'La Lettre Foisée'.
Jean-Claude Servais is part of the generation that modernized Belgian comics from the 1970s. He brings emotional, and sometimes magical, character-driven stories, set against the woody landscapes of the Belgian Ardennes or the Gaume. He studied graphic art at the École Supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc in Liège from 1974 until 1976. His first pages were published in the Carte Blanche section Spirou in 1975, and in the following year he made two short stories starring 'Ronny Jackson' with Jean-Marie Brouyère. His professional career really took off at Tintin magazine.
'Iriacynthe'. Dutch-language version.
Servais' first works for Tintin were several short stories scripted by Bom and Yves Duval from 1977 on. He began a series of short stories about mysticism and sorcery in 1980, collected in the album 'La Tchalette' in 1982. A year later, he drew a series of short stories starring 'Isabelle' in the magazine. During his military service in Stockem, he had met Gérard Dewamme, with whom he created 'Tendre Violette' in À Suivre in 1979. They continued their collaboration at Lombard and Glénat with 'Les Saisons de la Vie' (1985-86) and 'Les Voyages Clos - Montagne Fleurie' (1988). In 1989, he teamed up with the chansonnier Julos Beaucarne to create the epic 'L'Appel de Madame la Baronne' (1989).
'Lova'.
Servais began writing his own scripts with the albums 'Iriacynthe' (Bédéscope, 1982), 'L'Almanach' (Casterman, 1988) and 'La Petite Reine' (Casterman, 1992).
Servais contributed to an official collective homage, 'Rocky Luke' (Goupil, 1983), paying tribute to Morris' Lucky Luke'. In 1987-1988, the publishing company Brain Factory International released a four-volume comic book series where Franco-Belgian comic authors visualized several songs by singer Jacques Brel in comic strip form. The first volume, 'Le Plat Pays' (1987) featured a contribution by Servais. In 1990, Servais paid graphic tribute to François Walthéry in the collective homage book 'Natacha. Special 20 Ans' (Marsu Productions, 1990), which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Walthéry's series 'Natacha'.
In 1992, he created a cycle about the wizard Merlin, called 'Pour l'Amour de Guenièvre', serialized in Je Bouquine. He began his collaboration with the publishing house Dupuis in 1992 with the graphic novel 'Lova' in the collection Aire Libre. For the same collection, he drew 'Fanchon' in 1998, 'Déesse Blanche, Déesse Noire' in 2001, 'L' Assassin Qui Parle Aux Oiseau' in 2005, 'Le Jardin des Glaces' in 2008, and 'Le Dernier Brame' in 2011.
'La Hache et le Fusil'.
For the same publisher's collection Repérages, Servais began a series of authentic stories under the title 'La Mémoire des Arbres' in 1994. Several independent stories are collected in this series, such as 'La Hache et le Fusil', 'Les Seins de Café', 'La Belle Coquetière', 'La Lettre Froissée' and 'Le Tempérament de Marilou'. These stories are usually situated in the early 20th-century Belgian countryside and often based on local folk tales or true stories. In addition, he was present at Casterman with the diptych 'Les Diaboliques' in 2006. Again for Dupuis, he made 'Orval' in 2009-2010, 'Godefroid de Bouillon' in 2012 and 'Les Chemins de Compostelle' in 2014-2015.
In 2006, Francis Darras sculpted a statue of Violette, which can be seen in Florenville. On 12 May 2006, a comic book mural based on Servais' work was inaugurated in the Boulevard Georges Deryck 124 in Tubize. On 25 May 2010, his artwork became part of a permanent exhibition at Malvoisin in the Musée du Fourneau Saint-Michel in Saint-Hubert. Another comic book mural in Tubize was revealed on 28 August 2014, this time near the local station.
Jean-Claude Servais' work was admired by veteran comic artist Marc Sleen.
Recognition
A Servais route connects Florenville to Jamoigne. This nine-kilometer walking route is notably decorated with the bronze sculpture Tendre Violette, created by Francis Darras in October 2006. The walk is punctuated with drawings by Jean-Claude Servais which illustrate educational panels on local bird species39. Two new frescoes inaugurated on September 11, 2016 join the Servais route created by the artist Yves Piedboeuf, in close collaboration with Servais, and are composed of two monumental paintings at the Château du Faing.
'Orval'.