JOUBERT

PIERRE JOUBERT BOB MORANE Original cover of the novel La Griffe du feu by Henri Vernes published by Marabout in 1954. Gouache on paper 25 × 32 cm (9.84 × 12.6 in.) The Claw of Fire is the 4th novel of the adventures of Commander Bob Morane published in 1954 by Marabout. The myth is already on the way and will blossom into more than 200 novels, but also into a comic strip, a television series and even a song! Pierre Joubert is the main illustrator of the first 120 novels. There is no doubt that his colorful and dynamic gouaches contributed to the success of the series. The originals for Bob Morane are highly sought after, especially since two collectors have managed to gather several dozen of them alone. It is therefore rare to see originals of this series resurface. This one, in addition to its pictorial success - the reflections of the volcano explosion on the lake are bluffing of accuracy - has the particularity to be only of Joubert's hand. Indeed, several illustrations from the beginning of the series were taken over by the cartoonist Henri Lievens to make Bob Morane look like the actor Claude Titre who played him on television. This is not the case on this historical gouache. Jean-François Vivier