User:Murgh/Rob-Vel

François Robert Velter (February 9, 1909 – April 27, 1991), known by his pen-name Rob-Vel, was a French cartoonist, noted for creating the character Spirou in 1938.

Biography
In 1916, World War I brought the Velter family to England, which led to his first experiences working in the hotel industry, employed as an elevator operator at the London Ritz Hotel at the age of 16. He later pursued a career as a naval officer, but on one of his many trans-atlantic passages he met American cartoonist Martin Branner, which resulted in a change of aspirations. In the years 1934-1936, Velter learned the cartoon strip trade as Branner's assistant between in New York, wroking on the strip Winnie Winkle. After two years, Velter returned to Europe



Spirou
In 1938, Velter created the title character for the launch of a new magazine by Belgian publisher Éditions Dupuis, Le Journal de Spirou. Signing by the pen-name Rob-Vel, the story was titled Groom au Moustic–hôtel (Bellboy at the Hotel Moskito). Later the same year, he created Spirou's inseparable companion, the brave squirrel Spip, for the story L’héritage.

When Velter was drafted and wounded in 1940, his wife Davine (Blanche Dumoulien) took over the strip for a while. Due to the increasing difficulty of getting the strips from Paris to Belgium, Velter sold his rights to the publisher in 1943, and Jijé took over the strip.

After the war, Velter published a number of strips, including Le Père Pictou, Les Tribulations du Chien Petto, Bibor et Tribar and M. Subito, but he was never able to reach the broad popularity of Spirou again.