Brussels (AFP)

Belgian comic book writer Raoul Cauvin, father of the successful series "Les Tuniques bleues" and the youth series "Cédric", died Thursday at the age of 82, announced Dupuis, his publishing house.

"It is with immense emotion that we inform you of the death of Raoul Cauvin, one of the greatest men in the world of comics," said the publisher early Friday, three months after the author announced that he was affected. of incurable cancer.

"We are in thought with (...) the millions of readers who adored his humor and his situation comedy through the publication of his series", added Dupuis in a press release.

Raoul Cauvin mainly owes his fame to "Blue Tunics", a successful series of rare longevity, which has sold millions of copies in half a century.

She tells with humor the adventures of two American soldiers, a convinced militarist and another engaged in spite of himself, who fight the "Southerners" during the Civil War (1861-1865).

With more than 15 million albums sold in French - not counting translations into English, German, Dutch and other languages ​​- these Laurel and Hardy comics have introduced the American conflict to many Europeans.

Raoul Cauvin had created "Les Tuniques Bleues" in 1968, eight years after his debut at Dupuis as a letterer.

He had first conceived his two heroes - Sergeant Cornelius Chesterfield and Corporal Blutch - with the designer Louis Salvérius, who died in 1972 and gave way to Willy Lambil.

The latter remained Cauvin's inseparable accomplice until volume 64, the final album signed by the screenwriter, unveiled last May.

"It's sadness. I can't work today, I'm downcast," Willy Lambil told AFP on Friday, sitting at his drawing table.

"He's a comic book dinosaur. Like me. And there aren't many of us," observes the designer, who worked for several decades with Cauvin.

- "A monument" -

These two veterans were affectionately known as "comic book grandpas", with the same graying mustache.

"It's still a monument. What he was able to release as albums! I have always wondered: + what imagination he can have? +", Underlines Lambil.

The popular success of the "Blue Tunics" indeed pushed Cauvin to become a prolific author for his publisher Dupuis, collaborating with many other designers: among others Berck ("Sammy and Lou"), Nic ("Spirou and Fantasio" ) or Kox ("Agent 212").

A follower of all forms of visual gagging, Cauvin evolved in the 80s towards more incisive productions, often close to black humor and parody.

He is thus illustrated in the series "Pierre Tombal" (with Hardy), "Women in white" on the universe of the hospital (with Bercovici in the drawing), and "Cédric" (with Laudec) - which s has proven to be a success in children's comics with 34 albums to date.

At the beginning of May 2021, a few days after the release of the last "Blue Tunics", Cauvin announced on his blog that he was suffering from incurable cancer.

"Raoul Cauvin has become a veritable statue of Commander of the screenwriters (...) he has permanently codified the mechanics of the gag and the canons of the humorous adventure", Dupuis stressed on Friday.

All series combined, he sold "more than 50 million albums", according to the publisher.

After its publication in May in the magazine Spirou, the last "Blue tunics" scripted by Cauvin, entitled "Where is therefore Arabesque?", Will be released as an album by Dupuis on October 1st.

It is volume 64, which appears after number 65, "The Special Envoy", released in October 2020. The series will not stop: the volume 66, "Irish Melody", is already due to appear in October 2022, with the screenwriter Kris (Christophe Goret in civil status).

© 2021 AFP