Natacha - 'La Mémoire de Métal' (1974). The villain in the final panel is a caricature of Maurice Tillieux.
The Belgian comic artist François Walthéry was one of the most prominent contributors to Spirou magazine in the 1970s and 1980s. He first made his mark as a loyal assistant and pupil of Peyo, for whom he drew episodes of 'Jacky et Célestin' and 'Benoît Brisefer'. He is however best-known as co-creator of the resourceful air hostess 'Natacha' (1970- ), one of the first heroines in the popular children's magazine of Éditions Dupuis. Several of his other creations reveal the artist's nostalgic side, as well as his roots in the Liège region, for instance in the short story features 'Le Vieux Bleu' (1974-1979) and 'Le P'tit Bout d'Chique' (1975-1978, 1994-1998). Other than Natacha, Walthéry was also co-creator of the adventure comic series 'Rubine', about a policewoman (script by Mythic, 1993-2011).
Early life
François Gilles Émile Walthéry was born in 1946 in Argenteau, and raised in Cheratte, both towns in the province of Liège. His father was a craftsman working for the Belgian army. His peaceful childhood in a small town has served as an inspiration for his future nostalgic comic series 'Le P'tit Bout d'Chique' and 'Le Vieux Bleu'. While growing up in post-war poverty, the young Walthéry developed a keen passion for comics. His ambition to become a comic artist was supported by his parents. Among his influences were the classic Franco-Belgian artists Hergé and André Franquin, whose 'Spirou' episode 'La Corne de Rhinocéros' he largely copied when he was a child. Later influences were Edmond-François Calvo, Albert Uderzo, Maurice Tillieux and Mad Magazine artists like Wallace Wood and Jack Davis. Other inspirations have been novelists like Ray Bradbury, Robert Merle and Mickey Spillane, as well as jazz and blues music.
'Pipo', by Pop's. Dutch-language version.
Early comics
At age fifteen, Walthéry presented a self-made comic strip, 'Les Garnements', to comic artist Jean Mariette, better known as Mittéï, who lived nearby. Taking him in as a pupil, Mittéï gave the youngster inking, framing and erasing chores, and also provided him with his first professional assignment. In 1962, Junior, the children's supplement of the weekly magazine Chez Nous, as well as its Dutch-language edition Ons Volkske, was in need of a new gag strip when their regular artist Géri became ill. Mittéï proposed his young assistant, which resulted in the publication of 18 gag pages starring the little boy 'Pipo' (1962). Walthéry signed this early work with "Pop's". In that same year, he enrolled in the École Supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc in Liège, where he took courses for only about a year, because he felt the school trained "bureaucrats instead of artists". Yet at the academy he met the future comic artists Pierre Seron, Dany and Hachel, as well as the scriptwriter Michel Dusart.
Jacky et Célestin - 'Casse-tête Chinois'. Dutch-language version.
Assistance to Peyo
In the summer of 1963, the 17-year old art school dropout tried his luck with Spirou magazine. His first meeting with editor-in-chief Yvan Delporte, publisher Charles Dupuis and comic artist Peyo has become a legendary anecdote, as the boy, accompanied by his mother, arrived in short trousers. The editors were convinced by his talent, and Walthéry got the opportunity to replace Francis Bertrand in Peyo's house studio in Uccle in September 1963.
Among Walthéry's early assignments was drawing 'Jacky et Célestin', a humor/adventure series created in 1960 by Peyo and Will for the newspaper supplement Le Soir Illustré. After four episodes drawn by Will and Jo-El Azara, Walthéry was handed art duties. His first story, 'Vous Êtes Trop Bon!' (1963-1964, script by Peyo and Vicq) and was followed by 'Casse-Tête-Chinois' (1964-1965, script by Gos and Derib), 'Sur la Piste du Scorpion' (1965-1966, script by Peyo and Gos) and 'Le Chinois est Rancunier' (1966-1967, script by Peyo, Gos and Walthéry). Walthéry drew most of 'Casse-Tête-Chinois' and the beginning of 'Sur la Piste du Scorpion' while fulfilling his military service in Germany. Between 1966 and 1968, a final 'Jacky et Célestin' story was drawn by Francis and Roger Leloup from a script by Mittéï. Especially notable for being created by some of the top authors of European comics, 'Jacky et Celestin' was a straightforward humor adventure comic. The smart Jacky and the more reckless Célestin find themselves in one dangerous situation after another. Walthéry's stories can be largely credited with preventing the series from fading into obscurity. Between 1980 and 1985, his work on 'Jacky et Célestin' has been collected in four books in the Dupuis collection 'Péchés de Jeunesse'.
