Mitacq

• La Patrouille des Castors (30 stories published between 1957 and 1993 by Dupuis): the Beaver Patrol was formed of five Boy Scouts with guest members. The comic strip was published in the magazine Spirou. The long collaboration with Jean-Michel Charlier took off in 1954. Mitacq died in 1994 and the Beaver Patrol cartoon series ended. A few months after his death, Spirou magazine justly honoured one of its greatest contributors by giving him a grand homage. The Belgian Scouts also published his illustrations on their 1995 calendar. His books remain popular today among fans and are translated into several languages. With the publication of the first episode of 'La Patrouille des Castors', in the magazine Spirou. 'La Patrouille des Castors', an adventure series about a group of scouts, became Tacq's trademark series. Starting in 1960, MiTacq sporadically illustrated 'La Patrouille des Zoms', a parody on the Castors, written by Yvan Delporte. • Jacques Le Gall (4 stories published in albums between 1980 and 1985 by Dupuis) was illustrated by MiTacq and Follet. In 1959, at the creation of the magazine Pilote, Charlier proposed him to illustrate this new series. The series only ran for six long episodes, and was cancelled due to editorial reasons.Jacques Le Gall faced several contemporary enigmas, including the Templiers' and Nazis'tresory and Mediterranean smuggling. The series was later published in Spirou and in albums by Dupuis. • Stany Derval (3 stories published in albums between 1981 and 1987 by Dupuis) was drawn and written by MiTacq alone. When Charlier got too involved with his other comics, MiTacq launched a series of his own to overlap the interludes between Castor stories. From 1968 until 1979, he drew the adventures of Stany Derval, an adventurous motorcyclist, cooperating with several writers, such as André-Paul Duchateau, Maurice Tillieux, Jacques Stoquart, or André Beckers. He was sometimes assisted on the artwork by René Follet. After his separation with Charlier, he gave up the series but make Stany Derval appear in some Castors albums. • Tout Mitacq: the integrale collection Tout MiTacq, published between 1989 and 1997 by Dupuis, consists of 14 volumes grouping La patrouille des Castors, Jacques Le Gall, Stany Derval, plus relevant commentaries about each albums and many illustrations for magazines. Each volume groups 3 or 4 full original albums and consists of 164 pages around. • Illustration — The back cover of the albums collection "Tout Mitacq", representing the main protagonists drawn and created by Mitacq • Les castors face aux ombres mystérieuses • Les castors sur des pistes incertaines • Les castors par monts et par vaux • Les castors du mas au palais • Les castors et les signaux invisibles • Les castors dans la gueule du loup • Les castors explorateurs des ténèbres • Les castors sauvés des eaux • Stany Derval à la recherche de l'insolite • Les castors et les pierres qui racontent • Stany Derval à l'aventure autour du monde • Les castors sur l'île du crabe • Jacques Le Gall, le randonneur de l'aventure • Jacques Le Gall et les trésors cachés

Michel Tacq, as an active Scout, was very influenced by the movement's culture. Toucan Bénévole was his totem as Scout in the Troop Saint Aléne at Saint Gilles Bruxelles, then he became Assistant Cub Scout Master from 1951 till 1954, then Pionnier for 5 years. He visited the 1957 World Jamboree. In the first albums of the Beaver Patrol series, the protagonists wear the same yellow and bleu scarf as the Saint Alène troop. He provided for a long time illustrations to the Scouting magazine Plein Jeu from 1950 and for Piste a magazine consisting of 300 pages of "first and second class badges" for the Belgian Catholic Scout Federation. He has also drawn illustrations in the magazines Carnet du Louveteau, En route! and Carrefour, and at the end of his career in Trefle d'Aventure, the magazine of the Belgian catholic guides. He was highly influenced and fascinated by Pierre Joubert and Jijé, notably by the comics album of Jijé dedicated to Baden-Powell's life, which incited him to create a series relating the adventures of a Scout patrol. The graphic style is highly influenced by that of Pierre Joubert. In 1950, he was advised to meet him to improve his style and lived with him for three months. The youngest Beaver Scout, Mouche, was modelled on Pierre Joubert's son. Fan of the collection Signe de Piste, MiTacq insisted to illustrate one of the novels of the series. In the course of 1975, he devoted two months to draw the cover and ten illustrations for Jean Destieu's Les Emeraudes de Colombie. MiTacq also paid tribute to Serge Dalens, the author of the Prince Eric series, by an illustration in 1987, the year when the 50th anniversary of the collection Signe de Piste was celebrated. It is also said that the scenario of the album La couronne cachée (1965), the 13th album of the Beaver Patrol series, was partly inspired by Serge Dalens' Le prince Éric.