Victor Hubinon

Victor Hubinon is one of the classic artists of Belgian realistic comics, known for creating famous series like 'Buck Dany' and 'Barbe-Rouge' with Jean-Michel Charlier. Born in Angleur, Hubinon studied decoration, painting, etching and drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Liège. After the second World War, during which he fled to England and served in the Royal Navy, he got a job at the printing firm of the the newspaper La Meuse.

He went to work for Spirou magazine in 1946, after meeting Jean-Michel Charlier. Together with Charier, he made the short war story 'L'Agonie du Bismarck' for the magazine, on which they both drew. Shortly afterwards, Hubinon was asked to illustrate the aviation comic 'Buck Danny' by Georges Troisfontaines, head of the World Press agency. 'Buck Danny' premiered in Spirou magazine in January 1947. Initially scripted by Troisfontaines, the writing duties were soon handed over the Jean-Michel Charlier, who initially also contributed to the artwork. Hubinon has illustrated the adventures of this aviation hero for the rest of his career, and was succeeded by Francis Bergèse.

While working on 'Buck Danny', Hubinon also worked on several other comics. For Spirou, he made humorous comics, like the gag strip 'Rik Junior' (signed Victor Hughes) and a new episode of Jijé's series 'Blondin et Cirage', as well as biographies of famous historic characters, such as 'Surcouf' (1949-52), 'Mermoz' (1955, both with a script by Charlier) and 'Stanley' (1953, script by Octave Joly). Under the pseudonym Victor Hughes, he made cover illustrations for Le Moustique. For Aventures Illustrées-Bimbo, he created 'Joe la Tornade' with Charlier under the joint signature of Charvick in 1948, which was later continued by Albert Weinberg in Héroic Albums.

Also with Charlier, he made the war story 'Tarawa, Atoll Sanglant' in Le Moustique, assisted by Eddy Paape and Albert Weinberg. In 1950, he made 'Fifi' in cooperation with Eddy Paape, as well as 'Tiger Joe' for La Libre Junior. He cooperated with René Goscinny on the title comic of the magazine Pistolin and later 'Jeannot', which he also signed with Victor Hughes.

In 1959, Hubinon was present in Pilote magazine's first issue with the pirate series 'Barbe-Rouge, Le Démon des Caraibes', also written by Charlier. Just like 'Buck Danny', the series became a classic and was drawn by Hubinon until his death in 1979, after which it was continued by artists like Jijé, Christian Gaty, and René Pellerin.

From 1963 to 1965, he wrote the script of 'Pathos de Setungac', a series drawn by Paape and published in Record. Hubinon's final comic was 'La Mouette', a story about a female pirate, for which he did both art and scriptwork. He died suddenly in 1979, suffering a heart-attack while working at his drawing table. With his two hit series 'Buck Danny' and 'Barbe-Rouge', Victor Hubinon ranks among the masters of the franco-belgian realistic comic artists.