Jean-Claude Mézières: 1938 – 2022

We lost a legend this weekend.

Jean-Claude Mézières only had one major comics project in his career, but it cemented his status as a legend in the comics industry. “Valerian and Laureline” ran 23 books over 50 years. It would dictate a vision of the future that much of modern sci-fi takes inspiration from.

Mézières was an artist and a visionary, whose influence we saw on display across social media this weekend as so many modern artists paid tribute to him. Yes, it was mostly the Europe-based artists, but there were plenty of Americans mixed in there, too. (To be fair, it’s not like “Valerian and Laureline” has always been easily accessible in North America for much of the last 50 years…)

A Remarkable Life

Mézières’ lived a fascinating life. He was an artist from the start, but one who dreamed of being a cowboy.

Born in 1938, he was six years old and inside an air raid shelter during World War II when he met his “Valerian and Laureline” co-creator, Pierre Christin, for the first time.

His early artistic influences included Uderzo, Franquin, and especially Morris. “Lucky Luke” was part of his adoration for all things about the American West. His style on the original Valerian story in “Pilote Journal” reflected that. It’s much more Marcinelle School than what you’re likely thinking of later in the series.

He went to an art school in Paris as a teenager. One of his classmates there was Jean Giraud, a/k/a Moebius. The two would later work together on “The Fifth Element.” When production of that movie stalled, he used those designs for a “Valerian and Laureline” book, instead. And when the movie came out, the comic would look ahead of its time. (Those flying taxis!)

He traveled to America for a job that he wound up not taking. (This complicated his visa situation, but that’s a story for another day.). Instead, he traveled to Montana, Wyoming, and Utah to work as a cowboy. He wrote about his experiences in an issue of Pilote Journal.

He also talked about it in an interview with The Comics Journal (issue #260) with Gary Groth and Gil Kane. The interview was recorded in 1986 but didn’t see print until 2004. The cowboy adventure is a very small part, though, of a 20-page interview that discusses Valerian, the French comics market, comics creation, and so much more. It’s a very good discussion of all things comics, including how he worked with Christin on creating their books together.

The quotes you see in this article are all from that interview.

Mézières was a tortured artist in his own right. He didn’t draw for pleasure and he didn’t think highly of his own stuff. He liked telling a story and breaking down the pages, but didn’t consider himself a draftsman.

“The drawing is not my interest. The story is my interest. In fact, once again, the directing is my interest.”

Jean-Claude Mézières

Back to America in 1965-1966:

While in Utah, he looked up his old friend, Pierre Christin, who was a professor at a university there. Because, you know, small world and all. He crashed with Christin for a short time, picking up some advertising gigs to make a few bucks.

Eventually, Christin convinced him to try his hand at the comics he liked so much as a kid. The two produced a short story that they sent over to their friend, Jean Giraud, in France. Giraud gave it to Rene Goscinny, who published it and left the door open for them to do more.

After a couple small jobs for Pilote, he had enough money to get back to France before his visa expired. He continued to work for Pilote. Eventually, Christin returned to France, too, and the pair decided they wanted to work together on something.

They wanted to do a western, but Pilote had too many of those already, so they pitched a science fiction story. Christin didn’t want to follow in the mold of other PIlote writers. Mézières didn’t know where to begin drawing a sci-fi story, and he knew didn’t want to draw something in the style of Franquin or Herge, who influenced so much of comics culture at the time.

Thus, “Valerian and Laureline” was born — an odd duck story in an unpopular genre trying its best to be unlike everything else. They completely made it up as they went along, trying their best not to copy popular styles.

We ever knew what we would be doing, we knew damn well from the beginning what we would not be doing. We would not have a hero. We would not have a savior of the Free World. We would not have the man who fights against the bad ones. We have no bad guys and good guys. We just had the testimony of somebody, he was a witness. Valerian has always been some sort of a witness of some weird affair, and he had a little something to do with it. He did not even know for sure that he had to do that way. And Laureline was most of the time opposed to what he would be doing. The construction of the personality of Laureline has become more and more important, because she was a strong opponent of Valerian’s actions.

Jean-Claude Mézières

Needless to say, it worked.

Some say its influences go even further than French comics….

Other Interesting Facts

The colorist on “Valerian and Laureline” is Evenlyn Tranlé, who is Mézières’ sister.

Mézières taught comics to students that included Regis Loisel.

Mézières fought in the Algerian War for France.

He won the Grand Prix in Angouleme in 1984.

He was presented with an Inkpot Award at San Diego Comic-Con in 2006.

An art book featuring his work titled “L’Art de Mézières” was published in September 2021. Mézières said it would be his last book.

In 1974, he wrote and drew an eight page story, “My Very Own America” about his adventures in the States, and the Two Americas he saw there. He clearly enjoyed his time as a cowboy, working his way up from the lowliest jobs to getting to work with the cattle directly. But he also saw the issues of poverty, race relations, and war. It was the mid-1960s, so those were all topics very much topics of interest in those days. I can’t help but wonder what he thought about during the May 1968 uprising in France…

Jean-Claude Mézières is a legend and an inspiration for generations of artists who’ve come after him, particularly those in the sci-fi side of things. He lived an amazing life, produced a remarkable body of work, and entertained millions. He is a memorable and influencetial part of the history of Franco-Belgian comics, from a generation whose numbers continue to dwindle.

Thankfully, his body of work is now available in English for everyone on this side of the ocean to read and enjoy for generations to come.

Post Script

When I focused this site on European comics in 2017, “Valerian and Laureline” was the first series I concentrated on. The movie was due out that summer and I wanted to read the books first. I thought it would be a fun challenge to review them all, too. You can read all those reviews (including coverage of the movie) on the Valerian and Laureline Pipeline Portal page.