Benoît Brisefer - 'Tonton Placide'. Dutch-language version.
At Spirou, Walthéry's most notable work for Studio Peyo were the four stories he drew with 'Benoît Brisefer' ('Steven Strong', 1966-1972), the little boy with a superhuman strength, but who loses his powers when he catches a cold. His first episode 'Les Douze travaux de Benoît Brisefer' ("The Twelve Tasks of Steven Strong", 1966) was still drawn in the Peyo tradition, but the next stories unveil more and more of Walthéry's own dynamic drawing style. The secret agent story 'Tonton Placide' (1968) was created to tie in with the popularity of James Bond, and 'Le Cirque Bodoni' (1969) brought the young and naïve boy to a struggling circus. The character of Benoît Brisefer didn't return until three years later in 'Lady d'Olphine' (1972), which marked the return of robot gangster granny Madame Adolphine from a previous episode. The backgrounds of Walthéry's final episode were drawn by another Peyo co-worker, Marc Wasterlain. The scripts for the series were written by Peyo in collaboration with either Yvan Delporte or Gos. Walthéry has expressed in interviews that most of the stories were truly a group effort. All befriended artists that visited Peyo's studio joyfully participated in coming up with plot ideas, including Jean Roba, André Franquin and Jidéhem.
Benoît Brisefer - 'Lady d'Olphine' (1972).
At Studio Peyo, Walthéry also participated in the artwork of several 'Smurfs' stories, as well as the 'Johan et Pirlouit' episode 'Le Sortilège de Maltrochu' (1967, 1969). Other assistants who worked for Peyo during Walthéry's time with the studio were Derib, Daniel Kox, Lucien De Gieter, Marc Wasterlain, André Benn and Albert Blesteau. Walthéry and his studio colleague Gos made the illustrations of a promotional manual for conscripts, which appeared as a June 1967 supplement to the Belgian edition of Spirou magazine. In their spare time, the two men also developed some of their own projects. One of these was a short story about 'Roland Labricole' (1968), starring a zealous handyman and an obvious caricature of Gos.
Natacha - 'Double vol' (1975).
Natacha
In 1967, while doing studio work for Peyo, Gos and Walthéry also made the initial concepts and sketches for their most remarkable creation, the air hostess 'Natacha'. Walthéry based her face on a neighborhood girl he used to know. The concept was an idea of Spirou's editor-in-chief Yvan Delporte, who decided the magazine could use another female heroine in addition to Jidéhem's more youthful 'Sophie' (1965). However, it took three more years before the comic actually saw the light of day. On 26 February 1970, the first serial, 'Natacha Hôtesse de l'Air', made its debut in Spirou magazine.
Launched in the same year as Roger Leloup's 'Yoko Tsuno', the 'Natacha' series marked the arrival of more female heroes in Spirou magazine. More than Leloup's technical engineer, the voluptuous and short-skirted air hostess was quite a break in tradition within the conservative Catholic Spirou magazine. Not only was she the first female protagonist since 'Sophie', but she was also a young, attractive woman rather than a schoolgirl. Censorship sometimes creeped in to make her less erotic. On some of her album covers, Natacha's breasts had to be redrawn to make their roundiness underneath her shirt less prominent. Another aspect that made 'Natacha' stand out among other comics in Spirou was Walthéry's dynamic drawing style, with swift chase and fight scenes. By 1972, 'Natacha' had become so popular that Walthéry left Peyo to fully concentrate on this hit series. However, in the following years, the ever loyal Walthéry, along with Wasterlain, continued to assist Peyo on his 'Smurfs' comics when needed.
