Cover illustration for the book compilation 'Rhâ-GnaGna'.
Marcel Gotlib was a French comic artist, widely regarded as one of the most influential humorists of his generation. His energetic and virtuoso graphic style was larded with quick-paced madcap humor, exaggerated expressions, pop culture references and snappy verbal comedy, much like a Looney Tunes cartoon. Starting out in mainstream comics, Gotlib had his first success with the melancholic dog 'Gai-Luron' (1964-1971, 1984-1986), published in Vaillant/Pif Gadget. In Pilote magazine, he teamed up with editor-in-chief René Goscinny to create the educational parody feature 'Les Dingodossiers' (1965-1967), which Gotlib then continued solo under the different title 'La Rubrique-à-Brac' (1968-1972). In the latter series, he introduced his nameless ladybug, which became a signature cameo character in his future comics. From the 1970s on, Gotlib reinvented himself as a creator of more risqué, taboo-breaking comics with black comedy for mature readers. For Rock et Folk magazine, he created the naïve scoutmaster 'Hamster Jovial' (1971-1974), a raunchy gag comic filled with rock music references. Gotlib was co-creator of the adult comic magazines L'Écho des Savanes (1973) and Fluide Glacial (1975), which both became havens for comic creators who wanted to challenge their readers with more mature, offensive and experimental stories. For Fluide Glacial, Gotlib created 'Pervers Pépère' (1976-1981), a pantomime gag series about a dirty old man who enjoys fooling his environment. In addition, Gotlib was a prominent scriptwriter for other artists. With Alexis, he made the parody comic series 'Cinémastock' (Pilote, 1970-1974) and 'La Publicité Dans La Joie' (Fluide Glacial, 1974-1977), and with Jacques Lob he created the political satirical series 'Superdupont' (Pilote/Fluide Glacial, 1972-1975), about a stereotypically French superhero, who became so popular that his stories were continued for decades by other writers and artists. A cult artist with an instantly recognizable style, Gotlib's impact on French-language comics, and adult comics in particular, cannot be underestimated.
'Rubrique-à-Brac'. Professor Burp explains that since hyenas "giggle all the time", they tend to cry once you actually try to make them laugh.
Early life and influences
Marcel Mordekhaï Gottlieb was born in Paris in 1934 as the son of Jewish-Hungarian-Romanian parents. His father was a house painter, and his mother made clothing. From a young age, Gotlib enjoyed drawing. He frequently filled the walls of the family home with his drawings, only to have his father clean everything off again on a weekly basis. During World War II, the Gottliebs went into hiding from the Nazis. After spending some time in a Jewish orphanage in Montmartre, Marcel and his baby sister were placed with farmers in Rueil-la-Gadelière, a village in the French countryside of Eure-et-Loir. His mother Régine also survived the war, but his father was less lucky. In 1942, Ervin Gottlieb (1896-1945) was betrayed by the caretaker of their Parisian apartment and sent off to the Nazi camp Buchenwald, where he was executed. After the Liberation (1944), Gotlib's mother picked up her former profession, while Marcel continued his education. At school, he became friends with the future editor and writer Jacques Diament (1936-2025), who had also lost his father during the war, and with whom he collaborated regularly later in life. From 1947 on, Marcel Gotlib spent three years at the Château des Groux in Verneuil-sur-Seine, a sort of orphanage where, as he later recalled in his autobiography, he discovered the work of Victor Hugo, classical music and "the opposite sex". When the center closed down in 1950, Gotlib returned to Paris to finish his education.
In 1951, seventeen-year old Marcel Gotlib left school and became a stacker for a pharmaceutical company. He took evening classes at L'École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Dupetit-Thouard, where one of his teachers was Georges Pichard. On Sundays, Gotlib performed as an amateur comedian. Among his main graphic influences were André Franquin, Mad Magazine (particularly the work of Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Jack Davis and Wallace Wood), the French adult-oriented comic magazines Hara-Kiri/Charlie Hebdo, René Goscinny, Tex Avery and Robert Crumb. Among his other inspirations were comedians such as The Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Coluche and the Monty Python group, not to mention musicians like The Beatles, Georges Brassens and Frank Zappa, whom he frequently gave cameos in his comics.
In some of his later comic stories, Gotlib used elements from his Jewish background and his eventful childhood during the war years. In the 1969 'Rubrique-à-Brac' episode 'La Chanson Aigre-douce' (1969) in Pilote, he evoked the time he had spent in hiding with the farmers, who beat him. Another installment of that same series, 'Manuscrit Pour les Générations Futures' (1968), showed rats being deported and then exterminated by gas, a metaphor predating Art Spiegelman's depiction of the Jewish people as mice in his graphic novel 'Maus'. In the short story 'La Coulpe' (L'Écho des Savanes #3, 1973), Gotlib portrayed himself with a Star of David on his chest.
