New Bikes of Morris

Biography
Born in Kortrijk, Belgium. He went to school in the well-known Jesuit college in Aalst, whose suits inspired him for those of the undertakers in his Lucky Luke series. His math teacher told his parents the boy would unfortunately never succeed in life, as he passed the math classes doodling in the margin of his math books. Morris started drawing in the Compagnie Belge d'Actualits (CBA) animations studios, a small and short-lived animation studios in Belgium where he met Peyo and Andr Franquin. After the war, the company folded and Morris worked as an illustrator for Het Laatste Nieuws, a Flemish newspaper, and Le Moustique, a French-speaking weekly magazine published by Dupuis, for which he made some 250 covers and numerous other illustrations, mainly caricatures of movie stars.
He died in 2001 of a pulmonary embolism.

The years in the USA became crucial for Morris, not only because he met Goscinny, but also because he gathered a great deal of documentation for his later work, and became familiar with the Hollywood films of the time. Morris introduced in the following years many cinematic techniques in his stories, like freeze-frames and close-ups. Walt Disney's style influenced him, which can be seen in the very round lines that characterize the early Lucky Luke albums.Many characters in his comics are also clearly based on famous American actors such as Jack Palance, Gary Cooper, W.C. Fields and William Hart, although he also caricaturizes unexpected figures like Louis de Funs or Serge Gainsbourg.

The first 31 adventures were published by Dupuis, but in the late sixties, Morris left Dupuis and Spirou and went to Dargaud and Pilote magazine, which was started by his friend Goscinny.

In 1984, Hanna-Barbera made a series of 52 cartoons of Lucky Luke, thereby augmenting the popularity of the series even further. 52 more cartoons were made in the early 1990s, and three live action movies followed. A few videogames based on the series were also made, e.g. for the PlayStation 1 and the Game Boy Color. Lucky Luke is currently the best selling European comics series ever, with over 300 million copies sold in more than thirty languages.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Morris never worked on several series, although he made a great deal of illustrations for stories in the forties and fifties. In the nineties, he did make Rantanplan, a spin-off from Lucky Luke, starring the dumbest dog in the West.

In 2005 he ended on the 79th place in the French-speaking version of the election for The Greatest Belgian.

Awards

• 1972: Grand Prix Saint-Michel, Brussels, Belgium
• 1992: Angoulme International Comics Festival, 20th anniversary Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulme
• References[edit]
• ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Morris". In Belgi gestript, pp. 143-144. Tielt: Lannoo.
• Jump up ^ BDoublies. "Spirou anne 1946".
• Jump up ^ Centre Belge de la Bande Dessine, Brussels

External links

• Biography on Dupuis.com
• Morris biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Morris on Telegraph.co.uk
• Morris publications in Spirou and Pilote BDoublies (French)
• Morris albums Bedetheque (French)
• Morris publications in English www.europeancomics.net (English)