Natacha - 'Instantanés Pour Caltech' (1981).
Collaborators on 'Natacha'
After the first two 'Natacha' stories written by Gos, Walthéry decided to work with a different scriptwriter for every album, giving the series a varied tone and theme. The only constant factors are Natacha and the goofing flight attendant Walter, as well as other staff members of the Bardaf airline company. Walthéry's friend Étienne Borgers introduced technology in the episode 'La Mémoire de Métal' (1973) and science fiction in the diptych 'Les Machines Incertaines' (1980, 1982). Crime/detective stories were written by genre specialist Maurice Tillieux for 'Un Trône Pour Natacha' (1974) and 'Le Treizième Apôtre' (1976), while Raoul Cauvin provided his trademark humor in 'Les Nomades du Ciel' (1995). Walthéry's former tutor Mittéï also wrote several albums for the series, most notably the stories 'L'Hôtesse et Mona Lisa' (1979), 'Le Grand Pari' (1985) and 'Les Culottes de Fer' (1986), which focused on the adventures of Natacha and Walter's grandparents.
Natacha - 'L'Ïle d'Outre-Monde' (1984).
Further contributors to the series' scripts have been Marc Wasterlain, Mythic, Michel Dusart, Guy D'Artet de Neufmoustier and Thierry Martens, while the artist used old scripts by Peyo, Tillieux and Sirius for some later stories. The 2014 album 'L'Épervier Bleu' was, for instance, a reworking of an old 1940s story of Sirius' series of the same name. Walthéry also invited friends to participate in the artwork of his series. Throughout the years, Pierre Seron, Jidéhem, Will, Laudec, Mittéï, Georges van Linthout and Bruno di Sano have all contributed background or additional artwork to 'Natacha' albums.
Natacha - 'Le Regard du Passe' (2010). Dutch-language version.
Walthéry has always enjoyed drawing caricatures of his friends and colleagues in his pages. Examples are Victor Hubinon as an aviator in 'Les Nomades du Ciel' (1988) and Dany in 'La Veuve Noire' (1997). A more over-the-top utilization of this hobby was the episode 'Natacha et les Petits Miquets' (1978), in which the entire art staff of Spirou magazine had a starring role. On occasion, Walthéry also gave Belgian politicians cameos, such as Elio di Rupo and Louis Michel, who are cast as gangsters in 'La Mer des Rochers' (2004). Another remarkable episode was 'L'ile d'Outre-Monde' (1983, written by Wasterlain), in which Natacha and Walter are stranded on a deserted island. Walthéry could indulge in drawing his sexy heroine in scarcely clothed situations, while Will provided the attractive island settings. Although the 'Natacha' stories continued to appear in Spirou on a regular basis until 1997, Walthéry had moved his album collection from Dupuis to Marsu Productions after the thirteenth album, in 1989. In 2006, 'Natacha' returned to regular serialization in Spirou.
'Le Vieux Bleu'. Dutch-language version.
Le Vieux Bleu
Although 'Natacha' remained his most important series, François Walthéry created a couple of other comics while working for Spirou. The first one was 'Le Vieux Bleu' ("The Old Blue", 1974-1979), about a 69-year old pigeon fancier named Jules. The character was inspired and modeled after Walthéry's own father, Jules Walthéry, who died of old age around this time period. The series is set in the real-life village of Cheratte, where Walthéry grew up. The short stories, scripted by Raoul Cauvin, appeared on an irregular basis in Spirou magazine. Tales revolve around Jules and his obsessive attempts to win pigeon fancy contests. The "Old Blue" in the title doesn't refer to Jules, as readers might assume, but to his pigeon. In reality, Walthéry's father also had a champion pigeon with that name. According to Walthéry, the exceptional bird lived until it was 18 years old, an unusual age for pigeons. In the comic, Jules has a strong rivalry with another local pigeon fancier, Achille, and the village priest, who all try to sabotage each other in order to win the championship. In 1980, 'Le Vieux Bleu' was collected in book format by Dupuis. In Robbedoes, the Dutch edition of Spirou, the feature ran as 'De Ouwe Blauwe'. A special edition was published in the Liège dialect. One of Walthéry's assistants on the series was Didier Casten.
