René Goscinny
René Goscinny (
August 14,
1926,
Paris –
November 5,
1977,
Paris) was a
Polish-
French author, editor and humorist, who is best known for the
comic strip Astérix, which he created with illustrator
Albert Uderzo, and the comic strip
Lucky Luke.
René was born in
Paris in 1926, to Stanislaw "Simkha" Goscinny, a chemical engineer from
Warsaw,
Poland, and to Anna Beresniak Goscinna from Khodorkov, a small
Ukrainian village. Claude, René's older brother was born 6 years earlier; on
December 10,
1920. Stanislaw and Anna had met in
Paris and married in 1919. The Goscinnys moved to
Buenos Aires,
Argentina, two years after René's birth, because of a chemical engineer post Stanislas had obtained there. He spent a happy childhood in Buenos Aires, and studied in the French schools there. He had a habit of making everyone laugh in class, probably to compensate for a natural shyness. He started drawing very early on, inspired by the illustrated stories which he enjoyed reading.
In the December of 1943 the year after he graduated from school, the 17 year old René lost his father to a
cerebral hemorrhage, forcing him to find a job. The next year, he got his first job, as an assistant accountant in a tire recovery factory, and when he was laid off the following year, he became a junior illustrator in an advertising agency.
René, along with his mother, left Argentina and went to
New York in 1945, to join their uncle, Boris, there. To avoid service in the US military, René travelled to
France to join the French army in 1946. He served at
Aubagne, in the 141 E battalion of Alpine infantry. Promoted to senior
corporal, René became the appointed illustrator of the regiment and drew illustrations and posters for the army.
|
Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny |
The following year, he illustrated the book "The Girl with The Eyes of Gold" and returned to New York. On his arrival René went through the most difficult period of his life. For a while, he was jobless, alone and totally broke. By 1948, though, he recovered and started working in a small studio where he met and became friends with future
Mad alumni
Will Elder,
Jack Davis and
Harvey Kurtzman. René then became art director at
Kunen Publishers where he wrote four books for children. He met Maurice de Bévère aka
Morris, the
cartoonist and first author of the comic book series "
Lucky Luke" (René would write the Lucky Luke series from 1955 to his death in 1977), around this time, in 1949 and also Joseph Gillain, better known as
Jijé.
Also, he met
Georges Troisfontaines, chief of the
World Press agency, who convinced René to return to Paris and work for his agency as the head of Paris office in 1951. Here, he met Albert Uderzo, with whom he started a longtime cooperation. They started out with some work for
Bonnes Soirées, a female magazine for which Goscinny wrote "Sylvie". Goscinny and Uderzo also launched the series 'Jehan Pistolet' and 'Luc Junior' in
La Libre Junior.
In 1955, Goscinny, accompanied by
Jean-Michel Charlier, Albert Uderzo and
Jean Hébrad, founded the syndicate Edipress/Edifrance. The syndicate launched publications like
Clairon for the factory union and
Pistolin for a chocolate company. Goscinny and Uderzo cooperated on the series 'Bill Blanchart' in Jeannot, 'Pistolet' in Pistolin and 'Benjamin et Benjamine' in the magazine of the same name. Under the pseudonym Agostini, Goscinny wrote
Le Petit Nicolas for
Jean-Jacques Sempé in
Le Moustique and later
Sud-Ouest and
Pilote.
In 1956, Goscinny began a collaboration with the
Tintin magazine. He wrote some short stories for
Jo Angenot and
Albert Weinberg, and worked on 'Signor Spaghetti' with Dino Attanasio, 'Monsieur Tric' with Bob De Moor, 'Prudence Petitpas' with
Maurice Maréchal, 'Globul le Martien' and 'Alphonse' with Tibet (
Gilbert Gascard), '
Modeste et Pompon' with
André Franquin, 'Strapontin' with
Berck (
Arthur Berckmans) and '
Oumpah-pah' with Uderzo. In addition, Goscinny appeared in the magazines
Paris-Flirt ('Lili Manequin' with Will) and
Vaillant ('Boniface et Anatole' with Jordom, 'Pipsi' with Godard).
In 1959, the Édifrance/Édipresse syndicate started the magazine
Pilote. Goscinny became one of the most productive writers for the magazine. In the magazine's first issue, he launched his most famous creation,
Astérix, with Uderzo. This series was an instant hit and is now known worldwide. Goscinny also restarted the series 'Le Petit Nicolas' and 'Jehan Pistolet', now called 'Jehan Soupolet'. Goscinny also began 'Jacquot le Mousse' and 'Tromblon et Bottaclou' with Godard.
The magazine was bought by
Georges Dargaud in 1960, and Goscinny became editor-in-chief. He also began new series like
Les Divagations de Monsieur Sait-Tout (with Martial),
La Potachologie Illustrée (with
Cabu),
Les Dingodossiers (with
Gotlib) and
La Forêt de Chênebeau (with
Mic Delinx). With
Tabary, he launched
Calife Haroun El Poussah in
Record, a series that was later continued in
Pilote as
Iznogoud.
He married Gilberte Pollaro-Millo in 1967. In 1968 his daughter Anne was born. He died in Paris from a heart attack on
November 5,
1977, at the age of 51.
*
Official Astérix site*
Short biography on Goscinny*
Goscinny and his works
