer'. In: Denken und Glauben Nr. 201. Graz 2022, S. 22-24.
Edgar P. Jacobs publications in Belgian Tintin and French Tintin BDoubliees
1904 births
1987 deaths
Artists from Brussels
Belgian comics artists
Writers from Brussels