Les Tuniques Bleues - 'Les Bleues dans la Gadoue' (1978).
Willy Lambil has been one of the mainstays of the publishing house Dupuis and its comic magazineSpirou for many decades. Beginning his career at the publisher's art studio, his first notable work as a comic artist was 'Sandy et Hoppy' (1959-1974), an adventure comic set in the Australian outback. However, Lambil is best-known as the second artist of 'Les Tuniques Bleues' (1968- ), a humorous adventure comic set during the American Civil War, written byRaoul Cauvin. Taking over in 1972 from the lateLouis Salvérius, Lambil changed the series' visual style and gave the cast members their definitive designs. Together with Cauvin, he also added new recurring characters, such as corporal Blutch's horse Arabesque, the cynical Captain-Major Stephen Stilman and antagonist Cancrelat. In the following decades, Lambil and Cauvin turned 'Les Tuniques Bleues' into one of Belgium's hit comic book series, with over 23 million copies sold. As a side project, Lambil and Cauvin have also made the semi-autobiographical gag series 'Pauvre Lampil' (1973-1994), a spoof of Lambil's personal stress, his bumpy working relationship with Cauvin and the comic industry in general.
Cover illustrations for Spirou issue #1587 (12 September 1968) and 1911 (28 November 1974).
Early life and career
Willy Lambillote (shortened to "Lambil" during his professional career) was born in 1936 in Tamines, a town near the Sambre river, 15 kilometres east of the industrial city of Charleroi. He grew up reading comic magazines like Bravo! and Spirou. Among his main graphic influences were Jijé,André Franquin,Maurice Tillieux, Albert Uderzo, Milton Caniff,Alex Raymond. In 1946, at age 10, he was proud to see his drawing of a jar in his house being printed in Spirou's readers' section. Lambil spent one year at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, but had little to no interest in sculpting or painting, so he soon dropped out. For most of his professional life, Willy Lambil has lived and worked in the Walloon village of Falisolle.
Dupuis art studio
Through fellow townsman Henri Gillain - brother of comic artistJijé - Lambil offered his services to the publishing house Dupuis. In 1952, Lambil got a job in the publisher's art studio, where production artists did layouts, lettering and spot illustrations for the Dupuis magazines, including the comic magazine Spirou. Among his early tasks was replacingMarcel Denis as a letterer. For several years, Lambil added the translated dialogue in the speech balloons of comic stories for Spirou magazine's Dutch-language edition Robbedoes. Working alongside fellow studio membersArthur Piroton,Paul Deliège,Louis Salvérius andEddy Paape, Lambil also did layout jobs for the pocket book collection Gags de Poche and made a couple of illustrations for the women's weekly Bonnes Soirées.
In an interview, Lambil said that his first produced comic stories for Spirou were installments of 'Les Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul', an educational series about history, written byOctave Joly. However, the five 'Oncle Paul' stories credited to Lambil were published in 1962-1963. By then, Lambil had already started his own 'Sandy et Hoppy' (1959-1974) series. If there are 'Oncle Paul' installments by Lambil created before 1959, they either still need to be identified or they have remained in the publisher's stock until those early 1960s publications came out.
Sandy - 'Poursuites sur la Murray' (1960).
Sandy et Hoppy
In March 1959, Lambil launched his first comic series in Spirou, 'Sandy et Hoppy' (1959-1974), a concept he had been working on since the age of 15. The stories explore the Australian outback, where the young boy Sandy Reynolds and his pet kangaroo Hoppy live. The documentary maker Michael Forster often accompanies them on their adventures. The first 'Sandy et Hoppy' story was written in collaboration with Henri Gillain, but from the second story on, Lambil assumed full writing duties. In contrast with his later work, Lambil used a realistic graphic style. In the second half of the 1960s, 'Sandy et Hoppy' stories were also reprinted in Samedi Jeunesse, a monthly comic magazine published by Éditions du Samedi.
During a period of fifteen years, the characters appeared in 24 full-length comic stories, as well as five shorter episodes. However, publishing house Dupuis never gave the feature its own album collection. Only the episode 'Koalas en Péril' was published in the publisher's Okay collection in 1972, followed in 1984 by 'Du Béton dans le Désert' in the book collection 'Péchés de Jeunesse'. It took until 1980-1981 before the stories were collected in 17 black-and-white albums, but by a different publisher, Magic Strip. Between 2008 and 2011, the small imprint La Coffre à BD released a series of chronological compendiums.
'Sandy & Hoppy' - 'L'Étranger de Glen Muir' (1970). Dutch-language version.
Hobby et Koala
During the early years of his career, Lambil established himself as a realistic comic artist. For Spirou's fold-in mini-books section, he temporarily switched to humor when making the funny animal story 'Kangourou, Koala et Kiwi Contre Kookaburra' (1960). Written by editor-in-chiefYvan Delporte, it was intended as a spoof of Lambil's lead series, imagining the fanciful adventures of a group of Australian forest animals, including a koala and a kangaroo. Between 1968 and 1973, this one-shot funny animal comic was expanded with a follow-up series of irregularly appearing short stories. Now titled 'Hobby et Koala', Serge Gennaux became its new scriptwriter.
