Jo-El Azara

Like many other comic artists, Joseph F. Loeckx, best known as Jo-El Azara, studied art at the Saint Luc institute in Brussels. Azara met Willy Vandersteen during a holiday, and the master of Flemmish comics asked him to work at the Vandersteen Studios. There, Azara collaborated on the 'Suske en Wiske' episode 'De Lachende Wolf'. In 1954, he drew a short story about 'Hamlet' for Junior/Ons Volkske. Between 1954 and 1961, he worked at Studio Hergé, where he assisted on some albums of 'Tintin et Milou'. Starting in 1958, he drew for several magazines under a variety of pseudonyms, such as Jo-El, Ernest and eventually Jo-El Azara. His first work appeared in Caravane, Spirou and Le Soir Illustré, where he collaborated with Will on 'Jacky et Célestin'.

Jo-El Azara soon became one of the most popular artists of humorous comics for the magazine Tintin, where he created his own series for the first time. After 'La Principauté du Finckelstein' and 'Évariste Confus', he came up with 'Taka Takata', which became his most famous series. He also took over the 'Clifton' series from Raymond Macherot for one episode. Jo-El Azara expanded his activities and started collaborations with other magazines, drawing 'Bonnedague' in Record and 'La Campagne de Grèce', 'Mayflower' and 'Monsieur Chapomou' in Pilote in cooperation with scenarists like Jacques Acar, Jacques Lob, Maurice Rosy and Crespin.

In 1965, Azara drew 'Pauvre Icare' in Chouchou. From 1967, he is also present again in Spirou with 'Haddada Surmamoto' and in 1980 once again with 'Zagazik'. In addition, Azara was active in the advertising and communication field, drawing among others 'L'Histoire Mondiale du Transport et de la Logistique' (1989) and 'L'Heure de l'Euro' (1999). He was asked by Pierre Tchernia and Albert Uderzo to participate in the development of the medieval street in Parc Astérix in France. In 1994, Azara began his own label, Azeko, under which he reprinted his 'Taka Takata' albums.