About the author.
Jean-Pol
(Jean-Paul van den Broeck)
(a.k.a. Jipo; Jipo-Max; Jean-Paul)
(b. 15/03/1943, Belgium)


Jean-Paul van den Broeck studied decorative arts at the Saint Luc in Brussels. He made his debut with 'Calypso', that appeared in the magazine Ohee in 1962. He learned the comics profession while working at the Real Presse comic agency, where he edited several foreign comics and photo-comics. While working at the agency, Jean-Pol began illustrating for a variety of Flemish magazines under several pseudonyms. He began a collaboration with writer Jacques Acar, and created several short comics for the magazines Tintin/Kuifje and Pilote. From 1966, he also made a few promotional stories with 'Bibendum', the rotund mascot for Michelin.

He had his actual debut with 'Bertje Kluizenaar' in Libelle and 'Le Mystère de Mornetour' in the daily Sud-Ouest. In 1967, he became the assistent of Hurey, and drew the gag series 'De Lustige Kapoentjes' and 'Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke' in Pats magazine. For the agency I.F.S., he created the daily strip 'Bi-bips', a comic about two alien creatures studying human behavior. It appeared in several European newspapers and it was the first comic to gain him international fame.

Jean-Pol began several series at the Catholic publishing house Averbode, such as 'Jip' (1967), 'Pickelby' (1969), 'Willie Wervelwind' (1969) and ''Koekplankenkoorts' (1974). His most famous creation for this publisher was however 'Annie en Peter', which he drew with scripts by K. Haerens from 1971. All these series appeared in Averbode's magazines Zonnestraal and Zonneland.

In 1970, he developed the series 'Kramikske van de Bakker' together with Daniel Jansens for De Volksmacht. This young baker apprentice became Jean-Pol's most famous series, and was continued in the daily Het Volk. Jean-Pol also created 'Lutti-Kids' in Zie-Magazine in 1979, but eventually he spent all his time on the series 'Kramikske' and 'Annie en Peter'. He adapted the Flemish television series 'Samson' to comics from 1993, and he continued the series 'Sammy' in Spirou after Berck's retirement in 1994.

Social/Sharing