'Les Rats Maudits'.
Jack Marchal, also known as Crunch, was a French political activist, guitarist, cartoonist and comic artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, he drew propaganda cartoons and comics for the far-right press. As a comic artist, he is most notable for his series 'Les Rats Maudits', whose protagonist became a mascot for the neo-fascist movement Groupe Union Défense. However, these rats were mere copies from the characters of Raymond Macherot innocent Belgian children's comic 'Chlorophylle', and then further plagiarized by other European far-right cartoonists.
Life and career
Jack Charles Roger Marchal was born in 1946 in Alençon, France. Between 1966 and 1969, he studied sociology at the University of Nanterre, near Paris. Many of the students were left-wing and in favor of progressive social changes, for instance the popular activist Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who became an icon of the May 1968 student demonstrations. At first, Marchal considered himself a moderate supporter of the French conservatives, namely president Charles de Gaulle's party. But gradually, he grew more opposed to left-wing politics, shifting towards ultraconservative, Catholic, pro-colonial and white-nationalist viewpoints. He joined the neo-fascist movement Occident, which was banned in 1968 after several violent and vandalism incidents. Marchal became active within other, similar far-right organizations, including the Groupe Union Défense (starting in 1968), Ordre Nouveau (1969-1973), Parti des Forces Nouvelles (1974-1998) and, from 1972 on, the political party Le Front National (since 2018 known as the Rassemblement National). Marchal was also associated with the Association Pour La Liberté Économique et le Progrès Social (ALEPS) and a special "fan group" devoted to French journalist Robert Brasillach, who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II and published in the anti-Semitic weekly Je Suis Partout.
In 1973, Marchal established the student's monthly Alternative, intended as a far-right alternative to the left-wing, taboo-breaking satirical weekly Charlie-Hebdo. Yet the publication ceased after only two years. From the late 1970s until 2001, he also played guitar in far-right rock bands, including the band Elendil, performing in France, Belgium and Italy during neo-fascist, neo-nazi or otherwise far-right meetings. In September 2022, Jack Marchal died at age 75.
Les Rats Maudits
Since Marchal and his friends of the Groupe Union Défense movement were called "black rats" by their opponents, Marchal decided to use this animal when creating a party mascot. Sarcastic, provocative and militant, he also used this character in his comic series 'Les Rats Maudits', which was published in the party magazine and the students' publication Alternative (1973-1975). The plotline revolved around a battle between heroic, far-right rats and their left-wing opponents. In another series, 'Scènes de Chasse', Marchal didn't shy away from expressing fascist views. Marchal's rat characters were not so subtly ripped off from Anthracite the black rat from the children series 'Chlorophylle' by the Belgian comic artist Raymond Macherot. In Macherot's comic, Anthracite is a diabolical villain, the nemesis of Chlorophylle and his funny animal friends. Nevertheless, in a 2000 interview, published in issue #13 of the Belgian nationalist magazine Devenir, Marchal claimed he felt more sympathy towards Anthracite, since he considered Chlorophylle a "little square bourgeois". All this while Anthracite openly advocates torture, murder, military coups and even betrays his cronies if it suits him. In the same interview, Marchal also dismissed Macherot's comics for having "no message". A surprising opinion, since many comic fans tend to praise the author of 'Chlorophylle' and 'Sibylline' for his clever, original satire of human society. Marchal seems to have not caught on to this, or conveniently ignored these elements to create his own derivative concoction of Macherot's work.
In 1975, Marchal published his album 'Histoire de la Civilisation'. He was also cartoonist and editor for the Italian far-right magazine La Voce Della Fogna, and his work also appeared in similar neo-fascist magazines like Vaincre Initiative Nationale, El Cadenzo (Spain), La Voz de la Rata Negra (Spain) and Rat Noir (Switzerland). The latter two magazines were even named after his black rat characters and also featured them as mascots. Marchal's rat was also used as mascot for the Fronte della Gioventù, the youth organzsation of the Italian neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (M.S.I.).
Another far-right cartoonist who drew similar comics about black rodents was Otto d'Afe. A collection of Marchal's work appeared in the book 'Kraaiepoten' (1978), which also contained work by Stan Sluydts (Korbo/Prik/Gommer) and Julius. Copies of this comic book were confiscated by the Belgian Investigation Service during a raid at Haro's printing shop.
'Les Rats Maudits'.