Automobiles have inspired plenty of brilliant comic illustrators, but few were as popular in Europe as Belgium’s Jean de Mesmaeker, better known by his pen name, Jidéhem.
For more than 30 years his colourful drawings were a star feature of the comic Spirou.
De Mesmaeker was born in 1935 in Brussels. At the age of eight, an illness confined him to home, where he started drawing.
Hergé’s Tintin was a major influence, and the French comic legend’s vivid colours, economy of line and graphically drawn machinery were an inspiration.
Saloon battle, with Mercedes-Benz Fintail chased by a BMW 1800 and Lotus Cortina
Later, while studying art at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels, de Mesmaeker took his portfolio to the Héroic-Albums studio, where his graphic story about a young detective, Ginger, impressed the publisher.
A full series was commissioned, and de Mesmaeker created the pseudonym Jidéhem, based on his own initials.
The Ginger stories featured spectacular car chases – Jidéhem loved drawing American cars, and his talent for capturing movement was greatly regarded.
The arrival of a bold new car design, such as the Panhard 24CT, always inspired new characters in the Les chroniques de Starter series
