'Tico' (Pif Gadget #6, 31 March 1969)
Henri Dufranne is a French comic artist, best-known for taking over the gag comic 'Gai-Luron' from Marcel Gotlib between 1969 and 1976. The majority of his career was spent assisting other artists. Dufranne's longest-running comic series by his own hand was 'Pamphile et Philéas' (1978-1986).
Early life and career
Henri Dufranne was born in 1943 in Paris. His comic career took off in 1964, drawing 'Thermogène', based on scripts by Jean-Marie Pinçon in Record magazine. He then drew the adventures of the gondolier 'Tichioli' for the publishing house Aventures et Voyages, as well as several short stories for the SPE comic books Le Journal de Bibi Fricotin and Le Journal des Pieds Nickelés. In 1967 and 1968, Dufranne was present in Pilote illustrating several short stories, written by Fred, Linus, Lob, Jean-Marc Reiser and René Goscinny. He additionally worked as an inker and letterer on the 'Martin Milan' comic by Christian Godard, published in Tintin, in the late 1960s.
'Gai-Luron' (Pif Gadget #168, May 1972)
Gai-Luron
In 1967, Dufranne became a regular artist for Le Journal de Pif (later Pif Gadget) of Éditions Vaillant. He started out making game pages with 'Gai-Luron', the melancholic dog created by master humorist Marcel Gotlib. He continued to assist Gotlib on the inking of this comic in the following years. Beteen 1967 and 1976, he was also responsible for most of the artwork in the 37 issues of Vaillant's pocket publication Gai Luron Poche. In 1969, Gotlib passed the pencil for 'Gai-Luron' to Dufranne, who also became responsible for the scripts a year later. Gai-Luron's gags continued until 1976, when Dufranne had a conflict with the editors of Pif Gadget and left the magazine. Older episodes would be reprinted for years to come.
Other comics in Pif Gadget
Dufranne's second notable comic series in Pif Gadget during the 1960s and 1970s was 'Tico', about a little Native American. He also inked many pages of 'Pifou' for Roger Mas.
'Pamphile et Philéas' (Kuifje #40, 2 October 1979). Dutch-language version.
1970s and 1980s comics
In 1975, Dufranne had additionally created the caveman comic 'Réhak l'Idiot des Cavernes' with Michel Motti as a back-up feature in the SEPP comic books Agent Spécial and Fantastik. He started working for Tintin magazine after his tenure with Pif Gadget ended, drawing the series 'Pamphile et Philéas' (1978-1986) from scripts by Christian Godard. In 1977 and 1978 he also created the frog 'Plop' with scriptwriter Serge le Tendre, for a magazine of the same name financed by the oil company Antar. The magazine lasted only six issues, and also featured 'Norbert le Lézard' by Régis Loisel and Patrick Cothias. Another creation was 'Les Aventures de Bédé' with Dominique Rocher in Télé Junior in the early 1980s. These stories were subsequently collected in albums by Glénat, which remained Dufranne's only book publications for over twenty years. Dufranne drew many one-page gags and game/riddle pages with 'Mickey Mouse' and other Disney characters for Le Journal de Mickey from 1978 until 1994, the year of his retirement.
Since 2012, Dufranne's work on 'Gai-Luron' has been released by La Vache qui Médite. This publishing label also released a complete collection of 'Pamphile et Philéas' in 2013.
'Mickey Énigme' page from Le Journal de Mickey #26, 1989.