'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München'.
F. Defossez is a Belgian artist whose entire career in comics consists of the one-shot 'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München' ("Jean-Marie Pfaff - The Hero of Munich", 1984), a celebrity comic about Belgian association football keeper Jean-Marie Pfaff.
Life and career
Nothing is known about F. Defossez. Since the comic book 'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München' appeared only in Dutch and was distributed by the Antwerp publishing company Antwerpse Media Uitgaven, Defossez was almost certainly Flemish and possibly hailed from the province of Antwerp. It also appears that Defossez has never made another comic book again since.
'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München', depicting his wife Carmen and football players Paul Breitner and Dieter Hoeneß.
Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München
In 1984, F. Defossez drew a celebrity comic about Belgian association football goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff, titled 'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München' (Antwerpse Media Uitgaven, 1984), scripted by K. Luyckx and colorized by H. Denkens. The comic was released when the Belgian national association football team The Red Devils enjoyed a golden era. Under the guidance of trainer Guy Thys, the Red Devils managed to reach the finale of the 1980 European Championship Football, but lost to West Germany. During the World Championship Football (1986) in Mexico, the team ended up in fourth place, a record which would stand until 2018, when the Red Devils placed third at the same championship. Pfaff in particular grew into a national hero. His ability to defend the goal drew respect and admiration. Between 1982 and 1988, he was bought by the German football club Bayern München. Thanks to his curly haircut and happy-go-lucky attitude, Pfaff even became recognizable among people who weren't particularly interested in football. He additionally made people laugh unintentionally with his simple, folksy quotes and a particularly memorable 1982 TV interview where he tried to speak German, despite not knowing the language.
Surfing on the wave of "Pfaffmania", several comic stories about the famous goalkeeper were made. In 1983, Hugo Leyers was first with his comic 'Jean-Marie Pfaff: Op De Keper Beschouwd' (1983), serialized in De Gazet van Antwerpen. This loosely biographical comic chronicled Pfaff's life story from birth up until his early 1980s career. A year later, in 1984, Defossez and Luyckx brought out 'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München', borrowing a lot of imagery from Leyers' comic, down to the way Pfaff is designed graphically. The opening scene of Leyers' comic, in which baby Pfaff is brought by a stork, is plagiarized almost literally by Defossez. The artwork in 'Jean Marie Pfaff - De Held van München' is very rudimentary, leading to believe that Defossez was not a professional artist, and perhaps even a high school student. Just like the Leyers version, Defossez's comic treats many key events in Pfaff's life with artistic license. He is portrayed as some kind of supernaturally gifted football wonder from birth. Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens, Minister of Finance Willy De Clercq and King Baudouin/Boudewijn have random cameos. Halfway through the book, several press photographs are used as page filler. Some of these photographs feature humorous speech balloons, making 'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München' partially a photo comic too. Apart from Pfaff, other football icons are caricatured as well, including Raymond Goethals, Paul Breitner, Dieter Hoeneß and Johan Cruyff.
In the introduction to the book, writer Luyckx explains that the story is not intended as a realistic biopic, but still made for Pfaff's fans rather than his detractors. Indeed, despite its crudely drawn nature, 'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München' is obviously made with the utmost respect for Pfaff. On the penultimate pages, several handwritten homages are printed by his colleagues and associates Jef Mermans, Jaak Roelandt, Wilfried van Moer, Rik Pauwels, F. Loos, Jan van Ussel, Marcel Dries, Ludo Coeck, Jan Peeters and Guy Thys.
While not much else is known about Defossez' further career, the comic book still holds historical significance for being the second attempt to create a celebrity comic around Jean-Marie Pfaff, two decades before Ronald Grossey and Charel Cambré made 'De Pfaffs' (2003-2004), a comic series cashing in on the reality TV series based around Pfaff and his family.
'Jean-Marie Pfaff - De Held van München'.