'Le Sergent Laterreur', from Pilote #630 (2 December 1971).
Touïs, real name Vivian Miessen, is a Belgian comic artist, best known for his cult series 'Le Sergent Laterreur' (1971-1973), which was a regular feature in Pilote. He was additionally one of the most renowned animators in the Franco-Belgian region. He has worked for numerous European animated features by Belvision, Picha and other companies, including several 'Astérix' pictures. Touïs has lived and worked in France for most of his life, and has been based in the Cévennes region since 2014.
Early life and career
Touïs was born in 1940 as son of the surrealist painter René Miessen, better known as Bellor. From a young age, he was encouraged to draw. At age 16, Vivian Miessen published his first work in the magazine Le Moustique. He attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, and then the Institut Saint-Luc. He had an apprenticeship with the OTP advertising agency, where he became friends with comic artist William Vance.
Animation career
Halfway through the 1960s, Touïs joined Dupuis' animation department, TVA Dupuis, where he was part of Eddy Ryssack's unit. One of the projects he worked on was the first TV adaptation of Peyo's 'The Smurfs': 'Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs' (1965). Between 1966 and 1967, he participated in such films as 'Cinéma-Man', 'L'Anaconda' and '3.2.1.0'. When Raymond Leblanc, owner of the publishing house Le Lombard, established the first professional Belgian animation studio, Belvision, Miessen was one of their most prominent animators. He worked on two feature films based on René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's comic series 'Astérix', namely 'Astérix le Gaulois' ('Astérix the Gaul', 1967) by Ray Goossens and 'Astérix et Cléopâtre' ('Astérix and Cleopatra', 1968), and also one based on Goscinny and Morris' 'Lucky Luke' series: 'Daisy Town' (1971). Miessen was key animator of 'Tintin et le Temple du Soleil' (1969) and chief animator for the 1972 picture 'Tintin et le Lac aux Requins' ('Tintin and the Lake of Sharks', 1972). Both were based on Hergé's 'Tintin' comics, but the latter had a script written by Greg. He was also involved with Belvision's box office failures 'Pinocchio Dans l'Espace' ('Pinocchio in Outer Space', 1965) by Ray Goossens and 'Les Voyages de Gulliver' ('Gulliver's Travels', 1977) by Peter R. Hunt. By then, Miessen worked with his own team of animators, which consisted of Claudy Montfort and Lawrence Moorcroft. With a government grant, he created his short animated solo film 'Gü'. Other contributors were Miessen's father for the backgrounds and his wife Lieve for the creation of the large monkey character.
'Le Sergent Laterreur', from Pilote #634 (30 December 1971).
Miessen remained active as animator for other studios as well. He worked for the Studio Idéfix films 'Les 12 Travaux d'Astérix' ('The 12 Tasks of Astérix, 1976) and 'La Ballade des Dalton' ('The Ballad of the Daltons', 1978) - the latter based on Morris' comic strip 'Lucky Luke'. He co-animated on all of Picha's animated features: 'Tarzoon, La Honte de la Jungle' ('Tarzoon, the Shame of the Jungle', 1975), 'Le Chaînon Manquant' ('The Missing Link', 1980), 'Le Big-Bang' (1987) and 'Blanche Neige, La Suite' (2007). Later in his career, he also worked on Martin Rosen's 'The Plague Dogs' (1982), José Luis and Santiago Moro's 'Katy, La Oruga' (1984), Philippe Grimond's 'Astérix et le Coup du Menhir' ('Astérix and the Big Fight', 1989) and the Danish animated film 'Jungledyret Hugo ('Hugo The Movie Star', 1996), based on the creation of Flemming Quist Møller, which inspired both several sequels and an animated TV series. He additionally contributed to Bert and Geert Van Goethem's animated short 'Just to Be a Part of It' (1997) and Pascal Morelli's animated feature 'Corto Maltese, La Cour Secrète des Arcanes' (2002), based on Hugo Pratt's comic series 'Corto Maltese'.
'Les Aventures à Vent de Cuicui et Papa' (Pilote Mensuel #35, 29 March 1977).
Sergent Laterreur
With photographer Gerald Frydman as scriptwriter, Touïs created the humorous comic 'Sergent Laterreur' (1971-1973) which appeared in Pilote. The first episode ran in issue #587 (4 February 1971). The series centers around a tiny but loud-mouthed sergeant who frequently yells his head off at soldiers three times as large. Sergent Laterreur has an anti-militaristic tone, typical for comics made during the Vietnam war era, which helped it gain a cult following. The series was notable for its experimental nature. Miessen played around with speech balloons, lettering and other graphic elements. The characters have very simple outlines. The sergeant rarely opens his eyes because he's so busy screaming. His teeth are so exaggerated that they resemble fangs. His recruits barely have faces, a bitinq critique of blind military obedience. In 1971, 'Sergent Laterreur' won the Prix Phenix. The series concluded in issue #735 (6 December 1973). One album was published by Pepperland publishers in 1976, while L' Association brought out a complete collection of all episodes in 2006.
Graphic contributions
Touïs was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to 'Pepperland’ (1980), a collective comic book celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Pepperland comic book store.
Later career
Between 1976 and 1977, Touïs drew several other one-shot stories for Pilote. In 1981, he made 'Le Petit Clic et ses Aminches' for Spirou (issue #2267, 24 September 1981).. In 2000, he contributed to the anthology Comix 2000 by L'Association. His work has additionally appeared in Charlie Mensuel, Tintin, Lapin, and La Chienne. New collections of his comic book work have been published under the title 'Touïs Comix' by Le Chant des Muses since 2016. Miessen is also active as a painter. Between November and December 2015, a selection of his paintings and prints were on exhibit in La Filature d'Aumessas.
'Le Petit Clic' (Dutch-language version from Robbedoes, issue #2267, 24 September 1981).