Jean Tabary

• Born — 5 March 1930 • Birthplace — Stockholm, Sweden • Died — 18 August 2011 • Place of death — Pont-l'Abbé-d'Arnoult, France • Nationality — French • Area — artist, writer • Notable Works — Iznogoud Totoche Valentin le vagabond Corinne et Jeannot

Tabary was born in Stockholm and made his comics debut with Richard et Charlie published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Vaillant on 5 November 1956. For Vaillant (in 1965 renamed Pif) Tabary also drew Grabadu et Gabaliouchtou, and eventually the hit series Totoche in 1959, which produced another series with two of its characters, Corinne et Jeannot, and its own short-lived periodical Totoche Poche. Tabary continued to draw this series until 1976. In 1962 Tabary began a long-lasting collaboration with René Goscinny, creating the series Les aventures du Calife Haroun el Poussah, first published in Record on 15 January 1962. Shifting its focus and title name to the evil protagonist/anti-hero of the series, Iznogoud became a considerable success, and was eventually adapted into a cartoon TV series. In 1968 the series changed serial publication magazine to Goscinny's Pilote magazine. Valentin le vagabond, another series Tabary initially created with Goscinny, also appeared in Pilote since 1962. After Goscinny's death in 1977, Tabary continued to create Iznogoud albums. Tabary's own publishing label, at first named Editions de la Séguinière, then Éditions Tabary, continues to publish Tabary work, ultimately albums in the Corinne et Jeannot series, and the most recent Iznogoud volume, La faute de l'ancêtre in 2004.