23 November 2016

Cimetière du Montparnasse (continued) #1: Jean-Marc Reiser

Jean-Marc Reiser (1941–83) was a cartoonist from a modest background who left school at fifteen. He played a role in the foundation of the satirical monthly Hara-Kiri, a later weekly version of which ended in 1970 and led to the creation of Charlie Hebdo. Having an interest in ecology, he also contributed to La Gueule ouverte, and other publications included BD, Charlie Mensuel and Métal hurlant. His most famous creation was Gros dégueulasse: maybe 'fat slob' is an approximate translation for this fat, dirty, unshaven character noted for his fag in gob and balls hanging out of his underpants who was (to some extent) brought to life by Maurice Risch in 1985 in the film of the same name; he was (in)famous for the 'bad taste' of his humour. His grave takes the shape of a plane wing because aviation was one of his passions.

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