'Buddy Longway'.
Since the age of eleven, Claude De Ribaupierre (Derib) has drawn the human body and its skeleton structure. Therefore, he was soon familiar with the human anatomy. After having a job as a horseback riding instructor, Derib went to Brussels to start a career in comics. He got a job at Studio Peyo, where he worked on several stories with 'Les Schtroumpfs' ('The Smurfs'), published in Spirou. He also produced some 'Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul', as well as his first realistic series, 'Arnoud de Casteloup' (1966).
'Attila'.
In 1967, he teamed up with Maurice Rosy to start the series about the talking dog 'Attila' in Spirou. That same year, he created the joking owl 'Pyhagore' with Job in Le Crapaud à Lunettes. For that same magazine, Derib and Job also created the little Indian 'Yakari', Derib's first hit series. From 1978, 'Yakari' appeared in Tintin. Derib had joined that magazine in 1970, when he began making western comics written by Michel Greg, such as 'Go West'. Derib subsequently created the famous 'Buddy Longway' series on his own in 1972, which he continued until 1987, and then restarted in 2002. 'Buddy Longway' was unique when it first appeared. Derib let his hero age, and have emotions, doubts and flaws, which was unusual at the time in European comics. In 1983 a special tribute comic book was published, 'Les Amis de Buddy Longway' (1983), which had a foreword by Georges Pernin and graphic homages by fellow artists like Edouard Aidans, Bédu, Blanc-Dumont, Cosey, Dany, Paul Deliège, Dupa, Ernst, F'murr, René Follet, Franz, Jean Giraud, Godard, Anne Goetzinger, René Hausman, Hermann, Lambil, Gaudin, Raymond Macherot, Jean-Claude Mézières, Peyo, Renoy, Jean Roba, Grzegorz Rosinski and Jean Van Hamme, Tibet, Turk and Bob De Groot , François Walthéry and Marc Wasterlain.
'Yakari'.
In addition to Tintin, Derib collaborated on Achille Tallon magazine, where he drew 'Les Ahlalàààs' (text by Greg). In 1981 appeared 'Celui-Qui-Est-Né-Deux-Fois' ('He Who Was Born Twice'), a western considered Derib's masterpiece.
'Celui-Qui-Est-Né-Deux-Fois'.
In the 1980s, Derib began making more substantial and socially-motivated comics. In 1981, he created 'Jo', the first comic book on AIDS ever published. In 'Pour Toi, Sandra' (1995), Derib dealt with the problem of prostitution and 'No Limits' described violence. He made 'La Grande Saga Indienne', a long saga about the Native Americans. In addition, he began 'Red Road', a present-day western and a sequel to 'Celui-Qui-Est-Né-Deux-Fois'. Derib has also collaborated on several collective albums. He has been making new 'Buddy Longway' albums since 2002. Best known for his humanistic comics and his several western projects, Derib stands as one of the major artists of European comics.
Derib was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to ‘Pepperland’ (1980), a collective comic book tribute to the store Pepperland, to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the time. He was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to 'Baston Labaffe no. 5: La Ballade des Baffes’ (Goupil, 1983), an official collective parody comic of André Franquin’s 'Gaston Lagaffe’. In 1983, Derib was one of many comic artists paying homage to the recently deceased Hergé in a special issue of (À Suivre), titled 'Adieu Hergé'. In 1987-1988 the publishing company Brain Factory International released a four-volume comic book series where Franco-Belgian comic authors visualized several songs by singer Jacques Brel in comic strip form. The third volume, 'Ces Gens-là' (1988) featured a contribution by Derib. In 1990 Dany paid graphic tribute to François Walthéry in the collective homage book 'Natacha. Special 20 Ans' (Marsu Productions, 1990), which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Walthéry's series 'Natacha'.
Despite not being a Belgian series, 'Yakari' has his own comic book mural in the Rue Dethy / Dethystraat in Brussels since 19 September 2009, as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route.
'Jo'.