'L'Invité de la Forêt' and 'Emery et le Jouet Magique'.
Early graphic/comic career
In 1954, Gotlib applied for a job as a letterer at the Édi-Monde/Opera Mundi agency, which provided French translations of American comic strips to French papers and magazines. He soon lettered speech balloons and designed headers for the Disney magazine Le Journal de Mickey and the women's title Confidences. After his military service of 28 months, he set up his own shop and drew several children's books with colorist Claudie Liégeois, whom he eventually married in 1962. At the time, he didn't sign with the simplification of his real name yet, but preferred pseudonyms like Mar-Got, Garmo or Marclau (the latter a contraction of "Marcel" and "Claude"). Among their many productions, often written by his childhood friend Jacques Djament, were 'L'Invité de la Forêt', 'Pouche et la Souris Mystérieuse', 'L'Escapade de Blouk', 'Bidou le Gourmand', 'Touff dans un Guêpier' and the series 'Titou' and 'Bob et Hoppy' (Éditions Lito, 1960-1961), 'Émery et le Jouet Magique' (Éditions Albon, 1960) and 'Blonblon et Rourou', 'Touffu', 'Siam et Moa', 'Margo et Henni' (Éditions Willeb, 1960-1961). Besides children's books, Gotlib also created several coloring books for Éditions Bias and Lacroix/Lebeau (1961) and the drawing guidebook series 'J'Apprends à Dessiner' (Éditions Willeb, 1961).
In 1959, Gotlib also published his first comic, 'Le Général Dourakine', a text comic based on the famous novel by the Countess de Ségur and published in the Petit Faon collection of the publishing house Beuchet et Vanden Brugge.
'Nanar, Jujube & Piette', starring Gai-Luron the dog.
Gai-Luron
In 1962, Gotlib joined the children's magazine Vaillant, where he started short-lived and one-shot humor features like 'Gilou et La Plume de Paon' (1962), 'Le Papoose' (1962), 'Puck et Poil' (1962) and the gag strip 'Klop' (1963-1964). The predecessor to his longest-running comic series in this magazine was 'Nanar, Jujube & Piette' (1962-1965), about the jocular boy Nanar, his girlfriend Piette and the malicious fox Jujube. Among the additional characters were the farmer Laglume, the poet Monsieur Joachim and Nanar's uncles Basile and Blaise. Gradually, most of these characters were scrapped in favor of the fox Jujube, who became more anthropomorphic in time.
On 12 July 1964, the fox received a sidekick, a melancholic basset hound named Gai-Luron. Revealing inspiration from Tex Avery's 'Droopy', Gai-Luron's imperturbability provides a hilarious contrast with Jujube's more lively behavior. The dog inspired absurd gags and frequently broke the fourth wall in an Averyesque manner. As the canines became rivals, Jujube constantly tried to seduce Gai-Luron's girlfriend Belle-Lurette, and was extremely jealous because Gai-Luron received more fan mail from the readers. As a running gag, all their fan letters were written by one and the same person, a kid named Jean-Pierre Liégeois. Few readers at the time knew that this was an inside joke, as it was actually the name of Gotlib's father-in-law.
'Gai-Luron, ou La Joie de Vivre' (Pif Gadget #6, 31 March 1969).
Like in the fictional fan letter gimmick, Gai-Luron also became popular in real life. He upstaged Jujube to the point that in 1967 the series was renamed after him. Fond of meta humor, Gotlib made an episode in which Gai-Luron and Jujube visit the offices of Vaillant, where the fox is shocked to learn that "his contract won't be renewed", while Gai-Luron receives a spin-off series. In 1969, when Vaillant was renamed to Pif Gadget, the 'Gai-Luron' strip also received a new title: 'Gai Luron, ou La Joie de Vivre' ("Gai-Luron, or the Joy of Life"). However, at that point Gotlib had lost interest in the character and passed the artwork of his creation on to his assistant Henri Dufranne, although he kept writing the gags. In 1971, Dufranne took over writing too and continued the series until 1976. 'Gai-Luron' has been translated into several other languages, such as Dutch ('Lobbes') and German ('Witzbold'). It took until 1975 before the comics became available in album format. The second album, 'Gai-Luron en Ecrase Méchamment', won the award for "Best French Humor Comic" at the 1975 Comic Festival of Angoulême.
