From: Sonic #1 (SEG).
Jean Joly was a French comic artist, who worked on mainly western and crime comic stories for Vaillant magazine and several French pocket comic books during the 1960s and 1970s. He additionally worked as an assistant for Gérald Forton. He should not be confused with the French resistance fighter Jean Joly (1920-2005).
Work with Gérald Forton
Jean Joly's first known work in comics was done alongside Gérald Forton, when both artists were working for the short-lived comic paper L'Express Illustré. Together, they made the western feature 'Jeff Bary', that ran in all three issues of the paper. Other contributors to L'Express Illustré were Jean- René Le Moing, Guy Mouminoux, Jean-Claude Forest and Edmundo Marculeta. In 1962-1963, Joly drew about seven short western comic stories in the comic magazine Vaillant. In that same magazine, he assisted Forton on the artwork of the cowboy comic 'Teddy Ted'. Joly is also believed to have drawn a couple of stories in Octave Joly's educational series 'Les Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' in Spirou magazine, generally attributed to Forton, for instance the installment in issue #1342 (1964). Despite their similar last names, Jean Joly and Octave Joly were almost certainly not related.
'Les Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' - 'M. Pilule contre le Gangster', presumably by Jean Joly (Dutch version in Robbedoes #1342, 1964).
Cowboy and crime comics
In the late 1960s, Joly worked for Jordenen, the Orléans-based publishing house ran by the comic artist Marcel Radenen and his wife Paule Jorlin. Joly drew the back-up feature 'John Harden' in the comic books with Radenen's funny cowboy comic 'Mercury' (1969). During the 1970s, Joly's artwork appeared in pocket comic books published by Éditions Mon Journal and in the magazines Journal des Pieds Nickelés by Éditions S.P.E. and Sonic by SEG. In the third issue of the large format Services Secrets Super - published by SEPP - Joly drew the adventures of 'Jacques Darel' (1976), scripted by Wolang. Jean Joly later worked as a courtroom sketch artist for Détective magazine.
'Aventure au Ranch' (Journal des Pieds Nickelés #79, August 1972).