Jean-Claude Mézières, designer of the comic strip “Valérian et Laureline”, died at 83

Comics author Jean-Claude Mézières, co-creator of the “Valérian et Laureline” series, died on the night of Saturday to Sunday.

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Posted on 01/23/2022 15:12 Updated on 01/23/2022 16:40

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The author of the Valérian and Laureline comic book series, Jean-Claude Mézières, died on the night of Saturday January 22 to Sunday January 23 at the age of 83, his publishing house announced on Sunday. “He was quite simply an author and a major player in comics, in particular through the influence and the role of mentor he exercised with many designers”, write Dargaud editions in a press release.

“His high standards, his energy, his strong personality, his benevolence, his simplicity, his joie de vivre, his curiosity, made him a precious and deeply endearing being.”

Press release from Dargaud editions

Created with his lifelong friend Pierre Christin in 1966, and first published in Pilote magazine, the Valérian et Lauréline comic book series is considered a pinnacle of French science fiction. Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières had met in 1944, when they had taken refuge with their parents in the cellar of a building in order to escape the German bombardments in the Paris region.

Jean-Claude Mézières was known for his innovative sets, his exotic planets with abundant vegetation, baroque architectures and a tasty bestiary, which largely inspired the cinema, from the director of Star Wars George Lucas to that of the Fifth element of Luc Besson. The latter had also adapted Valérian to the cinema. An adaptation that Jean-Claude Mézières had appreciated considering that “Le Valérian de Luc Besson is very similar to mine”.

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