'Hobby & Koala' (1971). Dutch-language version.
Les Tuniques Bleues
Lambil's rise to the top of the comic industry was preceded by a tragedy. On 23 May 1972, his friend and colleagueLouis Salvérius died suddenly from a heart attack. He was only 42. Four years earlier, Salvé and scriptwriterRaoul Cauvin had created their successful comic series 'Les Tuniques Bleues' ("The Bluecoats", 1968- ), about two cavalry soldiers during the U.S. Civil War. The series had been launched to fill the void afterRené Goscinny andMorris took their famous cowboy comic 'Lucky Luke' from Spirou to Pilote magazine, and quickly managed to become one of Spirou's most popular features in its own right. In Robbedoes, the Dutch-language edition of Spirou, the series appeared under the title 'De Blauwbloezen'.
When Salvérius died, the fourth adventure serial, 'Les Hors-la-loi', was still unfinished. Lambil drew the remaining eight pages of the story. Scriptwriter Cauvin was pleased with Lambil's fill-in job, and the duo began working on the fifth album, followed by many more. To continue 'Les Tuniques Bleues', Lambil carried on in the vein of his predecessor. In an ironic twist of events, Salvérius had started in a more comical style, only to switch to semi-realism as the series progressed. Lambil, on the other hand, was used to drawing fully-rendered realistic comics, but now had to abandon this in favor of a more caricatural look.
Les Tuniques Bleues - 'Les Cavaliers duCciel' (1975).
Since the second Salvérius-Cauvin serial, the American Civil War had been the permanent setting of each 'Les Tuniques Bleues' (1968- ) story. As the series was intended as a replacement for 'Lucky Luke', the choice for this time period was not coincidental. Despite sometimes referencing it, the 'Lucky Luke' series had no Civil War-centered stories. Realizing there was a whole territory of potential narratives to explore, Cauvin and Salvérius decided to make the Civil War the prime focus of 'Les Tuniques Bleues', allowing them to avoid entering 'Lucky Luke' story territory. The early stories by Cauvin and Salvérius already established the familiar ingredients of the series. The main characters are two members of the 22nd Cavalry Regiment of the Northern Army. Sergeant Cornelius Chesterfield is the stupid, self-important, patriotic and obedient military officer who believes in the virtues of war and does anything his superiors tell him to do. His subordinate, corporal Blutch, is far more cynical and skeptical of the entire war effort. He doesn't believe any of the military propaganda fed to him, nor enjoys being in the army. Another early character was Captain Stark, who has been in the army for so long that he lost his grip on reality. He never dismounts from his horse and is always ready to charge the enemy, even if the moment is badly chosen.
The comedy contrasts between Blutch and Chesterfield form the basis of each story, but at the same time, 'Les Tuniques Bleues' shows very graphic depictions of battlefield gruesomeness, complete with wounded, crippled and dying soldiers. In the early 1970s, this marked a heavy shift from the bloodless adventures of 'Lucky Luke', which were created in more censor-heavy times. As 'Les Tuniques Bleues' became a hit, starting in 1970, Dupuis also released the stories in book format.
'Les Tuniques Bleues' - 'Drummer Boy' (1990). Dutch-language version.
Despite pulling no punches in depicting warfare atrocities, 'Les Tuniques Bleues' also offers hilarious burlesque comedy. The anti-militaristic tone is embodied in the two main stars, whose conflicting personalities form the basis of each story. Blutch tries to wriggle his way out of every charge and assignment, while Chesterfield has an unconditional respect for authority and the military cause. The two openly despise each other, but for some reason they are always assigned to the same mission. Their characters were given more depth in the episodes 'Blue Rétro' (1980) and 'Vertes Années' (1992), which offered readers a glimpse into Blutch and Chesterfield's personal backgrounds and how they ended up in the army in the first place.
During Lambil's tenure, new characters were introduced. 'Les Cavaliers du Ciel' (1975) marked the first appearance of Arabesque, Blutch's faithful horse trained to "play dead" on the battlefield so he can hide away for the remainder of the battle. Other new cast members designed by Lambil are the cynical Captain-Major Stephen Stilman and the series' ratty nemesis, Cancrelat, who serves in the Southern army.
Les Tuniques Bleues - 'Blue Rétro' (1980). Dutch-language version.
As documentation, Lambil mainly used historical reference guides about the Secession War. Several stories were inspired by real-life events, like the Battle of Bull Run, the Andersonville Prison, the Union Army Balloon Corps, the naval battles of Hampton Roads and Cherbourg, the warships USS Monitor and the USS Kearsarge. Just like in 'Lucky Luke', historical characters also have guest roles, including President Abraham Lincoln, generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert Lee, surgeon Mary Edwards Walker, Confederate guerrilla leader William Clarke Quantrill and the militia group the Nancy Harts.