Between 1984 and 1986, Gotlib revived 'Gai-Luron' in his own magazine Fluide Glacial, as the back catalog was reprinted by Audie and needed promotion. The new Gai-Luron stories were far more crude than the originals. In the first episode, 'Gai Luron en Slip', the dog realizes that, throughout all those years, he has always appeared in the nude. He quickly puts on some underpants, even though his large phallus is still visible underneath. Gotlib created enough new stories to fill a final album, 'La Bataille Navale', but after 1986 the artist basically quit drawing all together. In 2016, Pixel Vengeur and Fabcaro created a new series of comics about Gai-Luron, with Gotlib's approval, but without his involvement.
'Les Dingodossiers'.
Les Dingodossiers
In 1965, Gotlib drew two short stories of the educational comic feature 'Professeur Frédéric Rosebif' (1965) for the magazine Record. These funny "lectures" were precursors to his later work for the best-selling French comic magazine of the time, Pilote. Together with the magazine's co-founder and chief editor René Goscinny, Gotlib launched the series 'Les Dingodossiers' (1965-1967), of which the first episode appeared in issue #292 (27 May 1965). The comic was a funny parody of educational comics. Each episode centered around a question or a subject, usually asked by a little boy named Chaprot. Chaprot's naïvité and rampant spelling errors are very reminiscent of Goscinny and Sempé's other comic series 'Le Petit Nicolas'. Yet the answers the boy receives are equally silly. A wide variety of topics were covered, including space travel, animal life, tourists and the correct way to feed a baby. Goscinny's love of verbal comedy, satire and stereotypes and Gotlib's talent for hilarious characterization and cartoony slapstick proved a golden combination, and 'Les Dingodossiers' is still regarded as a classic in French comic history. But as Goscinny's workload became heavier, he decided to drop all his scriptwriting in favor of just his three most successful comic series, namely 'Astérix' (drawn by Albert Uderzo), 'Iznogoud' (by Jean Tabary) and 'Lucky Luke' (by Morris). The final episode of 'Les Dingodossiers' appeared in Pilote issue #423 (30 November 1967).
'Bougret et Charolles'. Note the cameo of René Goscinny in the flashlight.
Rubrique-à-Brac
When Goscinny had retired from 'Les Dingodossiers', Gotlib continued the series on his own in Pilote, but out of respect for his former scriptwriter, he changed the title. From 11 January 1968 until the final episode on 28 December 1972, the feature was renamed 'Rubrique-à-Brac' (1968-1972). While it had a similar tone, Gotlib went into a more personal and absurd direction. Fairy tales, films, songs, TV shows, cartoons, comics, history and commercials were frequently parodied and gave the artist the opportunity to create beautiful caricatures. The zany comedy was peppered with weird transitions and non-sequiturs, which appealed more to teenagers than young children. One recurring character was Professeur Burp, a zoologist whose so-called "facts" about animals are completely bogus. Physicist Isaac Newton's cameos were the series' most famous running gag. Newton always pops up out of nowhere, after which he is hit on the head by apples and other falling objects.
'Rubrique-à-Brac' (Pilote #630, 2 December 1971)
Bougret & Charolles
Two other recurring characters in 'Rubrique-à-Brac' are commissioner Bougret and his assistant Charolles. These police inspectors frequently try to solve absurd mysteries, but only concentrate on two usual suspects. The first one, Aristidès Othon Frédéric Wilfrid, always looks incredibly suspicious. The second one, Blondeaux Georges Jacques Babylas, has an innocent aura and is nice and cooperative. However, invariably the culprit turns out to be Babylas, based on far-fetched and illogical reasons. Bougret's name was a portmanteau of commissioner Bourrel from the TV series 'Les Cinq Dernières Minutes' (1958-1973) and 'Inspecteur Maigret' by Belgian novelist Georges Simenon. The concept itself was based on the Europe 1 radio show 'Feu de Camp du Dimanche Matin' (1969), where the same characters appeared. They were also voiced by Gotlib and several of his Pilote colleagues, explaining why the comic book versions share the same looks as their voice actors. Bougret and Charolles' faces are caricatures of cartoonist Gébé and Gotlib, respectively, while Wilfrid is a lookalike of Fred and Babylas the spitting image of Goscinny. The characters inspired Patrice Leconte's police film comedy 'Les Vécés Étaient Fermés de l'Intérieur' (1976), starring Coluche as Inspecteur Charbonnier. Gotlib co-wrote the film script and Jean Solé designed the poster.
In 1997, Maëster and Gotlib created a reboot of Bougret et Charolles, where Charolles was now the commissioner (and still a caricature of Gotlib) and Inspector Piggs (a caricature of Maëster) his assistant.
