Yves le Loup, artwork by René Bastard
The French scenarist Jean Ollivier has worked for the magazine Vaillant from its start in 1945. He was the magazine's editor-in-chief for a while, as well as one of the most productive scenarists (along with Roger Lécureux). Throughout the entire run of the magazine (from 1945 to 1992, including the Pif Gadget era) he wrote an immense quantity of series. The most famous series are 'Yves le Loup' (art René Bastard and E.T. Coelho), 'Le Cormoran (art Lucien Nortier and Paul Gillon), 'P'tit Joc' (art André Joy), 'Ragnar le Viking' (art E.T. Coelho), 'Jacques Flash' (art Pierre Leguen), 'Davy Crockett' (art Coelho and Kline), 'Wango' (art Coelho and Gillon), 'Robin des Bois' (art Nortier and Coelho), 'Loup Noir' (art Kline), 'Docteur Justice' (art Raphaël Marcello), 'Ayak' (art Coelho), 'Cogan' (art Christian Gaty) and 'Yvain le Chevalier' (art José de Huescar).
For the same publisher, he wrote for magazine like 34 (a.k.a. Caméra 34) and L'Humanité. In the 1960s he also wrote for the publications of Aventures et Voyages ('Perceval' for René Bastard and Santo d'Amico, 'Bjorn le Viking' for Coelho, 'Ivanhoé' for Otello Scarpelli, 'Lancelot' for Francey, 'Puma Noir' for Joseph Garcia and 'Sylver des Collines' for Tito Marchioro) and Dargaud's Drames et Énigmes collection ('Le Cas Landru' with Decoudun and 'Raspoutine' with Guy). He was additionally present on the German market with 'Peter Horn', drawn by Kline, for Yps.
From 1978 he wrote historical comics for Larousse collections like 'L'Histoire de France en Bandes Dessinées' and 'La Découverte du Monde en Bandes Dessinées', which are illustrated by artists like Raymond Poïvet, Jaime Marzal Canos and E.T. Coelho. In the 1980s Ollivier wrote several series for Hachette publishers, like 'Gavroche' (art André Chéret), 'Croc Blanc' (art Pham Minh Son) and 'La Mémoire des Celtes' (art Coelho). At the same time his stories were present in magazines like Vécu ('Fils du Dragon' with Pierre Dupuis) and L'Écho des Savanes ('La Nuit Barbare' with Marcello). In 1991 Ollivier succeeded Jean-Michel Charlier as the scenarist of the 'Barbe-Rouge' series (artwork by Gaty).
Barbe-Rouge, artwork by Gaty