Jacques Flash

Writers: Jean Ollivier (1921- ), Pierre Castex
Artists: Pierre Le Guen (1929- ), Gerald Forton, Rene Deynis (1930- ), Max Lenvers, Pierre Legoff

Jacques Flash is a French journalist who uses an invisibility serum devised by the late Professor Folven to fight crime.

The Stories

from "Vaillant" Magazine
Writer: Jean Ollivier
Artist: Pierre Le Guen
1. Jacques Flash contre l'Homme Invisible [Jacques Flash vs. The Invisible Man] (67 p.) (1957; rep. Vail., 1960)
2-3. Jeux de Mains, Jeux de Vilains [Hand Games, Evil Games] / Le Retour de l'Homme Invisible [The Return Of The Invisible Man] (56 p.) (1959; rep. Vail., 1961)

Writer: Jean Ollivier
Artist: Gerald Forton
4. Contre Cyrano de Bergerac (26 p.) (1960)
5. Bagarres en Birmanie [Battle In Burma] (22 p.) (1960)
6. Matricule 9929 FK 75 [License Plate 9929 FK 75] (43 p.) (1961)

Writer: Pierre Castex
Artist: René Deynis
7. Le Trésor de l'Homme Invisible [The Invisible Man's Treasure] (11 p.) (1961)
8. Contre les Hommes Invisibles [Against The Invisible Men] (26 p.) (1962)
9. Invisiblement Votre [Invisibly Yours] (30 p.) (1963)
10. La Fiancée de l'Homme Invisible [The Bride Of The Invisible Man] (32 p.) (1963)
11. Faites Chauffer la Colle [Heat Up The Glue] (34 p.) (1964)
12. L'Homme Invisible Joue et Gagne [The Invisible Man Plays To Win] (10 p.) (1964)
13. L'Homme Invisible fait des siennes [The Invisible Man Plays Tricks] (63 p.) (1965)
14. Le Fantôme de l'Homme Invisible [The Ghost Of The Invisible Man] (1965)
15. Contre 3,1416 (1965)
16. Cache-Cache Catcheur [Hide And Seek With A Wrestler] (1965)
17. Le Grand Chantage [The Great Blackmail] (1965)
18. Enlevez, c'est pesé [Take It Away, It's Been Weighed] (1965)
19. Les Pirates de l'Air [The Air Pirates] (1965)
20. Teuf-Teuf Polka [Jalopy Polka] (1966)
21. Les Hercules d'Acier [The Steel Hercules] (1966)
22. Ballet Ballon [Balloon Ballet] (1966)
23. Le Gang des Tracteurs [The Tractor Gang] (1966)
24. Scandale chez les As [Scandal Among The Aces] (1966)
25. Branle-bas chez les Radios Pirates [Alert Among The Radio Pirates] (1966)
26. Les Pères Noël de l'Épouvante [The Terrifying Santa Clauses] (8 p.) (1966)
27. Avez-vous vu Mirza? [Have You Seen Mirza?] (1967)
28. Les Voyageurs du Futur [The Travellers From The Future] (1967)
29. Méfiez-vous des Fantômes [Don't Trust The Ghosts] (1967)
30. Le Grand Maître de Bornéo [The Master Of Borneo] (1967)
31. Le Commando Libellule [The Dragonfly Commando] (1967)
32. Les Abominables Petits Hommes Verts [The Awful Little Green Men] (1967)
33. La Marée Nore [The Black Tide] (1968)
34. Le Jour des Dauphins [The Day Of The Dolphins] (1968)
35. L'Étrange Safari [The Strange Safari] (1968)
36. Rapt en Plein Ciel [Skyjacking] (1968)
37. Alerte au X43 (1968)
39. Les Chevaliers de l'Hélibulle [The Knights Of The Helibubble] (1969)
40. Les Esclaves de la Forêt [The Slaves Of The Forest] (1969)
50. 24 Heures dans l'Autre Monde [24 Hours In The World Beyond] (1970)

