RIP Bob DeGroot

 

RTBF

By Denis Marc

11/17/2023

Leonardo is an orphan: Belgian comic book author Bob De Groot has died

 

"Éditions du Lombard is deeply saddened to inform you of the death of Bob de Groot, which occurred on November 17, 2023 in Ottignies (Belgium), at the age of 82, said in a press release from Editions du Lombard. Scriptwriter, illustrator and talent scout, co-creator of the famous Léonard and Robin Dubois, he took off under the wing of the greatest to reach the firmament of the 9th Art."

"Far from limiting himself to humorous comics, he multiplied collaborations in all genres and left behind a plethora of work commensurate with his tireless desire to write. The Management, and all the authors, collaborators and staff of the publishing house share the grief of his family and loved ones."

Effervescent inventiveness

Since childhood, this native of Brussels has been interested in only one thing: comics. Abandoning classes as soon as possible to devote himself to his passion – even if it is first of all a question of organizing the beach games of the Spirou newspaper. It seems that offering laughter and escape to children was second nature to Bob de Groot.

Soon, he joined the team of the drawing studio of the publisher of Marcinelle. Already prolific, he published his first mini-story in Spirou in 1962, and placed drawings, strips and pages here and there in Belgian dailies. He attracted the attention of Maurice Tilleux, for whom he became one of his assistants. Because if he is gifted with a bubbling personal inventiveness, Bob de Groot has no equal in slipping into the world of others, especially when it comes to writing them a hilarious gag for which he signs the storyboard – a habit he will always keep. This is how he met Philippe Liégeois, alias Turk. Both were then complete authors, but one struggled with the scripts and the other began to experience drawing as a limitation to his desire to write more and more. The solution is obvious, especially since they share a taste for the absurd, puns and visual comedy à la Tex Avery. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, as the saying goes.

One day, the two friends knock on the door of Studio Greg. It was a decisive meeting if ever there was one: the creator of Achille Talon took them under his wing, negotiating their first contracts with Le Lombard, correcting the young screenwriter's boards, until the day he had no more improvements to suggest to him. Together, de Groot and Turk would make the heyday of Greg's version of the Tintin newspaper (who took over as editor in 1965). They created Robin Dubois, who often earned them the honour of readers through the referendum. It was in one of the pages of this seminal series that, in 1974, de Groot had the idea of an old inventor – Leonardo – who had just invented the parking meter. As Greg launched Achille Talon Magazine, he asked them to develop the concept that he thought would lend itself well to a comedy series. A genius idea: Leonardo was born. The rest is history, and in Robin Dubois' gag, the old inventor will be called Methuselah.

But it would be a shame to reduce Bob de Groot to his most famous heroes. It would be to forget that he was the illustrator of a series of Fred's. That, on the advice of Jean Van Hamme, he ventured into the realist realist narrative by writing for Philippe Francq the dark and touching Des villes et des femmes. Like his mentor Greg, he was the editor-in-chief of a magazine, L'oeuf, where he was the first to believe in a rookie comedian named Philippe Geluck. That he was able to successfully follow in the footsteps of Goscinny, Franquin or Macherot to write Lucky Luke, Modeste et Pompon or Clifton. That he was literary director of the Alpen group, where he revealed Jean-François Di Giorgio and André Taymans, among others. Or that he was the scriptwriter, for Jacques Landrain, of Digitaline, the first album made in digital in the history of comics. This was the last straw for this screenwriter who wrote only one page on a computer, preferring to tirelessly make his storyboards from the truck stop at a gas station "where [he] was known and left alone."

It is from this incongruous setting that, over the course of thousands of plates, he inscribed his name in the Pantheon of the 9th Art. He only left it in 2015 to devote himself to his family – first and foremost his wife Anne-Marie, whom he met at Éditions du Lombard. She was its press officer emeritus for four decades. On this sad day, our thoughts are with him and their daughters Régine and Joëlle.

DeGROOT, Bob (Robert DeGroot)

Born: 10/26/1941, Brussels, Belgium

Died:  11/17/2023, Ottignies, Belgium

 

Bob DeGroot’s western – comic book writer:

Lucky Luke – 'Le Bandit Manchot' – 1981

Ran-tan-plan - 1995-2001

Lucky Luke' - 'Marcel Dalton' - 1998

Lucky Luke - 'L'Artiste Peintre' - 2001