Prémolaire
Guy Mouminoux is a prolific comic book artist, who has been active from the 1940s throughout the 1990s. He has worked in a variety of genres, from realistic stories about war to black humor satire, and has also used the pseudonym Dimitri. According to himself, Paris-born Mouminoux was an inhabitant of Alsace during World War II, and drafted into the German Wehrmacht at age 16. He chronicled his experiences in the elite Großdeutschland Division in his controversial book 'The Forgotten Soldier' in 1965, under the pen name Guy Sajer (using his mother's maiden name).
Blason d'Argent
He made his debut as a comic artist in 1946 with 'Les Aventures de Mr Minus' in Nous les Jeunes. Subsequently, he drew 'Papillon et Slipp' in Coeurs Vaillants, 'Les Cinq Bandits de Calabre' in O.K. and 'Zar'O' in the comic book series 'Zar'O'. He cooperated with the Éditions Élan from 1949, making the album 'Jack, Jim, Jo Botanes', the prehistorical character 'Atkin', several independent stories and covers for Ohé and Gong, as well as the title comic for Maya le Sioux.
In 1951, he created 'l'Aiguille Noire' in Vaillant, a biography of 'Mermoz' in l'Équipe Junior and 'Billy Batam' in Bravo!. Next, he made 'Gorneval Chevallier Errant' with Louis Saurel in Jocko et Poustiquet, and cooperated with the publications of the S.P.E. (Société Parisienne d'Édition), such as Fillette and Joyeuses Lectures. He was also present in Hurrah! with 'Robin des Bois' (1957) and in Spirou with several 'Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' (from 1959) and scripts for 'Jean Valhardi' (art by Jijé, 1963-65).
Rififi
In 1959, Mouminous succeeded Francisco Hidalgo as the artist of the series 'Blason d'Argent', which he continued for the next 20 years in Coeurs Vaillants, J2 Jeunes, Formule 1 and Fripounet. He also illustrated war stories for the British market through the Fleetway agency. From 1965, Mouminoux cooperated with Pilote magazine, creating series like 'Les Disparus de Pol Croac' and 'Goutatou et Dorachaux'.
Le Goulag
Although he already had a large output, Mouminoux' best known work appeared in the 1970s. In 1970, he created 'Prémolaire' in Formule 1 and 'Rififi' in Tintin. He adapted 'Les Charlots' for Fleuve Noir in 1973-74, and returned to Spirou in 1975 with the gag series 'Les Familleurreux'. For this series, he first used the pseudonym Dimitri Lahache, which was later shortened to Dimitri.
Story from Charlie Hebdo (1980)
Also in 1975, he created the first gags of the leopard 'Krampon' in the fanzine Hop!. A humanized version of the character became the leading role of the 'Goulag' series, that appeared in B.D., Charlie Mensuel and L'Écho des Savanes from 1977.
From 1982, Mouminoux made a series of dark humorous short stories for Charlie Mensuel, which were collected in the album 'Deo Gratias' by Dargaud. During the 1980s, he continued to produce albums for Dargaud, such as 'Le Meneur de Chien', 'Pognon's Story', 'Les Consommateurs', 'La Grand Messe' and 'L'Abattoir'. For L'Écho des Savanes, he created 'Kaleunt' in 1987. Two years later, he made the album 'Raspoutista' for Albin Michel.
In the 1990s, Dimitri began cooperations with magazines like Grodada and Hara-Kiri, for which he created series like 'Les Fables de Tonton Grobidon' and 'Koursk'. He also published a series of albums at Glénat, including 'Haute-Mer', 'Hymne à la Forêt', 'Sous le Pavillon du Tsar' and a revival of 'Le Goulag'. In the publisher's collection Caractères, he made 'Kamikazes', 'Meurtier', 'D-LZ129-Hindenburg', 'Kursk: tourmente d'Acier' and 'Le Convoi'. In 2003, he returned to Albin Michel to create 'Le Voyage'.
He was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to ‘Pepperland’ (1980), a collective comic book tribute to the store Pepperland, to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the time.
Billy Batam