'Tom Brinfin et Dodolf'.
Hector Brault was a mid-20th century Canadian illustrator and comic artist from Quebec. He worked as an assistant for Pierre Saint-Loup in the 1930s. During World War II Brault drew the political-satirical newspaper comic 'Tom Brinfin et Dodolf’ (1941-1942) in Le Samedi. He may have also been the artist behind the pseudonym Tom Lucas, who drew the gag comic 'Casimir’ (1935-1945) for Le Petit Journal.
Early life and career
Hector Brault was born in 1908. In the second half of the 1930s he became an assistant for Pierre Saint-Loup, an illustrator and comic artist who worked for the newspaper Le Petit Journal in Montreal.
L'Oncle Pacifique and Casimir appearing in one strip (2 January 1944), with the announcement of Tom Lucas' holiday.
Casimir
On 11 August 1935 Pierre Saint-Loup’s weekly humor comic 'L’Oncle Pacifique’, which had ran for three months in Le Petit Journal, received a companion strip: 'Casimir’ (1935-1945). 'Casimir’ ran as a six square topper comic at the bottom of each episode of 'L’Oncle Pacifique’. Casimir was a dumb person who always found himself in wacky situations. The series was signed by a certain Tom Lucas. This mysterious artist may have been Saint-Loup himself under a pseudonym, given that the artist was quite capable of switching graphic styles. Another possibility is that the comic was drawn by his assistant Brault. Either way, both comics enjoyed a similar long run. Both debuted in 1935 and were absent from papers during the summers of 1943 and 1944. On 2 January 1944 L’Oncle Pacifique and Casimir were seen together in a crossover episode. And after 26 August 1945, both comics were discontinued. It’s possible that Brault only worked on 'Casimir’ for a limited period and that Saint-Loup was the artist during the rest of its run.
Tom Brinfin et Dodolf
Between 20 December 1941 and 13 June 1942, he drew the political-satirical newspaper comic 'Tom Brinfin et Dodolf’ (1941-1942) in the newspaper Le Samedi. This four-panel gag comic features an allied soldier with a black curly quiff, Tom Brinfin, who plays tricks on Dodolf, an obese Nazi. Time and time again Dodolf is fooled, which makes him yell out his catchphrase: "Kamarade!" in anger. It seems that Briault didn't understand what this German stock phrase meant, since Dodolf uses it as a curse word, while it simply means "friend” in German.
Headers drawn by Brault for British comics published in Le Samedi between 1937 and 1940.
Other work
From the 1930s until the 1950s Brault remained active for Le Samedi by designing the headers above serialized comics imported from British magazines. In 1941 Brault became art director for Poirier & Bessette, the same company that published the newspaper Le Samedi and the magazines La Revue Populaire and Le Film. On 15 February 1941 he drew a comic for a game section, 'Le Jeu du Soldat’, based on the game Snakes and Ladders.
Death
Hector Brault passed away in 1983 at age 74 or 75.
Hector Brault in 1939.