Le P'tit Bout d'Chique
Walthéry's third series 'Le P'tit Bout d'Chique' was also largely based on nostalgia and childhood memories. The poetic strip about a little boy ill at ease in the world of adults was first published in Spirou between 1975 and 1978. In 1989, Marsu Productions collected the initial stories in an album. Three years later, a new album written by Serdu and drawn by Walthéry followed at the same publishing house. Between 1994 and 1998, the series was then continued for another four albums by Walthéry's former tutor Mittéï. In Robbedoes, 'Le P'tit Bout d'Chique' ran in Dutch as 'Rattekopje'.
'Le P'tit Bout d'Chique'. Dutch-language version.
Rubine
As Walthéry is notorious for being a slow worker, he has mostly worked with background artists and other contributing artists on his later-day projects. Between 1993 and 2011, he was present at publisher Lombard with 'Rubine', a series written by Mythic and drawn under supervision of Walthéry by Dragan de Lazare and later Boyan. Rubine Killarney is a red-haired U.S. policewoman of Irish descent, who lives in Chicago. The character was inspired by the TV series 'Lady Blue' (1985-1986), which also stars a red-haired policewoman in this city. Rubine's father is a sheriff from whom she inherited her crime-fighting ambitions. While Rubine started out as a police officer, she also acts as a detective and is eventually promoted to inspector. Her older brother Jay is a computer specialist, whose expertise often comes in handy. Rubine's colleague at the police station is the equally attractive Shirley. A running gag is that both Jay and Shirley always try to find a "perfect partner" for Rubine, even though she is more occupied with her work.
'Rubine' #1, artwork in collaboration with Dragan De Lazare.
Artist of sensual women
Walthéry, a master in drawing beautiful women, further showcased his talent in the erotic comic 'Betty Strip' (Noir Dessin, 1992) and in 'Une Femme dans la Peau', an adult comic published in 1994 by P&T Production. Scripted by Fritax (Jean-Claude de la Royère) and with background art by Georges van Linthout, the latter tells the story of a man named Antoine, who wakes up in a woman's body. The story was continued in the sequels 'Dans la Peau d'une Femme' (Joker Éditions, 2001), 'Au Malheur des Dames' (Joker, 2002) and 'Johanna - La Dame des Sables' (Joker, 2005), which were all written by Mythic (Jean-Claude Smit le Bénédicte) and drawn by Walthéry in collaboration with Bruno di Sano. In 2014, Walthéry was involved in the launch of another aviation series, this time for Paquet's Cockpit collection. Written by Étienne Borgers and drawn in collaboration with Bruno Di Sano, 'L'Aviatrice' (2014-2016) was about 1930s female air mail pilot Nora Stalle, who is hunted by German counter-espionage in Nazi Germany.
Heritage contributions
In addition to his own productions, Walthéry has been a dedicated contributor of additional art for re-editions of European heritage comics. He produced cover art for re-editions of 'Félix' (1981, 2011) by Maurice Tillieux, 'Jehan Pistolet' (1990-1991) and 'Luc Junior' (1990, 2011) by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny, and 'Pemberton' (2012) by Sirius. In 2018, Walthéry oversaw production of the completion of Tillieux's second, unfinished 'Marc Jaguar' story, 'Les Camions du Diable'. The script was completed by Etienne Borgers, with Jean-Luc Delvaux taking care of the artwork.
'Une Femme dans la Peau'.