René Goscinny as the seemingly innocent, but always guilty Babylas in 'Rubrique-à-Brac'.
La Coccinelle (The Ladybug)
Another iconic character that debuted in 'Rubrique-à-Brac' was a tiny ladybug, which always appeared somewhere in the background, commenting on whatever insanity took place in the foreground. Although the insect never received a name or a starring role, Gotlib kept drawing him in the panels of most of his later comics. He later admitted that the ladybug was mere page filler, to avoid having to draw entire backgrounds. He was inspired by the first issues of Mad Magazine, where the artists usually stacked up every panel with extra jokes. Still, the ladybug basically became Gotlib's signature character. Despite never receiving a spin-off comic of its own, it did star in a 1993 animated TV series, 'La Coccinelle de Gotlib'. It was produced by Dargaud Films and Fantôme Animation and broadcast on the pay channel Canal+. Later in his career, Gotlib's backgrounds became increasingly more minimalistic, often being nothing more but a white void. This allowed the reader to focus on the characters and their busy actions and gave the artist the opportunity to fill up the panels with more visual and verbal jokes.
'Hamster Jovial'. Dutch-language version.
Hamster Jovial
In the early 1970s, Gotlib drew his first genuine adult comic strip, 'Hamster Jovial et ses Louveteaux' (December 1971 - June 1974), for the music magazine Rock et Folk. The gag comic starred a well-meaning but incredibly naïve Scout leader whose totem name is "Jovial Hamster". Hamster is a firm believer in Baden-Powell's philosophy of doing good deeds. He tries to entertain his young cubs and lecture them in the field of ethics. Unfortunately, the two little boys and the girl are more interested in tormenting their teacher and making out with each another. Already risqué back in the 1970s, the very dark comedy is nowadays probably even more disturbing. In one gag, the little girl asks Jovial to impregnate her. After dismissing her offer, it turns out she's already pregnant and just wanted him to take the blame for it, rather than her prepubescent boyfriend. In another gag, Hamster and one of the boys visit a sperm bank, where Hamster manages to only fill up the bottom of a cup, while the kids have a bucket full of it, even too heavy to carry. Gotlib liked the idea of a Scout leader appearing in a rock magazine, because the two worlds were so distant from one another, although he didn't forget his target audience. In several gags Hamster listens to rock records, attends concerts or watches performances on television. He usually tries to imitate his favorite musicians afterwards, in order to appeal more to his young cubs. This leads to cameos and winks to artists and bands like The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jethro Tull, Magma, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.
'Hamster Jovial'.
Scriptwriting in Pilote
During the 1970s, Gotlib also became a prolific scriptwriter for other artists, initially in Pilote magazine. One of his major collaborators during the decade was the comic artist Alexis. Between 1970 and 1974, the duo created a series of parody comics in the tradition of Mad Magazine, in which they spoofed various media, such as swashbuckler movies, the TV series 'The Avengers' and literary classics by William Shakespeare, Nikolai Gogol, Alexandre Dumas, the Countess of Ségur and Victor Hugo. All episodes were published in Pilote and later made available in book form under the collective name 'Cinémastock'. Another comic strip written by Gotlib for Pilote was the odd gag comic 'Les Clopinettes' (1970-1973), drawn by Nikita Mandryka. It featured nonsensical one-page tales with ridiculous morals.
'Kung Fu Glacial', featuring Superdupont vs. Bruce Lee. (Fluide Glacial #2, 1 August 1975).
Superdupont
By far the most popular feature in Pilote (and from 1975 on in Fluide Glacial) was 'Superdupont' (1972-1995), which Gotlib co-wrote with Jacques Lob. This superhero parody stars a stereotypical chauvinistic Frenchman who fights for Francophone culture. He wears the French "tricolore" flag on his body, has a Gallic rooster for a pet, only smokes Gauloises cigarettes and always has a supply of baguettes, wine and cheese nearby. Naturally he is an expert in the French combat technique savate. Storylines have him fight off foreigners (basically anyone not born between his country's borders), the Euro and even the Chinese ink in which he is drawn. In one memorable story, he even faces off against legendary martial artist Bruce Lee. Yet whenever Superdupont hears the Marseillaise being played in reverse he loses his powers. As Gotlib's most political work, 'Superdupont' had several cameos of well known French politicians of the day, including Jacques Chirac, Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand. Originally, Gotlib drew the stories himself, but he eventually passed the pencil to other artists while he and Lob remained the main scriptwriters. Readers enjoyed Superdupont's antics so much that it became Gotlib's longest-running creation, in later years continued by artists like Alexis, Jean Solé, Neal Adams, Al Coutelis, Daniel Goossens, Lefred-Thouron and François Boucq.
