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Francine Graton, 1932-2011
posted June 6, 2011
Francine Graton, the writer behind the series
Les Labourdet and a mostly unofficial contributor to the iconic
Michel Valliant comics created by her husband Jean Graton,
died in Uccle, Belgium on May 28. She was 79 years old.
Graton was born in Ixelles in 1932. She was Francine Vandenbosch until marrying the cartoonist Jean Graton om 1959, some two years into publication of his most famous work, the automobile racing drama
Michel Vaillant. She's credited in a few biographical pieces as someone that contributed story ideas to the Michel Vaillant feature, particularly concerning the comic serial's domestic/soap opera elements. It is also mentioned that she colored the strip for a time. In 1965, she began writing
Les Labourdet, a domestic strip featuring art by her husband designed to appeal to female readers -- a soap opera, basically. The strip began in the magazine
People and
Us Chez Nous. It ran for nine volumes' worth of material.
The Gratons' son Phillipe became his father's natural successor on the various features he did, and in the early 1980s the Gratons consolidated into their own publishing company in order to facilitate the material for which he was best known. It's that company which will eventually re-publish all the
Les Labourdet material. In addition to her children, Graton is survived by her husband of more than 50 years.