The death of Bob de Groot, genius co-creator of the comic strip “Leonard”

In the corporation of comic book characters, two great “inventors” have long competed at a distance: Gaston Lagaffe, the hero of André Franquin, who is about to be reborn under the pencil of another designer (the Canadian Delaf) ; and Leonardo, a sort of double burlesque of Leonardo da Vinci, ” genius “ self-proclaimed, constantly developing machines and other accessories that never work as expected.

Launched in 1975 in a short-lived publication (Achille Talon Magazine), the series whose name is summed up by its first name alone – Leonard – has just lost its screenwriter, the Belgian Bob de Groot, who created the character with the designer, also Belgian, Philippe Liégeois, alias Turk (born in 1947). Log Pillar Tintinwho made his debut as a designer for the competitor SpirouBob de Groot died on Friday, November 17, in Ottignies (Belgium), at the age of 82.

Fertile imagination

isted by a disciple who acted as a scapegoat, Leonardo always shared with his father a particularly fertile imagination which led him to work with countless authors throughout his career: Maurice Tillieux (1921-1978, who took him under his wing in his early days), Greg (1931-1999)his other mentor), Jean-Marc Reiser (1941-1983), Fred (1931-2013), Tibet (1931-2010)Dany, Philippe Francq, André Taymans… Observed in the light of his disappearance, the diversity of Bob de Groot’s collaborations makes it possible to sweep over more than half a century of the history of comics, even if posterity will remember especially his ociation with Turk, alongside whom, five years before Leonardo, he gave birth to the character of Robin Dubois, a sort of avatar (also a parody) of the famous vigilante of Sherwood Forest.

A gag professional, but also a screenwriter of realistic stories, Bob de Groot multiplied unique projects, such as when he wrote, for Jacques Landrain, the very first comic strip produced on a computer, Digitalis (Le Lombard, 1989). We also saw him lend his pen to the pursuit of famous series, such as Modest and Pompom, lucky Luke Or Clifton. Bob de Groot was also the editor-in-chief of a Belgian humorous journal called The Eggin which he debuted a certain Philippe Geluck, the future creator of Chat.