'Notre Dame' #1.
Jean Bastide is a French comic artist and colorist. His oeuvre is varied. From historical series like Yslaire's 'La Guerre des Sambre' (2007-2009) and the Victor Hugo adaptation 'Notre Dame' (2012-2014) with Robin Recht, he was hired as Laurent Verron's replacement on the family gag comic 'Boule et Bill' (2016).
Early life and education
Jean Bastide was born in 1982 in Albi, a commune in South-West France. As a child, he loved reading the 'Lucky Luke' comics by Morris, and later he moved over to manga series like Akira Toriyama's 'Dragon Ball'. On the side he enjoyed himself creating his own comics. He got his vocational and professional training in the field of construction at the Lycee du Sidobre in Castres. While still a student, Bastide regularly participated in the school category Alph'Art contests in Angoulême. In 2003 the jury, headed by Jean Solé, awarded him the prize at the 30th comic festival of Angoulême. In the following year, he headed for Brussels, where he enrolled at the Sint-Lukas School of Arts.
Historical comics
Bastide's talent was noted by Bernard Yslaire, who hired the young man to work on one of his series about the Sambre dynasty. Together with his high school friend Vincent Mézil, Bastide was tasked to draw the 'Hugo & Iris' trilogy in the 'La Guerre des Sambre' series, a historical romance story set in 1830. The duo illustrated and colored the three books, which were publised by Futuropolis/Glénat between 2007 and 2009. Bastide subsequently teamed up with scriptwriter Robin Recht to create 'Notre Dame' (2012-2014) at Glénat Caractère, their lightweight and loose adaptation of Victor Hugo's 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'. The series was intended to have three albums, but only two were published.
'Hugo & Iris' #1, artwork by Bastide and Mézil.
Colorist
In the meantime, Bastide worked as a colorist for other comics, often in the thriller or fantasy genres. He has lent his talents to 'Elric' (Glénat Grafica, 2013-2017) by Julien Blondel, Robin Recht, Didier Poli and others, 'Alice Matheson' (Soleil, 2015) by Jean-luc Istin, Phil Vandaële and Zivorad Radivojevic, 'Griffe Blanche' (Dargaud, 2015) by Serge Le Tendre and TaDuc and 'Katanga' (Dargaud, 2017) by Fabien Nury and Sylvain Vallée, among other series.
Boule et Bill
By 2016, Laurent Verron left the gag series 'Boule et Bill' to pursue other projects. Publisher Dargaud hired Jean Bastide to replace him, while gag comics specialist Christophe Cazenove became the new writer of the classic gag comic about the kid Boule and his Cocker Spaniel Bill. Switching from a semi-realistic to a humorous drawing style, Bastide decided to stay true to the style and tone of the series' creator, Jean Roba. Instead of continuing in line with Verron's gags, Roba's 1980 episodes became his main inspiration. Bastide and Cazenove's first album was the 37th installment in the series, published in 2016. The duo's tenure furthermore saw the publication of the 40th album and the series' festive 60th anniversary in 2019!
Idéfix
In 2020, Jean Bastide also tackled another famous four-legged friend of European comics. Together with writer Matthieu Choquet and in alternation with fellow artist Philippe Fenech, he worked on a spin-off comic with 'Idéfix', the dog from the 'Astérix' comics created by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. The first story appeared in the Winter 2020 issue of the quarterly magazine Astérix Max! (#10). The series ties in with the 3D-animated 'Idéfix et les Irréductibles' TV series ('Dogmatix and the Indomitables', 2021) and takes place before the 'Astérix' stories. In this prequel, Idéfix is part of a rebel gang of animals, who stubbornly resist the Roman occupation of Lutetia (present-day Paris). After participating in the production of two albums of the comic book series, Bastide left the feature and was replaced by David Étien.
Made in France
In addition to his own cartooning work, Jean Bastide has been promoting Franco-Belgian comics in the USA through the Made in France association. In November 2018, he first visisted the country on an invitation by Made in France, headed by Sylvie Joseph-Julien. During his first visit, he went to several French-American schools in Seattle and visited the Seattle Pacific University and Seattle University campuses. He talked to bilingual students about his profession. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, he presided the opening ceremony of two editions of the online Seattle Comic Arts Festival with virtual exhibitions and workshops. In 2022, Jean Bastide and With Made in France, Jean Bastide was also the co-founder of the French-Belgian Comic Arts Festival on the USA West Coast, first held in Passadena, California, in November 2022.
'Boule et Bill'.