Gérald Forton

Gérald Forton, born April 10, 1931 in Brussels and died December 18, 20212 in Apple Valley, California, is a French comic book artist. He is the grandson of Louis Forton, the author of Les Pieds nickelés.

In 1950, Gérald Forton began with a few complete stories in Caméra 34.

In 1951, he drew Jim Cartouche based on a script by Alex Risène, then drew in Zorro Magazine and produced a few short stories (22) in Bonnes soirées, as well as 9 major stories and various illustrations.

In 1952, he joined Spirou, producing several (69) Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul.

In 1953, with Jean-Michel Charlier, he created Kim Devil (4 albums and two short stories).

From 1955 to 1956, he illustrated Le Garage bleu and the adventures of Alain Cardan in Risque-Tout.

In 1959, he reprised Jacques Flash in Vaillant. The same year, with Greg, he directed seven episodes of Tiger Joe in La Libre junior.

In 1962, he created Capitaine Morgan in Spirou. The same year, he resumed the drawing of Bob Morane, the character of Henri Vernes, that Dino Attanasio had abandoned. He directed 14 episodes that appeared in Femmes d'aujourd'hui, Pilote and Het Laatste Niews. The first of these adventures, La Piste des éléphants, appeared in the magazine Femmes d'aujourd'hui in 1962; the last one, Les Loups sur la piste, finished by William Vance, in the same magazine in 1967.

In 1963, he created Roch Rafal, and from that year also drew many interior illustrations for the Marabout Junior novels.

In 1964, he created Cyril Sinclair and took over Teddy Ted in Vaillant.

In 1966, at the request of Edgar P. Jacobs, Gérald Forton did the pencil drawing of the first 18 boards of L'Affaire du collier, a new adventure of Blake and Mortimer, still written by Edgar P. Jacobs, but the latter would rework the boards before their publication in the Tintin magazine, then finish the album alone5,6,7,8,9.

From 1972 to 1974, he collaborated with Pemberton, with Sirius, in Pilote.

In 1975, he created Les Mystères de l'Ouest in Pif Gadget.

In 1976, he created Yvain de Kanheric in Trio-Pieds Nickelés Magazine.

In 1977, he drew Calamity Jane in Tintin. He also participated in the collection Histoire de France en bande dessinée (3 stories). The same year, he took up Les Mystères de l'Ouest in Télé-Junior and also created short stories of Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Captain America, Thor, Hulk or Submariner, free adaptations of Marvel superheroes, as well as stories by Thierry la Fronde.

In 1978 and 1981, he created two volumes for Éditions Loubatières in Toulouse, on scenarios by Michel Roquebert: Aymeric et les Cathares10 and Aymeric à Montségur. He then went to the United States to DC Comics where he created boards for Arak, Jonah Hex, Black Lightning, John Sable and Nexus, as well as inking for other series.

In 1979, he illustrated Slim Jacket in Tac.

In the 1980s, he collaborated with DC Comics, Eclipse Comics and First Comics on several comic book titles.

Alongside his work as a cartoonist, he began a career in Hollywood as a storyboard artist for cinema, television and advertising. He thus participated in the storyboard for the film Prince Valiant and that of Toy Story 1.

In the early 2000s, living in California, he reconnected with the Franco-Belgian market, notably by working for Semic publishing in small formats: he delivered a few covers, republished a few short western or science fiction stories, and launched the series Galton & Trumbo with Jean-Marc Lainé on the script. At the same time, the Loup publishing house published a number of his stories in black and white soft-format albums.

From 2008 onwards, we have seen, among other things:

the publication of all the Alain Cardan books by Coffre à BD;
the publication of Teddy Ted books in albums by Hibou, among others;
the re-edition of Kim Devil books by Jean-Michel Charlier's son at Sangam publishing house;
the publication of the stories published in Zorro Magazine, Garage bleu and Capitaine Morgan;
the publication in albums of Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul by Petits Tirages publishing house;
the publication of La Vache qui médite.
In 2013, he took over from his grandfather Louis Forton and produced a new album of Pieds nickelés in collaboration with Julien Moca for l'Apart publishing house.

In 2016. Publication of the adventures of Ed Loin, La Tour de Babel by Alain Beaulet.

In 2017, he tackled a new Teddy Ted adventure with Philippe Cottarel, Teddy Ted 1899, more than forty years after the end of the series' publication in Pif Gadget.