FÉLIX- PI with hard-boiled intentions

_{Félix in his first investigations}

It is in the legendary Belgian weekly Comics 'Héroïc Albums ' that Félix appeared as a smart investigator of spooky cases, in 1949. A moody and dense atmosphere was always present in the drawings of its creator Maurice Tillieux, a real appeal for the readers. Combined with cleverly constructed scripts, imaginative characters, light fantasy and some heavy realism that could go borderline gorish, the Félix series was quickly a success amongst the public, young and old.
And above all it had this mystery novel tint that was found nowhere else in European comics at that time, something in the vein of Série Noire (the famous publisher of HB novels in France, since 1945 and with great popular success)

Hard-boiled, sometimes funny, clever and daring were all words that are best to describe the work of Maurice Tillieux in Félix. It had also this sense of immediacy and improvisation that could be found in pulp magazines, mainly due to the lack of time to produce the series and its continuations. A complete story of 12 to 16 pages, magazine size, was produced every month and Tillieux was doing it completely by himself: scripts, pencil, inking, color preparation (one page in full color per story).

_{'The Dead was Alive' - Félix unarmed is in difficult position}

Félix was practically always with two friends: an ex-police detective and a common guy with no special ability. Both help him in his investigations, adventures and bad dreams coming true. This trio allowed for quick changes in the moods of a scenario, as the friends could generate some fantasy and strong humor that was not allowed to the central character.
Later on some of the Félix stories were more "adventure" orientated, but the mystery flavor was always present as well as the HB characters.



Gloomy streets, uninviting back alleys, merciless thugs and mystery plots... This universe created by Tillieux was unique in the midst of the restrictions due to the code for publications for the youth blindly imposed in France. Criticism against 'Héroïc Albums ' was going strong in Belgium, but there was more liberalism for comics in that country.
This could ensure the survival of series with HB-like plots, as were those produced by Tillieux.

_{Announcement strip in B&W for ' The Lighthouse of Death '}

Tillieux and his Félix series had a tremendous influence on a lot of creators of the following generation in Belgium (and later in France). Not so much for his graphic style (heavily influenced by Hergé at its beginning and finally finding a personal style under influence from Franquin - both amongst the greatest Belgian creators) as for the ambiences of his stories and the way to construct the continuity or his approach to a certain realism, Tillieux became a cult author for comic fans as well as for some professionals.

This cult status will be confirmed by 'Gil Jourdan' the following series he did for 'Spirou' [one of the most famous comics magazine in Europe, still existing today- Publisher: Dupuis/ Belgium], after the collapsing of 'Héroïc Albums ' in 1956. The new character was a PI, in settings and stories inspired by Félix. With more time allowed for his creations and more care from the new publisher, Tillieux got finally some recognition from a larger readership, all over Europe, during the 70's.

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We express here our thanks for all the help we received from Thierry Winants in the search for illustrations concerning the Félix series.
Thierry keeps a very good WEB page devoted to Maurice Tillieux, where more information can be found concerning this great Belgian comics creator.

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_{Copyright © 1997,1998 E.Borgers for texts and setup. Illustrations belong to the copyright holders
See front page of WEBORGERS - Hard-Boiled Mysteries - for complete disclaimer.
Most recent revision: 25 January, 1998}