Fred

Fred Artistidès, who published under his given name Fred, started making gags in French and foreign newspapers and magazines like Ici-Paris, France-Dimanche, Le Hérisson, The New Yorker and Punch in the 1950s. He created his first comic, 'Journal de Bord', for Zéro magazine in 1954. In 1960, he became artistic director of Hara-Kiri, where Jean Giraud made his first work as Moebius. Fred himself illustrated several covers, songs and tales for the magazine, but also comics like 'Les Petits Métiers', 'Le Manu'Manu', 'Tarsinge l'Homme Zan' and 'Petit Cirque'.

He joined Pilote magazine in 1965, where he created his most famous comic, 'Philémon'. This surrealistic series is considered one of the most poetic and original in comics. Besides 'Philemon', he also drew several illustrations with "black humor" for the magazine, some of which were collected in the book 'Le Fond de l'Air... et Fred'. At the same time, he became a versatile writer for others, such as Jean-Claude Mézières, Loro, Georges Pichard, Hubuc, Mic Delinx and most notably Alexis, with whom he created the 'Timoléon' series.

In 1979, he briefly appeared in Pif Gadget, with 'Cythère, l'Apprentie Sorcière'. He began self-publishing in the 1980s, beginning with 'Magic Palace Hôtel' and 'Parade'. In the following years, he produced 'La Magique Lanterne Magique', 'Le Journal de Jules Rendard', 'L'Histoire du Corbac aux Baskets'. He also wrote several short cartoons for television.