'Christoph Colomb'.
Laurent Gillain was a Belgian comic artist and the youngest son of Joseph Gillain, better known as comic creator Jijé. He has worked on several of his father's comics, either as an assistant or as a provider of additional art for posthumous publications. He signed his work with "Lorg".
Family
Born in 1956, Laurent Gillain grew up in an artistic environment in the middle of France, where the Belgian Gillain family had settled after a lengthy sojourn to the USA and Mexico. The family home in Champrosay was frequented by many legendary comic artists, for instance Jean-Claude Mézières and Jean Giraud, who learned the trade in Jijé's atelier. Laurent's eldest brother Benoît became a successful advertising artist, while the middle brother Philippe worked with his father as a scriptwriter for the 'Jean Valhardi' and 'Jerry Spring' comic series. His sister Dominique became a painter and illustrator, and Laurent became the assistant of his father.
Comics career
When in 1979 Jijé took over the artwork of the pirate comic 'Barbe-Rouge' from Victor Hubinon, Laurent's collaboration with his father began. Laurent assisted with the artwork, since Jijé was also drawing 'Tanguy & Laverdure' at the time, and by then already ill from cancer. Lorg, Jijé and writer Jean-Michel Charlier collaborated on the 'Barbe-Rouge' albums ' Raid sur la Corne d’Or' (1979) and 'L'Île des Vaisseaux Perdus' (1980), until Jijé passed away in 1980. By then, father and son had finished eight pages of their third story, 'Les Disparus du Faucon Noir'. Since he was too inexperienced to continue the series on his own, Laurent's involvement ended too, and 'Barbe-Rouge' was continued by Christian Gaty.
In 1986, Lorg drew the cover for the 15th installment in the 'Jean Valhardi' book series, a posthumous release of the 1965 Jijé episode 'Le Duel des Idoles'. He also redrew most of his father's 1946 comic biography about Christopher Columbus, published by Hélyode in two volumes in 1992 and 1993. Laurent Gillain continued his career as a designer of furniture, stained glass and mosaics with the Eugène Sart workshop in Montauban.
Final years and death
In 2022, Laurent Gillain died at age 66 from bone cancer. Coincidentally, his father had died at the exact same age, also from cancer.
'Jean Valhardi' ('Le Duel des Idoles') and 'Christophe Colomb'.