'Foufi'.
Roger Camille, better known as Kiko, was an Egyptian-born Belgian comic artist. He was a regular in the Egyptian comic magazine Samir, before moving to Belgium and becoming a contributor to the magazine Spirou. His best known comic series are 'Foufi' (1963-1979) and 'Djinn' (1964-1966), both influenced by the Arabian Nights stories.
Early life and career in Egypt
Roger Camille was born in 1936 in Héliopolis, Egypt. His name was then still written as Roger Kamil. While still in secondary school, he published his first drawings in some French-language magazines. He later took a correspondence course from the ABC art school from Paris with a specialization in advertising, and he subsequently earned his degree in Literature in 1952. From the late 1950s on, he worked as a cartoonist for the Egyptian children's magazine Samir. He illustrated a great many covers, and also several adventure serials, such as 'Isam'. One of his series dealt with a young reporter who chased a gang of criminals who smuggled drugs through sardine tins. Like many other Levantine inhabitants, he left the country when the government of Gamal-Abdel Nasser became more repressive in the early 1960s.
Cover illustrations for Samir issues from 1959 (#171) and 1961.
Foufi
Camille, A.K.A. Kiko, stayed in Canada for a short period in 1962-1963 and then settled in Belgium, where he worked in André Franquin's studio in the Avenue du Brésil in Brussels for a while. It was during this period that he developed the little Persian boy 'Foufi' with his flying carpet for an Arab edition of the Superman comic published in Beirut, Lebanon. Several gags of Kiko's weekly Lebanese production were written by Franquin. The character appeared in 1964, in the first 35 issues of the magazine.
Foufi from the Arabic edition of the 'Superman' comic (1964).
Spirou magazine
In 1964, Camille, A.K.A., Kiko, began a collaboration with the magazine Spirou and its Dutch-language equivalent Robbedoes. His first series starred a genie in a bottle called 'Djinn' (1964-1966), of which the short stories were written by Jacques Devos. In a similar fashion, he made the mini comic 'Ali–Bibi Le Petit Fakir' with Lucien de Gieter in 1965. By 1965, Kiko's best-known character, 'Foufi', was also introduced in the pages of Spirou magazine. Foufi appeared regularly in gags, short stories and a couple of longer adventures until 1979, with a final appearance in 1983.
First appearance of Djinn in Robbedoes #1372, 28 July 1964.
Albums
Despite Kiko's highly detailed and dynamic artwork, publishing company Dupuis never gave 'Foufi' a regular album series. In 1967 and 1968 three 'Foufi' books were published in Dupuis' children's book collection Carousel. In later years, additional collections were published by MC Productions (1988), Éditions Points Image (1996-2000) and Grafik (2016).
'Foufi'.
Advertising work
Kiko also made a lot of art for advertisements during his career. His promotional comics for Milky Way were published in 1969-1971 in magazines like Tintin. He focused on commercial art from the 1980s onwards, and was especially active for clients from France. During a period of ten years, he produced much promotional artwork with the lion 'Max', the mascot of Motta ice cream. The character appeared on posters, postcards, games, stickers, calendars, badges, keychains and many other products.
Death
Roger Camille, A.K.A. Kiko, passed away in 2006 at the age of 69, only one day before what would have been his 70th birthday. He lived and worked in Schaerbeek, near Brussels.
Advertising art for Max ice cream.