Illustration work on commission
Walthéry has produced several pieces of art on commission, including scouting calendars, comic festival flyers and advertisements. An interesting creation is the character of 'Citronella' (1979) for Citroën, which appeared in advertising campaigns, magazine spreads and on scented paper towels. Walthéry participated in satirical books about French President Jacques Chirac and about football for Pictoris Studio (1997-1998). He also contributed to a book with adaptations of Renaud songs (1986). For publisher Le Lombard, he provided artwork for a benefit book for people with neuromuscular disorders ('Telethon', 1990) and a book about the Convention on the Rights of the Child (with Didier Casten, 1993). During the municipal elections of 1994, Walthéry made a propaganda comic to support PSC politician René Schyns.
François Walthéry illustrated the first book of Bruno Senny's detective stories with the character 'Baudruche' (Apach, 2003). The next installments featured illustrations by Derib, René Follet and Dany. He worked with comic artist/illustrator Jaap de Boer on two fairy tale books for Éditions Deirdre ('Contes de Fees', 2009). He was also one of the illustrators of erotic fairy tale comics for BD Fly. These included Bruno Di Sano's 'Sortilège' (BD Fly, 2011), two collections starring an erotic rendition of Little Red Riding Hood, and 'Alianah' (2015), an original tale about witches by Guy D'Artet. GPRod even launched an imprint called BarDaf, named after Natacha's airline company, which consists of books with sexy women in the Walthéry tradition, such as 'Sexyscope' (2016). Besides work by Walthéry himself, the books have featured work by Bruno Di Sano, Bruno Gilson, Jean-Marc Stalner and Péral.
Since the 1990s, Walthéry has worked on books, both collective and solo, aimed at a Walloon audience. For instance, he illustrated a comic album about 'Tchantchès' (Khani Éditions, 1988), a folkloric character from the Liège region. Contributing scriptwriters were Jean Jour and Michel Dusart, while Francis and Laudec provided background art. A second album with storyboards by Walthéry, a script by Dusart and artwork by Didier Casten, followed in 1995 at Noir Dessin. Also for Noir Dessin, Walthéry has made original illustrations for a great many Walloon-language books with fairy tales, local legends, folktales and fables, and also ones about local cuisine. With Jean-François De Marchin, Walthéry made a comic adaptation of the book 'Les Ceux de Chez Nous', which contain the childhood memories of Marcel Remy (1865-1906), a music critic of Liège origin. Two books were published by Noir Dessin in 2002 and 2005. For Editions Dricot, Walthéry was one of the artists of a book with comics based on Walloon folklore ('Folklore Wallon en Bulles', 2010). The artist also illustrated Lambert Houben's 'Chante Pour Vous. Tchantchès Titine' (1989) musical record.
'Tchantchès' (1988).
Graphic contributions
In 1979, Walthéry made a special congratulation drawing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Turk and Bob De Groot's hit series 'Robin Dubois', printed in the 4 September 1979 issue of Tintin. Walthéry was one of the contributing artists to the book 'Il Était Une Fois... Les Belges'/ 'Er Waren Eens... Belgen' (1980), a collection of columns and comic pages published at the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Belgium. He was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to 'Pepperland’ (1980), a collective comic book tribute celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Pepperland comic store. He also appeared in 'Baston Labaffe no. 5: La Ballade des Baffes' (Goupil, 1983), an official collective parody comic of André Franquin’s 'Gaston Lagaffe'. Walthéry paid tribute to Nikita Mandryka in the collective comic book 'Tronches de Concombre' (Dupuis, 1995). Other tribute albums with Walthéry's participation were about Derib's 'Buddy Longway' (1983), Albert Uderzo's 'Astérix' (2007) and Will ('L'Arbre des Deux Printemps', 2000). In 2010, he paid homage to the work and characters created by Louis Forton in the collective comic book 'Les Nouveaux Pieds Nickelés', published by Onapratut.