On 5 September 2019, Raoul Cauvin announced that he would write one more episode of 'Les Tuniques Bleues' and then retire. Since the writer had sold his share of the rights to Dupuis years ago, the publisher assigned the Frenchman Kris (Christophe Goret) to take over Cauvin's role and create new stories with Lambil, who was by then well in his eighties. Before Cauvin's swan song, the 65th album appeared in 2020 as an intermission, written and drawn byJosé Luis Munuera in cooperation with the scriptwriting duo BéKa. Cauvin's final 'Tuniques Bleues' story, 'Où Est Donc Arabesque?' was serialized in Spirou magazine in 2021, and then released as the 64th installment of the book series. Since 2022, Lambil has been creating new episodes of 'Les Tuniques Bleues' with new scriptwriters. Besides Kris,Fred Neidhardt has also joined the writing team.
Les Tuniques Bleues - 'Duel Dans la Manche' (1995). Dutch-language version.
Pauvre Lampil
In between 'Tuniques Bleues' episodes, Lambil and Cauvin worked on their side project 'Pauvre Lampil' (1973-1994), a spoof of the comic industry in general and the authors' own collaboration in particular. The first episodes appeared in Spirou's 'Carte Blanche' section, where authors were allowed to create stand-alone stories in full creative freedom, outside of their regular features. Lambil and Cauvin enjoyed themselves with two-page stories about a failed comic artist, in desperate search of success and recognition. Lambil based the character on himself, only altering the name to "Lampil". "Poor Lampil", a grouchy miser and hypochondriac, constantly bickers with his scriptwriter, colleagues, publisher, readers, but also his wife, children, the town butcher and the family doctor.
As the episodes progressed, other colleagues made guest appearances - always under their own name - most notably scriptwriter Cauvin, but alsoAndré Franquin,François Walthéry,Laudec,Jean-Claude Fournier,Berck and publisher Charles Dupuis. 'Pauvre Lampil' appeared irregularly between 1973 and 1994 - with a handful of new episodes in 2003 and 2006. In Dutch, the series ran under the title 'Arme Lampil'.
'Pauvre Lampil'. Dutch-language version.
Arguably the first work of autobiographical fiction in Franco-Belgian comics, 'Pauvre Lampil' offers an interesting look on three decades of Belgian comic book history as well as the family lives of both Lambil and Cauvin. How realistic the gags are is open for speculation. The interactions between the fictional Lampil and Cauvin are comparable to the arguments of Blutch and Chesterfield from 'Les Tuniques Bleues'. Still, in interviews, Lambil and Cauvin revealed that many episodes were based on true stories - including the ones made during a five-year period when the two men really didn't get along. Just like his comic book persona Lampil, Willy Lambil confessed in interviews that he too often felt underestimated and not fully appreciated by his publisher, the press and the comic industry. In a 2011 issue of Brabant Strip Magazine, the artist even claimed he grew a dislike of the feature, because the jokes were too painfully close to home.
Despite the long intervals between episodes, and modest sales of the seven album collections, 'Pauvre Lampil' became a fan favorite, nowadays referred to as a hidden gem of Belgian comics. It is particularly enjoyed by people active in the comic industry themselves. In 2011, Dupuis released a large volume compendium of all the episodes. The Flemish comic creatorsMarc Legendre andCharel Cambré have cited 'Pauvre Lampil' as a strong influence on their own comic strip 'Heden Verse Vis' (2018- ), which also features satire on the comic industry by using the authors themselves as protagonists.
'Pauvre Lampil'.
Graphic contributions
In 1979, Lambil drew a special congratulation to Turk andBob De Groot's 'Robin Dubois', printed in the 4 September 1979 issue of Tintin, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their hit series. Lambil was also one of many Belgian comic artists to make a graphic contribution to the book 'Il Était Une Fois... Les Belges'/'Er Waren Eens Belgen' (1980), a collection of columns and one-page comics, published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Belgium. He made a gag page starring his Lampil alter ego. Lambil paid homage to Derib in the collective tribute album 'Les Amis de Buddy Longway' (1983). In 1986, Lambil also made a contribution to a pacifism-themed comic book, 'L'Oiseau de la Paix' (Association du Livre du Paix, 1986).
Recognition
In 2013, Willy Lambil won the Grand Prix at the comic festival in Anzin-Saint-Aubin. On 12 July 2018, a statue of Les Tuniques Bleues was erected in Lambil's birth town Tamines.
Legacy and influence
On the occasion of the 60th album of 'Les Tuniques Bleues' in 2016, Éditions Dupuis also released a tribute anthology book, with contributions by Baba & Lapuss',Renaud Collin,Denis Bodart & Thierry Gloris,Denis Goulet &Sti,Olivier Dutto,Aimée de Jongh,Olivier Schwartz,Jose Luis Munuera,Pau &Denis Lapière, Olivier Frasier & Joris Chamblain, Éric Maltaite &Zidrou,Clarke andBlutch. The book was festively presented to Lambil in the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels. 'Les Tuniques Bleues' were spoofed as a sex parody byRoger Brunel in 'Pastiches 3' (1984).
Willy Lambil has been cited as an influence by Irene Berbee,Thierry Capezzone and Norbert Mirani.
Self-portrait.