Yvain et Yvon - 'Le Cheval des Étoiles' (1988).
Patrick Cadot is a Belgian comic artist and teacher. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he drew several features for Tintin magazine and its follow-up Hello Bédé, including 'Rascaille et Flodalcol' (1983-1984), 'Yvain et Yvon' (1985-1988), 'Chaffoux' (1986-1988), 'Jordan' (1990-1992) and 'Arpo' (1991-1993). Several of these series were also translated into Dutch, while 'Yvain et Yvon' also ran in German as 'Isegrims Abenteuer'.
Early life and career
Patrick Cadot was born in 1959 in Verviers, an industrial city in the province of Liège. Even though making comics was a childhood dream, he studied to become a teacher, while as an artist he remained self-taught. After his studies, he spent a couple of months working as a teacher, but eventually switched to cartooning. At age twenty, he met the comic artist Henri De Dryver (Endry), who became his tutor, and whom he has continued to regard as his "spiritual father". After having Cadot do assistant chores in his Brussels studio, Endry introduced him to the Catholic publishing house Bonne Presse/De Goede Pers in Averbode. There, Cadot began his career making illustrations for the children's magazines Tremplin, Bonjour and Dauphin (and perhaps also their Dutch-language editions Zonneland, Zonnekind and Zonnestraal). Recurring characters he drew during this period were 'Cléo et Cesar'.
Rascaille et Flodalcol - 'Pour Les Beaux Yeux d'Inès' (Tintin #35, 28 August 1984).
Spirou and Tintin
Between 1980 and 1983, Cadot was additionally present in Spirou magazine with three centerfold mini-books starring the 'Jumeaux' ("Twins") characters, written by Pol Noël. After that, he began a fruitful association with the competing Tintin magazine (and its Dutch-language edition Kuifje), where he remained until the title's cancellation. Chief editor Jean-Luc Vernal had him team up with scriptwriter Michel de Bom. Their first co-creation was the pirate feature 'Rascaille et Flodalcol' (1983-1984, 'Raaskal en Nathals' in Dutch), which appeared in short stories ranging from three to four pages. In addition, Cadot and Bom created several stand-alone short stories and gags without recurring characters.
'Yvain et Yvon' (German-language version: 'Isegrims Abenteuer', from German magazine YPS).
Yvain et Yvon
Between 1985 and 1988, Cadot and Bom switched to a new feature called 'Yvain et Yvon', starring two twin boys, of which one can transform into a wolf with magical powers, Ysengrin. The name Ysengrin was lifted from the wolf character in the medieval poem 'Reynard the Fox'. Starting with short stories of 4-6 pages, Cadot and Bom eventually let their two heroes star in stories of 14 to 16 pages, and also one serial ('Le Cheval des Étoiles', 1988). Mostly set in the Liège and Ardennes regions, the magical adventures of 'Yvain et Yvon' ran in Dutch as 'Ed & Ad' in Kuifje magazine, and in German under the title 'Isegrims Abenteuer' in YPS. Between 1987 and 1989, Tintin's publishing house Lombard released three book collections of the series.
'Chaffoux'.
Chaffoux / Jordan / Arpo
In addition to his main series, Cadot also launched the cat-and-mouse gag comic 'Chaffoux' (1986-1988, Dutch title: 'Knotskater'), working with gag writers like Didgé, Bom and Philippe Richelle. By 1990, publisher Lombard had lost its license to the name Tintin, and continued its magazine under the title Hello Bédé. In this new incarnation of the legendary comic magazine, Patrick Cadot worked with scriptwriter Philippe Richelle on three serials starring the boy detective 'Jordan', another comic with mystery and fantasy elements. Lombard released two stories of 'Les Extraordinaires Aventures de Jordan' in book format, the third finally appeared in a 2021 comic book by La Vach qui Médite. With scriptwriter Jean-François Debaty, Cadot worked on his final comic strip creation, a gag feature about the green baby bird 'Arpo' (1991-1993), who lives in a dumpster and is adopted by Adèle, a blackbird with an aviator hat.
Jordan - 'La Tombe d'Hannibal Hobbes' (Dutch-language version from Kuifje #10, 10 March 1992).
Studio Bang
Since 1985, Patrick Cadot had worked regularly with Jean-François Debaty, who first was his colorist on the comics 'Yvain et Yvon' and 'Jordan', and then the scriptwriter for 'Arpo'. In February 1987, Cadot and Debaty founded Studio Bang, through which they collaborated on several illustration and coloring jobs, for instance for the British children's magazines Quiz Kids, Streetwise and Ace of the Keesing Media Group. For the crossword magazine Quiz Kids, Cadot created the comic feature 'Fanny & Romain'.
Later career
After the cancellation of Hello Bédé and Kuifje (as the Dutch edition was still called) in 1993, Patrick Cadot left the Belgian comic industry and returned to his initial profession of teacher. He found employment with the Pierre Rapsat primary school in the Stembert suburb of his hometown Verviers, where in 2009 he was promoted to principal. Despite switching professions, Cadot has continued to use cartoons and illustrations in his educational programs.
'Arpo'. Dutch-language version.