The character eventually started to have a life of its own. Jérôme Savary adapted the character into a comedy musical named 'Superdupont Ze Show' (1982), which played at the Odéon Theater in Paris. The comic artist Roger Leiner based his own stereotypical Luxembourg superhero 'Superjhemp' on 'Superdupont'. Unfortunately some readers didn't get the satire. The French far-right party Le Front National used Superdupont as a mascot, with their founder and leader Jean-Marie Le Pen even expressing his admiration for the nationalist character. As a result, Gotlib and his artists quit the series in 1994, with only sporadic reprints in special issues of Fluide Glacial in the following years. Between 2006 and 2010, the comic was revived with new satirical adventures.
'L'Exorcisme' (L'Écho des Savanes #10, 1 December 1974).
L'Écho des Savanes
As successful as Gotlib was in Pilote, he still felt frustrated that he couldn't always draw what he wanted. A man of his time, he supported the social changes brought along by the student protests of May 1968. Along with other artists of his generation, he tried to convince René Goscinny and his publisher Georges Dargaud to make room in Pilote for mature content. While the otherwise family-friendly magazine shifted towards a more satirical tone in the tradition of Mad Magazine, a full rift between Pilote and several of its more daring creators was unavoidable. Over the course of the 1970s, several decided to start their own magazines. In 1972, Gotlib, Nikita Mandryka and Claire Bretécher were the first and launched L'Écho des Savanes, originally a quarterly magazine. Even though Gotlib continued to work for Pilote for another two years, his relationship with his mentor Goscinny was severely damaged. As Goscinny died in 1977, Gotlib was never able to reconcile their friendship, which depressed him severely.
'Gods Club' (L'Écho des Savanes #6, 1 January 1974) featuring Wodan, Buddha, Jehovah and Zeus.
The 1970s were a period of soul-searching for Gotlib. As he went into psychotherapy, the comics he made during this dark period of his life were an outlet for his thoughts and frustrations. Much of his work for L'Écho des Savanes was extremely provocative and obscene, such as the gag series 'Momo Le Morbaque' (1973-1974) about the adventures of a little pubic louse. One of Gotlib's most infamous one-shot comics was 'God's Club' (L'Écho des Savanes #6, 1974), which features the world's most famous gods (Zeus, Jesus Christ, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha and Wodan) getting drunk, playing vulgar pranks on one another and watching porn. As Gotlib once said with some understatement: "You wouldn't be able to publish something like that today". At the same time he also drew more psycho-analytical comics like 'La Coulpe' (L'Écho des Savanes #3, 1973), in which he portrays himself going through an identity crisis and meeting both his signature characters and people from his personal life. Still, his trademark humor was never far away.
'La Coulpe', in which Gotlib appears as himself, suffering from writer's block (L'Écho des Savanes #3, 1 April 1973).
From L'Écho to Fluide Glacial
Early issues of L'Écho des Savanes only contained material by its founders, but the magazine unexpectedly struck a nerve among readers. Many artists whose daring or controversial work couldn't be published elsewhere joined L'Écho's ranks: Jean Solé, Alexis, Georges Pichard, René Pétillon, Yves Got, Paul Gillon, Martin Veyron, Jacques Lob, Daniel and Alex Varenne. While L'Écho des Savanes allowed Gotlib to let off steam by tackling subjects like pornography, blasphemy, scatology, gore and psychoanalysis, he wasn't satisfied with the magazine's management. His final contribution was to issue #10 (December 1974), after which he moved on to create his own magazine, one with a focus on more playful humor and over-the-top satire. On 1 April 1975, the first issue of Fluide Glacial rolled off the presses. Joining Gotlib on his new adventure were his regular collaborator Alexis and his childhood friend Jacques Diament, who was the magazine's editor-in-chief for twenty years. Among Fluide Glacial's early contributors were Jean Solé, Jean-Claude Forest, Francis Masse and Claude Lacroix, quickly followed by Christian Binet, Édika, Daniel Goossens, Maëster, André Franquin and Carlos Giménez, who for many years formed the magazine's core creator team. Starting as a quarterly, the magazine quickly became monthly. For book compilations of the magazine's comics, the publishing imprint AUDIE ("Amusement Umour Dérision Ilarité Et toutes ces sortes de choses") was launched.
Comic strip from Fluide Glacial, mocking a popular TV show in which the hosts told jokes in front of an audience.
