Gil Jourdan

In 1956 the Belgian comic magazine Héroïc Albums ceased publication. Felix, the adventures of a young bespectacled detective written and drawn by Maurice Tillieux, was among the casualties, but returned in Spirou magazine as Gil Jourdan, though without the glasses. Jourdan made his first appearance in a rather original manner: in issue 962 of Spirou, the bungling police Inspector Crouton takes wisecracking burglar Libellule out of prison in order to proceed to a reconstruction of a theft for which he has been arrested. Libellule is then snatched from right under Crouton's nose by a young man named Gil Jourdan. Jourdan is a private investigator in need of a big break and he thinks that Libellule's burglary skills could be useful in exposing a gang of popaïne [sic] smugglers. Once the smugglers' ring had been captured, the trio of Jourdan, Libellule and Crouton would proceed to handle other cases which sometimes took them from France to South America and the Middle East, Libellule and Crouton providing the comic relief which contrasted with Jourdan's earnest nature. Looking on was Queue-de-Cerise, Jourdan's secretary who sometimes also helped out in the investigations.

• Illustration — Clockwise from top left: Gil Jourdan, Libellule, Inspector Crouton and Queue-de-Cerise. • Gil Jourdan is a Paris-based detective. A Bachelor of Law ("I started very early"), he is young, earnest, shrewd and cool-headed. No mystery can stand up to him and he has quite a merit in solving them given the people he has to work with. From the start Jourdan was hardly the sort of hero who was out for Justice in itself. His main motivation was earning money and exposing a gang of drugs smugglers was really a means of obtaining a big break from which he profited in many ways. • Andre Papignolles alias Libellule (French for "Dragonfly") is a former burglar who becomes Jourdan's right-hand. Jourdan finds his know-how in the field of thievery very useful. Libellule is full of good humour, but he tends to be the only one who laughs at his puns and jokes. The name "Libellule" comes from one of Felix's early stories, La Liste n°3, where it was the nickname of a thief who burglarized Felix's hotel room. • Inspector Jules Annibal Crouton is Jourdan's police contact. In the course of their first encounters he was the subject of several humiliating experiences, courtesy of Jourdan and Libellule. He did not bear a grudge however and accompanied them on most of their subsequent cases, even recommending them to clients. Jourdan would even refer to him as "eccentric not stupid", after Crouton had saved his life. • Queue-de-Cerise (French for "Cherry Stem") is Jourdan's secretary and often helps out in the actual cases. Like her boss she is of a serious nature and has little patience for Libellule's humour. She speaks nine languages. Her favourite means of transport is a scooter. • The Renault Dauphine was Jourdan's choice of vehicle in his early adventures. If he has a lucky streak that has got him out of many a dangerous situation, the same cannot be said for his cars which have often been the resultant victims. Later, as his agency became more successful, he obtained a Renault R17.

A short story La poursuite (The Pursuit) was published in issue 1316 of Spirou in 1963 and acted as a prequel to the series. In it Crouton makes several desperate attempts to arrest Libellule. This story takes place before either of them meets Jourdan. Jourdan's early adventures were banned in France by the censor, who objected to the portrayal of the French police, represented by Crouton, as bungling, incompetent no-hopers. Crouton later became a more efficient police officer, even if he was sometimes a bit slow on deductions. The ban was later lifted. La rue perdue (The Lost Street), published in 1978, was set in 1953 and was thus yet another prequel to the series. The story is also notable for being published in the quarterly magazine Tintin Special (see Tintin magazine), Spirous main competitor. Sadly and ironically it was also Tillieux's final Jourdan adventure.

To date four of Jourdan's adventures have been published in English. Below is a list of the French titles, their year of publication, an English translation of the titles and a brief description. They are listed in order of publication.

The series ended in 1978 following Tillieux's death. Ten years later Soleils Editions published the comic book L'Hommage à Gil Jourdan - Les enquêtes de leurs amis ("Homage to Gil Jourdan - Their Friends' Cases") with the approval of Tillieux's family. It featured Jourdan and his colleagues in adventures written and drawn by other writers and artists, including several leading ones such as Pierre Seron, Turk, Éric Maltaite and Tillieux's former assistant Stephen Desberg. The stories also featured some of the crooks from the Tillieux period returning and seeking revenge. Tillieux had been notable for not using the same enemy twice. The cover was drawn by François Walthéry.

In August 2011, Fantagraphics published a translated volume, collecting the third and fourth volume of the original series.

In the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels the permanent exhibition brings homage to the pioneers of Belgian comics, among them Maurice Tillieux and "Gil Jourdan". Gil Jourdan is among the many Belgian comics characters to jokingly have a Brussels street named after them. The Rue des Bouchers/Lange Beenhouwersstraat has a commemorative plaque with the name Rue Gil Jourdan/ Guus Slim straat placed under the actual street sign. In May 2009 a wall was dedicated to Gil Jourdan in the Leopold I-straat/Rue Leopold I 201 in Laeken, Belgium as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route. There are also two mural paintings dedicated to the series in Auderghem, one in the Rue du Vieux Moulin/Oudemolenstraat and the other in the Rue Emile Idiers/Emile Idiers straat.