In 2005, he was one of several Belgian and Dutch comic artists to make a graphic contribution to the crossover comic book 'Bij Fanny op Schoot' (Standaard Uitgeverij, 2005), in which Fanny Kiekeboe from Merho's 'De Kiekeboes' interviews characters from other comic series, drawn by the original artists. Walthéry was the only participating Walloon. In the book, Natacha is interviewed by Fanny, but they run into subtitling troubles. In 2005, Walthéry made a graphic contribution to 'Suske en Wiske 60 Jaar!' (Standaard Uitgeverij, 2005), which paid homage to Willy Vandersteen's 'Suske en Wiske'. In 2012, he was one of many celebrities and artists contributing to 'Marc Sleen 90. Liber Amicorum' (Standaard Uitgeverij, 2012), a book which celebrated comics legend Marc Sleen's 90th birthday.
Recognition
On 22 September 2013, Walthéry was honored with the title Officier du Mérite Wallon. For his entire body of work, he won the Grand Prix Saint-Michel (2015) and Grand Prix Diagonale du Jury (2016).
Legacy and influence
Walthéry's 'Natacha' series was spoofed in a sex parody by Roger Brunel in 'Pastiches 3' (1984) and even in a full-blown erotic spoof album, 'Nathalie la Letite Hôtesse' (Dessis, 1985) by Jaap De Boer (Bruno Bouteville) and Joop Van Linden (Jean Léturgie). Walthéry, however, didn't shy away from portraying his own character in more compromising positions as well, judging by his contribution to both the interior and cover of the collective erotic parody 'Parodies' (MC Productions, 1987). In 1990, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his comic series 'Natacha', the collective homage book 'Natacha: Special 20 Ans' (Marsu Productions, 1990) was published. It featured contributions by Belgian and French comic artists, but also tributes by U.S. cartoonists like Sergio Aragonés, Román Arámbula, Jim Davis, Mark Evanier, Brad W. Foster, Tim Gula, Todd Kurosawa, Floyd Norman, Bill Riling, William Rostler, Stan Sakai, R.C. Williams and Phil Yeh.
In 1999, both P'tit bout d’Chique and Natacha received a mural painting in the Rue de l'Arsenal in Angoulême, France, as part of the city's Comic Book Route. On 29 May 2003, a monument depicting Le Vieux Bleu and Le P'tit Bout d'Chique was erected in Walthéry's birth town Cheratte. On 24 November 2009, 'Natacha' received her own comic book wall in the Rue Jan Bollen/Jan Bollenstraat 23, as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route. Since 2012, Natacha also has a statue, sculpted by Monique Mol, as part of the Comics Route in the Belgian coastal town of Middelkerke. In 2025, a live-action film adaptation of 'Natcha' was released, 'Natacha (Presque) Hôtesse de l'Air', directed by Noémie Saglio, starring Camille Leo in the title role. The movie flopped at the box office.
In Belgium, François Walthéry has been an influence on Bruno Di Sano, Bruno Gazzotti, Jimmy Hostens and Stephane Ficher. In France, he counts Thierry Capezzone among his disciples, while in The Netherlands he inspired Hanco Kolk and Robert van der Kroft. A Serbian follower of his work is Dragan de Lazare.
Books about Walthéry
Throughout the years, several books with François Walthéry's pin-ups, illustrations, previously unreleased material and original artwork have been released in low print-runs by labels like Noir Dessin, La Vache qui Médite and Khani Éditions. In 1981, a monograph about the artist written by Jean Jour was published by Libro Sciences. Walthéry's own publisher Dupuis also released a book about Walthéry by Jean-Paul Tibéri, called 'Walthéry, Natacha & Co' (1987). In the Dutch language, Walthéry's life and career was covered in 'Dossier Walthéry' by Kris de Saeger (Arboris, 1986). In 2005, a François Walthéry art book was released by Horizon BD on the occasion of the artist's 60th birthday. It was followed in 2012 by a limited edition book for the 50th anniversary of Walthéry's career as a comic artist, called 'Walthéries' (GPROD). In 2019, Champaka/Dupuis published a book providing an overview of Walthéry's best and personal favorite artwork, titled 'Une Vie en Dessins'.
Self-portrait appearing in 'Dossier Walthéry' (1987).