Fluide Glacial finally gave Gotlib the independence he craved for. Not without reason the magazine eventually received the nickname "Le Journal de Gotlib" ("Gotlib's paper"). Even though more good-natured and less political than in L'Écho des Savanes, he went all out in creating gag comics and one-shot stories with depraved violent, scatological, sexual and blasphemous content. He enjoyed giving many celebrities and cult heroes cameos, such as Georges Brassens, Bruce Lee, Tarzan, Tina Turner, Frank Zappa and the Marx Brothers. Even the cartoonist himself and his signature characters weren't spared. Besides drawing them himself, Gotlib also proved a productive scriptwriter for other artists, as he had already done in Pilote. Again with Alexis, he created 'La Publicité Dans La Joie' (1975-1977), which spoofed TV commercials in comic strip form. These gags were later collected in the album 'Dans la Joie Jusqu'au Cou' (1978). However, two years after Fluide Glacial's creation, co-founder and frequent Gotlib collaborator Alexis died, after which his name continued to be mentioned in the colophon as "spiritual director".
In Fluide Glacial, Gotlib and Lob also continued the adventures of 'Superdupont', a series initially created for Pilote. He also wrote a few saucy gags for one of his favorite artists, André Franquin, such as 'Le Pétomane et le Renard' (Fluide Glacial #8, 1977), 'Slowburn' (Fluide Glacial #9, 1977) and 'L'Histoire de la Mouche qui Repeint Son Plafond' (Fluide Glacial #24, 1978).
Covers for Fluide Glacial #36 (June 1979) and #75 (September 1982). The first cover is a parody of The Beatles' album 'Sergeant Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band', featuring Pervers Pepère up front. Behind him, on the left, we recognize Tarzan, Superdupont, singer Georges Brassens, commissioner Bougret (holding a photo of René Goscinny) and his assistant Charolles (from 'Rubrique-à-Brac') singer Jean Ferrat, Gai-Luron, two typical not-so-innocent children from Gotlib's comics and his nameless signature character: the Ladybug. Behind Pépère, on the right, we can spot Woody Allen, rock musician Frank Zappa, The Beatles, Hamster Jovial, Isaac Newton & Professeur Burp (from 'Rubrique-à-Brac') and Mr. Gumby from 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'.
Pop et Rock et Colégram
While many of Gotlib's comics in Fluide Glacial were one-shots, or continuations of previous creations, he did create two new series as well. The first was the feature 'Pop et Rock et Colégram' (1975-1978), in which Gotlib and Jean Solé drew literal French translations of English rock lyrics in comic strip form. The translations themselves were done by rock journalist Alain Dister and for comedic effect deliberately kept as literal as possible. If ever proof was needed that English song lyrics are just as corny and nonsensical as other languages then here it was. Among the artists whose lyrical qualities were contested were the Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd, Patti Smith, Frank Zappa, Genesis, Magma and Roxy Music.
'Pervers Pépère'.
Pervers Pépère
Another popular Gotlib creation for Fluide Glacial was 'Pervers Pépère' (1976-1981), which debuted in issue #7 (10 November 1976). The pantomime comic centers around a dirty old man whose nose is always dripping. Pépère takes sadistic delight in tricking people. In one gag he eats garlic soup, then pretends to faint while walking in the street. As Scout leader Hamster Jovial, an earlier Gotlib creation, gives him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation the disgusting taste makes Jovial to throw up afterwards. Another gag has Pépère pull off the pants of a friendly priest while the man is dozing off on a bench in the park. Pépère then fetches a policeman to expose the priest as a child molester. Sometimes the pervert unexpectedly does something innocent or totally different, leaving his victims confused. One gag has him visit a prostitute to "show her his stamp collection", which he literally does. In another he invites a little girl to sit on his lap and puts her hands in his pants, after which she gets snapped by a mouse trap. Every final panel has him explode with laughter over his malicious "jokes". Gotlib claimed that the character was inspired by Uncle Pervy from the comedic Cheech & Chong records. In the Netherlands, Pépère himself inspired Eric Schreurs' 'Adrianus'. The final gag of 'Pervers Pépère' appeared in issue #60 (20 May 1981), but Fluide Glacial continued to reprint older episodes over the decades.
Comic strip from Fluide Glacial.