Writer: Pierre Castex
Artist: Max Lenvers
38. Le Fantôme du Zoo [A Ghost At The Zoo] (1968)
41. La Nuit des Vampires [The Night Of The Vampires] (1969)
42. La Folie des Diamants [The Diamond Madness] (1969)
43. Terreur sur la Manche [Terror Over The Channel] (1969)
44. Aller sans Retour [One-Way Ticket] (1969)
45. Miracle à Colombes (1969)
46. Furie sur l'Or Noir [Black Gold Fury] (1969)
47. La Cadena de Uro (1970)
48. Les Disparus d'Alcatraz [Disappearances In Alcatraz] (1970)
49. Le Mur des 9000 Soleils [The Wall Of 9000 Suns] (1970)
51. Le Mammouth du Ciel [The Sky Mastodon] (1970)
52. Bien Joué, Fillette! [Well Played, Little Girl!]
53. Safari à l'Héritage [Inheritance Safari] (1971)

Writer: Pierre Castex
Artist: Legoff
54. Nuages sur Nouakcholt [Clouds Over Nouakcholt] (1973)

Jacques Flash

by Le Guen:

Jacques Flash by Deynis:

Publishing History

Jacques Flash was originally serialized in the weekly magazine "Vaillant" (which became "Pif" in 1969) from 1956 to 1973. In spite of its popularity, only the first three episodes were collected in the graphic novel format, in 1960 and 1961.

Except where otherwise mentioned, the stories were usually 12-pages long, switching to 20 pages from episode 40 onward, and self-contained.

The Writers

Jean Ollivier (1921- ) was one of the major writers of "Vaillant" and was its editor-in-chief until 1958. In addition to Jacques Flash, Ollivier co-created Yves Le Loup [Yves the Wolf] for Bastard, Ragnar the Viking for Coelho, Davy Crockett for Kline, Docteur Justice for Marcello, and many other historical and adventure heroes. More recently, he wrote La Mémoire des Celtes [Celtic Memory], illustrated by Coelho.

YVES LE LOUP
by Ollivier & Bastard

In addition to Jacques Flash, writer Pierre Castex has also contributed to "Mickey" magazine and to publisher Larousse's French History in Comics Form.

The Artists

BOB MORANE
ART BY
GERALD FORTON

AYMERIC
ART BY
GERALD FORTON

After drawing Tangor in "O.K." from 1947 to 1949, Pierre Le Guen (1929- ) joined the editorial team of "Vaillant" in 1950 where he co-created Jacques Flash with Jean Ollivier. After working for various children's magazine in the 1970s, he helped fund the Five Stars Studio, where he worked on comics adaptation of Japanese animation series such as Albator and Captain Fulgur.

Gerald Forton is the grand-son of Louis Forton, creator of Les Pieds Nickelés. Gérald Forton started working in comics in the early 1950s, collaborating to "Spirou" (Alain Cardan, Kim Devil) and "Vaillant" (Teddy Ted, Jacques Flash). In the 1960s, he took over the popular Bob Morane series for "Pilote." In 1976, he co-created the fantasy series Yvain De Kanheric, while drawing a number of comic adaptations of television series, such as The Wild Wild West, Spider-Man, etc. Forton emigrated to the United States in the early 1980s, where he has worked on a number of comic-book series such as Jonah Hex, Arak, as well as animated television series such as Masters of the Universe, BraveStarr, etc.

Rene Deynis (1930- ) joined the editorial team of "Vaillant" in 1959 and worked on Jean & Jeanette and Jacques Flash. After working for various children's magazine in the 1970s, he joined Le Guen's Five Stars Studio.

Max Lenvers (1933- ) also began his career in "Vaillant", with Louk Chien Loup. During the late 1960s and 1970s, in addition to taking over Jacques Flash, he also worked as an artist-reporter for the daily newspaper "France-Soir". In the 1980s, he joined Le Guen's Five Star studio, while continuing a prolific career as a commercial artist and cartoonist.

Pierre Legoff began his comics career by illustrating short stories for "Zorro", "Hurrah" and "L'Intrepide" (also using the pen-name of Pierre Brisson) in the 1960s. Under the pseudonym of Pol Greffiere, he drew the comics adaptation of French espionnage thriller hero Coplan FX-18 (over 3,000 strips) for the Opera Mundi syndicate. He has also worked for "Mickey", "Vaillant" and "Tele-Junior".