Morris (comics)
Maurice de Bevere (* December 1, 1923 in Kortrijk, Belgium, † July 16, 2001 in Brussels), known by his stage name Morris, was a Belgian comic book artist. With Lucky Luke, he created an internationally acclaimed French- Belgian comic series.
Career
After a signatory training Morris worked from 1943 in an animation studio. In 1945 he was hired by the Editions Dupuis, editor of the comic magazine Spirou. There he met with Jijé, Franquin, Will, Eddy Paape and other famous illustrators.
Because of his penchant for American history, he began work on a new Wild West comic. His first Lucky Luke story appeared in 1946 in the later very famous Spirou Almanac 1947. The first real album was released in 1949.
Well together with Franquin and Jijé was followed by a six-year study in the United States. In New York he met the Frenchman René Goscinny know that from 1955 until his death in 1977 wrote the stories for Lucky Luke after returning to Europe. However, the actual text still wrote Morris.
Compared with other comic series are at Morris two things specifically mentioned:
- In his comics, there is little word games.
- Despite caricatures and exaggerations his drawings are very realistic. Landscapes, backgrounds and supporting characters mostly really exist (including Jesse James, Abraham Lincoln, Billy the Kid, Allan Pinkerton, etc.).
1988 Morris was awarded a special prize of the WHO ( World Health Organization of the UN), because he had his cowboy Lucky Luke and smoking since 1983 successfully weaned. In 1993 he won the Grand Prix de la Ville d' Angoulême at the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d' Angoulême.
He died in 2001 at his home in Brussels.