'Harry Dickson'. Dutch-language version.
Pascal J. Zanon was a Belgian comic artist, best known for his work on a comic book series based on the 'Harry Dickson' detective novels by Jean Ray (Art et BD, 1986-2014). Prior to this, Zanon was active under the pen name "Julius", making cartoons, comics and illustrations for far-right magazines, most notably Nouvel Europe.
Early life and career
Pascal Jules Zanon was born in 1943 in the Brussels suburb of Etterbeek as the only son of Italian immigrants (his father was from Friuli and mother was Neapolitan). After his parents died an early death, he was forced to take several different jobs in order to earn a living, including office worker, tour guide and bus driver. In 1966, Zanon fulfilled his military service in Spich, West Germany, where he became friends with another recruit who later became a comic artist, François Walthéry. Back in civilian life, Zanon's talent for drawing led to assignments as an illustrator and as a caricaturist of sport and political figures.
For his realistic art, Zanon was influenced by the "Ligne Claire" ("Clear Line") style of Hergé, Edgar P. Jacobs, Bob De Moor and Jacques Martin. His Italian roots resulted in influences from Greek-Latin antiquity and the Italian Renaissance painters Filippo Lippi and Michelangelo. In the early 1970s, Zanon spent four years assisting Raymond Reding on the backgrounds of the 'Vincent Larcher' comic in Tintin magazine. In a 2002 interview with BrusselsBDTour, he credited Zanon for training him in specific drawing techniques.
'Julius... Au Pays des Soviets'! The title is a nod to the 'Tintin' story 'Tintin in the Land of the Soviets'.
Julius
In the 1970s, using the pen name Julius, Zanon was mostly active as a cartoonist and illustrator in the far-right press, such as Europe Magazine (after 1969 known as Nouvel Europe). In their pages, Julius drew gag comics in a cartoony style, alongside more realistically-drawn short stories and illustrations about historical topics, like the foundation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Battle of Lepanto (1571). One of the strips he drew featured the adventures of the young student, 'P'tite Nem'.
'Les Diables Noirs'.
Zanon's work also appeared in the party magazine of the short-lived far-right party Forces Nouvelles, for which he drew the comic serial 'Les Diables Noirs' ("The Black Devils"), about "heroic" mercenaries in Third World countries. In the Dutch translation, his cartoons appeared in Haro, the house magazine of the Flemish-nationalist, far-right militia Vlaamse Militante Orde. A collection of his political work appeared in the book 'Kraaiepoten' (1978), which also featured work by Stan Sluydts (Korbo, Prik, Gommer) and Jack Marchal. Copies of this comic book were confiscated by the Belgian Investigation Service during a raid at Haro's printing shop.
'Harry Dickson'. Dutch-language version.
Harry Dickson
After meeting Christian Vanderhaeghe, editor-in-chief of the publishing company Art et BD, Zanon was encouraged to collaborate on a mainstream comic series. This became 'Harry Dickson', a series of adaptations of the well-known detective novel series by Jean Ray (also known under his pseudonym John Flanders). Initially, the stories were serialized in Charlie Mensuel, but after a while they were published directly in book format by Art et BD. The books of Vanderhaeghe's imprint were distributed by Dargaud.
With Vanderhaeghe as scriptwriter, Zanon worked on eight volumes in the 'Harry Dickson' series between 1986 and 2004. Due to the artist's declining health, Zanon's ninth and final installment in the 'Harry Dickson' series was finished in 2014 with the help of Philippe Chapelle. Chapelle then drew album 10, after which Renaud drew volumes 11 through 13 between 2016 and 2018.
These 'Harry Dickson' comics should not be confused with the similarly titled 1992-2009 'Harry Dickson' adaptations by Richard D. Nolane and Olivier Roman, published by Soleil, nor with the 2014 version by Brice Tarvel and Christophe Alvès for Chez Pascal Galode Éditeurs.
'Harry Dickson'. Dutch-language version.
Graphic contributions
In 2005, Zanon was one of the artists participating in the 'BDéfense!' anthology , in which 33 comic creators were commissioned by the Belgian Army to explore the role of the army in contemporary society.
Final years and death
Later in life, Pascal Zanon suffered from diabetes and was threatened with blindness. At the end of 2016, during a routine doctor's visit, the doctor detected the imminent rupture of an aneurysm. The surgery he underwent was successful, but their were lasting effects. During his rehabilitation, he contracted pneumonia, of which he died on 17 January 2017 at age 73. In an obituary to his friend on his blog, the writer and far-right political activist Robert Steuckers wrote that Pascal Zanon died "utterly alone", and that he was buried in a cheap casket without any of his friends or relatives being informed.
Pascal Zanon.