| Morris | |
|---|---|
 Morris in 1971 | |
| Born | Maurice De Bevere (1923-12-01)1 December 1923 Kortrijk, Belgium |
| Died | 16 July 2001(2001-07-16) (aged 77) Brussels, Belgium |
| Area | Cartoonist, Writer, Artist |
Notable works | Lucky Luke |
| Awards | Full list |
| Signature | |
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Maurice De Bevere (Dutch:[moːˈrizdəˈbeːvərə];French:[mɔʁisdəbəvɛʁ,moʁ-]; 1 December 1923 – 16 July 2001), better known asMorris, was a Belgiancomics artist,illustrator, and the creator ofLucky Luke, a best-selling comic series about a gunslinger in the AmericanWild West. He was inspired by the adventures of the historicDalton Gang and other outlaws. It was a best-selling series for more than 50 years, published internationally and translated into 23 languages. He collaborated for two decades with French writerRené Goscinny on the series. Morris's pen name is an Anglicized version of Maurice.
Born inKortrijk, Belgium, Morris attended the well-known Jesuit college inAalst. His math teacher told his parents the youth would unfortunately never succeed in life, as he passed the time in class doodling in the margins of his math books. The school uniforms inspired his choices for those of the undertakers in hisLucky Luke cartoon series.
Morris started his career after college drawing at theCompagnie Belge d'Actualités (CBA) animation studios. This short-lived Belgian animation studio is where he met fellow artistsPeyo,André Franquin, andEddy Paape.[1]
After World War II the company folded. Morris worked as an illustrator forHet Laatste Nieuws (The Latest News), a Flemish newspaper, andLe Moustique (The Mosquito), a French-language weekly magazine published byDupuis. He created some 250 covers and numerous other illustrations for the latter magazine, mainly caricatures of movie stars.[1]
Morris died in 2001 of anembolism following an accidental fall.
In 1946 Morris createdLucky Luke forSpirou, theFranco-Belgian comics magazine published byDupuis. Lucky Luke is a solitary cowboy who travels across theWild West helping those in need and aided by his faithful horse,Jolly Jumper. The first adventure, "Arizona 1880", was published inL'Almanach Spirou 1947, released on 7 December 1946.[2]
Morris became one of the central artists of the publication. He was one of the so-calledLa bande des quatre (Gang of Four), withJijé,André Franquin, andWill.[1] All four lived and worked for a couple of years at Jijé's studio inWaterloo and became very good friends, inspiring each other artistically.[3][4]
In 1948 Morris, Jijé, and Franquin travelled to theUnited States (Will was still too young and had to remain in Belgium). They wanted to get to know the country, see what was left of the Wild West, and meet some American comic artists. Morris stayed the longest of the three, for six years. During his six-year stay in the U.S. Morris metJack Davis andHarvey Kurtzman and assisted them with founding theirMad magazine atEC Comics.[5] In the U.S. he also metRené Goscinny, a French comic artist and writer.
They developed a long professional relationship, with Goscinny having written all theLucky Luke stories between 1955 and his death in 1977. In the 1950s Goscinny was still fairly unknown, but he would become the most successful comic writer in Europe, first withLucky Luke and a few years later with hisAsterix series.[1]
Aside from his collaboration with Goscinny, Morris's time in the United States was integral to his development, an enormous influence on his later work. He became familiar withAmerican films of the time, and in the following years, Morris introduced many cinematic techniques in his comics, such as freeze-frames and close-ups.Walt Disney's style also influenced him, as evidenced by the very round lines that characterize the earlyLucky Luke issues.[6] Many of his characters are clearly based on famous American actors such asJack Palance,Gary Cooper,W.C. Fields, andWilliam Hart. He also caricatured unexpected figures like actorLouis de Funès and French singerSerge Gainsbourg.[1]
The first 31 Lucky Luke adventures were published byDupuis. In the late 1960s Morris left Dupuis andSpirou and went toDargaud andPilote magazine, which his friend and collaborator Goscinny launched.
In 1983Hanna-Barbera created 52Lucky Luke cartoons, increasing the popularity of the series. Fifty-two more animated cartoons were made in the early 1990s, and three live-action films followed. A few video games based on the series were also released, e.g. forPlayStation andGame Boy Color.Lucky Luke is the best-selling European comics series ever, with more than 300 million copies sold, and published in more than thirty languages.[1]
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Morris never worked on several series. He made numerous illustrations for stories in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1990s he createdRantanplan, a spin-off fromLucky Luke, starring the dumbest dog in the West.
In 2005 Morris was ranked 79th forThe Greatest Belgian in theFrench-speaking community.
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