Jean Graton

Jean Graton, who was born in Nantes, saw his first drawing published in Le Soir when he was only eight years old. Before turning to comics, he worked as an industrial designer, an advertising artist and as a sports illustrator for a press agency. His first actual comics were episodes of the historical 'Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' series in Spirou from 1952 to 1954. He then joined Tintin magazine, for which he drew several short stories, mainly about sports. It was 1957 when he created his most famous character, the formula 1 driver 'Michel Vaillant'. Based around a family enterprise in racing, the comic was an instant hit and became a classic in Belgian comics.

In addition, starting in 1966, Graton made 'Les Labourdet' for the family magazine Chez Nous, together with his wife Francine. In 1976, he created 'Julie Wood', a female professional motor driver. She first had her own series, but the character was soon included in the 'Michel Vaillant' series. In 1982, Graton founded his own publishing house, where he continued his famous series, accompanied by his son, Philippe Graton. By then, Graton had collected a team of talented artists around him, like Guillaume Lopez, Louis Fernandez, Christian Lippens, Daniel Bouchez, Christian Papazoglakis and Frédéric Pauwels, who assisted him on the popular 'Michel Vaillant' series.

In 1995, Graton Éditeur launched the 'Dossiers Michel Vaillant' collection, a series of books with comics and articles about famous persons from the car and motorracing scene. The publishing house also reprinted Graton's older work, including his 'Oncle Pierre' stories and the 'Les Labourdet' series.