Later magazine work
Through AUDIE, Gotlib's work for L'Écho des Savanes was collected in the album series 'Rhââ Lovely!' (1976-1978), while his work for Fluide Glacial became available in book form as 'Rhâ-Gnagna' (1979-1980). The line 'Rhââ Lovely!' was borrowed from Alfred Hitchcock's thriller 'Frenzy' (1975), where a rapist shouts the same thing at his victim. By the 1980s, Gotlib gradually dropped his cartooning activities, and mostly dedicated himself to writing Fluide Glacial's editorials, for which he also designed the logos. He wrote about many topics, but free speech was dearest to his heart. In 1979, he and Georges Wolinski created and illustrated a text 'À Bas La Censure Hypocrite' ("Down With Hypocritical Censorship"), which was published in several magazines at once, namely À Suivre, Fluide Glacial, Pilote, Métal Hurlant, Charlie Mensuel, BD et L'Écho des Savanes. Over the years, Gotlib also wrote for magazines such as Actuel, Charlie Mensuel, Métal Hurlant, (À Suivre) and the Spirou supplement Le Trombone Illustré. After Jacques Diament's retirement in 1995, the rights to Fluide Glacial and Audie were sold to the publishing house Flammarion. Gotlib continued to write his editorials until 2001, after which his appearances to the magazine became more sporadic, and mainly just reprints.
'Durandal' (Fluide Glacial #7, 10 November 1976).
Other media
Gotlib was also active in other media. Together with Goscinny, Gébé and Fred, he hosted the short-lived radio show 'Le Feu de Camp du Dimanche Matin' (1969-1970) on Europe 1. In 1973, he designed the album cover for French guitarist Marcel Dadi's record 'La Guitare à Dadi' (1974). In 1972, Gotlib wrote two songs, namely 'Je Suis Un Mauvais Français' and 'Les Bougresses', both of which appeared on a single performed by Albert Montias. The record came with a small comic strip in which Gotlib illustrated the song lyrics. Together with Albert Uderzo, Gotlib illustrated the comic booklet that came with Richard Gotainer's musical album 'Vive la Gaule' (1987).
As an actor, Gotlib appeared in two films by Patrice Leconte, namely 'Tout à la Plume, Rien au Pinceau' (1970) and 'Le Laboratoire de l'Angoisse' (1971). He also played a small part as a chemist in Jacques Doillon's cult classic 'L'An 01' (1973), based on Gébé's comic strip of the same name. The picture also featured Daniel Auteuil, Miou-Miou, Coluche, Gérard Depardieu and well known comic authors such as Gébé, Cabu, François Cavanna, Georges Wolinski and Professeur Choron from Hara-Kiri and in supporting roles even Lee Falk and Stan Lee. Gotlib animated the opening titles to Pierre Tchernia's comedy 'Le Viager' (1972) - co-written with Goscinny - and played the store owner in Doillon's film 'Les Doigts Dans La Tête' (1974). He also designed the French movie poster for the first Monty Python film 'And Now For Something Completely Different' (1973) and met the Python actors in person during the 1980 Paris premier of their film 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' (1979).
Tina Turner performing 'Proud Mary'. Gag from L'Écho des Savanes issue #3 (1 April 1973).
In 1982, Gotlib and Jean Solé designed the movie poster for the Snow White parody 'Elle Voit Des Nains Partout!' (1982) by Jean-Claude Sussfeld. He teamed up as a screenwriter with Pierre Tchernia again for his comedy film 'Bonjour l'Angoisse' (1988), in which Gotlib also has a small cameo near the end during the buffet scene. Together with Gérard Krawczyk, Gotlib co-wrote the script of Sylvain Madigan's 'Strangers Dans La Nuit' (1991). Further acting parts were in Krawczyk's film 'Je Hais Les Acteurs' (1986) - in which Gotlib played a bar keeper - and 'Le Nouveau Jean-Claude' (2002), Didier Tronchet's movie adaptation of his own comic 'Jean-Claude Tergal', in which Gotlib portrayed a taxi passenger. The comics legend played himself in Laurent Baffe's 'Les Clefs de Bagnole' (2003) and Ferdinand Dupont in the film 'Belgique For Sale (Sans Le "T")' (2006) by Stefan Liberski and Frédéric Jannin.
Self-portrait, referencing 'A Clockwork Orange'.
Graphic and written contributions
Gotlib made a graphic contribution to Marion Vidal's 'Monsieur Schulz et ses Peanuts’ (Albin Michel, 1976), an essay about Charles M. Schulz’ 'Peanuts’, illustrated with subversive parodies of the comic, that Schulz unsuccessfully tried to sue. Gotlib was also one of the artists making a graphic contribution for 'Pepperland' (1980), a collective comic book celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Pepperland comic book store. Gotlib wrote a short story for the collective comic book 'Allez Coucher, Sales Bêtes' (1991), drawn by René Hausman. He wrote the foreword and made a graphic contribution to the book 'Françaises, Français, Belges, Belges, Lecteur Chéri, Mon Amour' (Jungle!, 2005), in which comic artists illustrated short stories by comedian Pierre Desproges. Gotlib paid tribute to Nikita Mandryka in the collective comic book 'Tronches de Concombre' (Dupuis, 1995). Gotlib scripted comics for the anti-racism collective comic book 'Rire Contre Le Racisme' (Jungle!, 2006).
