19 - Tillieux

Tillieux MAURICE TILLIEUX GIL JOURDAN Xique-Xique's Hell (Vol. 5), Dupuis 1962 Original plate no. 31 with color specifications in gouache on the reverse, previously published in *Le Journal de Spirou* no. 1185 on December 29, 1960. India ink and blue pencil on paper 31.2 × 42.3 cm (12.28 × 16.65 in.) Why does Maurice Tillieux’s work remain so perfect and endearing despite the passage of time? Because his writing is distinguished by remarkable fluidity, drawn as much from the detective novels of his era (one thinks of Simenon and Steeman…) as from boulevard theater, whose closest cinematic counterpart is the screenwriter and dialogue writer Michel Audiard. Like Audiard, Tillieux is a master of the biting retort. His dialogues are finely crafted, rhythmically driven, and serve characters who already possess a comic essence in their design. Take Carlos, for example, who escapes with our heroes and is actually a police informant. He alone is a marvel of comic stupidity. And then there’s the artwork itself—rather classic in style—whose inking, reminiscent of Franquin’s “atom style” from *Modeste et Pompon* or even Gotlib’s, is formidably effective at creating atmosphere, as seen here in this desert under the blazing sun.