Jean-Claude Mézières

Jean-Claude Mézières was born on 23 September 1938 in Paris and raised in the nearby suburb of Saint-Mandé. He died on 23 January 2022. Introduced to drawing by an older brother, he grew up admiring the work of Hergé, André Franquin, Morris, Jijé, and Jack Davis — an eclectic range of influences that would shape his fluid, expressive line. After studying at the École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d'art, he worked as a commercial illustrator and advertising artist. A deep fascination with the American West eventually pulled him across the Atlantic in 1965, where he spent time working as a cowboy — an adventure that left a lasting mark on his artistic sensibility.

Back in France, Mézières joined forces with childhood friend and writer Pierre Christin to launch Valérian and Laureline, the sprawling science fiction series that would define both their careers and run for decades. The series' imaginative world-building proved far-reaching: its visual vocabulary influenced numerous films, Star Wars among them, and Mézières himself contributed concept design work to Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997). He also taught comics production at the University of Paris VIII: Vincennes—Saint-Denis, passing his craft to a new generation.

His work earned widespread recognition, culminating in the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême in 1984, one of comics' most prestigious distinctions.