In addition, he wrote the foreword to Claire Bretécher's 'Les États d'Âme de Cellulite' (Dargaud, 1972), Alexis' 'Fantaisies Solitaires' (Audie, 1978) and 'Cinemastock 1' (Dargaud, 1978), Carlos Giménez' 'Paracuellos' (Audie, 1980) and 'Barrio' (Audie, 1980), Coucho's 'L'Homme Au Costard Gludure' (Audie, 1980), André Franquin's 'Idées Noires' ('Black Thoughts', 1981), Didier Tronchet's fifth 'Raymond Calbuth' album (2001), Patrice Leconte's 'Gazul Club' (Michel Lagarde, 2007) and the French-language translation of early 1950s Mad Magazine issues, 'Mad Se Paie Une Toile' (Neptune, 1984) and 'Les Bandes Décimées de Mad' (Albin Michel, 1985). Gotlib also wrote the foreword to some of his own series, like the 'Superdupont' album 'Les Âmes Noires' (1995)
Morning rituals in 'Le Joli Matin Tout Plein De Lumière' (L'Écho des Savanes #1, 1 May 1972.)
Recognition
Gotlib's work has been exhibited several times, including a 2014 expo in the Museum of Jewish Art & History in Paris on the occasion of the artist's 80th birthday. The same exhibition also ran in the Jewish Museum in Brussels between 2014 and 2015. The National Cartoonists Society in New York honored Gotlib with a Mad Award (1972), and he received the Grand Prix de la Ville d'Angoulême (1991) and the Prix Raymond Poivet (2001) during editions of the comic festival of Angoulême. In 2007, the city of Brussels gave him the Grand Prix Saint-Michel for his entire body of work. The highest honors in Gotlib's life were his elevations as Chevalier (Knight, 1975) and Officier (Officer 1990) into the French Order of Arts and Letters and his induction into the Légion d'Honneur (2000). The University of Québec awarded him Doctor Bédéis Causa in 1990 and since 2005 his name also lives on in the form of an asteroid. Since 2023, the Prix Gotlib is awarded annually to a humor comic book during the Festival du Livre in Paris. The first winners were volume #3 of 'Thérapie de Groupe' by Manu Larcenet (2023) and 'Tirez Sur Mon Doigt Monsieur Le Président' by Mo/CDM (2024).
Final years and death
Gotlib spent most of his final years writing autobiographical books: 'J'Existe, Je Me Suis Rencontré', about his youth (Dargaud, 1993), and 'Ma Vie-en-Vrac' (Flammarion, 2006), a more thorough overview of his life in collaboration with journalist Gilles Verlant. For years a heavy smoker, Marcel Gotlib spent his final years wearing a nasal oxygen mask. After being hospitalized with a stroke, Marcel Gotlib died in 2016 at the age of 82, in the Parisian suburb Le Vésinet. He received an official homage from French minister of Culture Audrey Azoulay.
Legacy and influence
Marcel Gotlib was an influence on numerous humor comic artists. In France, he inspired Alexis, Maëster, Coyote, François Boucq, Édika, F'murr, Bruno Le Floc'h, Didier Tronchet, Daniel Goossens, Dupuy and Berberian, Jérôme D'Aviau, Ian Dairin, Manu Larcenet, Blutch, Lewis Trondheim, Geoffroy Monde, Rudy, Pixel Vengeur, Fabcaro, Elsa Brants, Bastien Vivès and Xavier Delucq. In Belgium, he was an influence on Kamagurka, Ptiluc, Marc Legendre, Nix, Thierry Van Hasselt and Kim Duchateau. In the Netherlands, he can rank among his followers Eric Schreurs, Gummbah, Hanco Kolk, Willem Ritstier, Marnix Rueb, Paul Schenk and Ronald Sinoo. In Luxemburg, he influenced Roger Leiner, and in Switzerland he left his mark on Zep. A Canadian admirer of his work is Pierre Dupras.
In 2025, Julien Solé and Arnaud Le Gouëfflec adapted Gotlib's life and career into a biographical comic story, 'Gotlib, une Vie en Bandessinées', serialized in Fluide Glacial.
Gotlib's signature character, the ladybug.