View source for Robert Velter

{{Short description|French cartoonist}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| name          = Rob-Vel
| image         =Robert Velter.png 
| imagesize     = 
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = Robert Velter
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1909|2|9|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Paris]], [[France]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1991|4|27|1909|2|9|df=y}} 
| death_place   = [[Saint-Malo]], France
| nationality   = French
| area          = 
| alias         = Robvel, Bozz
| notable works = ''[[Spirou et Fantasio|Spirou, Spip]]''
| awards        = 
}}
'''François Robert Velter''' ({{IPA|fr|vɛltɛʁ|lang}};<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH7Ma18KzGo "Spirou - L'évolution d'une icône de la BD : de Rob-Vel à Jijé, Morris et Franquin"]<!--at 3:37--></ref> 9 February 1909 &ndash; 27 April 1991), known by his pen-name '''Rob-Vel''' ({{IPA|fr|ʁɔbvɛl|}}), was a French [[cartoonist]]. He is best known for creating the character ''[[Spirou et Fantasio|Spirou]]'' in 1938.

==Biography==
[[File:Rob-vel-spirou1.jpg|thumb|right|80px|Spirou by Rob-Vel]]
Like ''Spirou'', Velter began his career as a [[elevator operator|lift attendant]] at age 16, in the London Ritz Charlton.  He later learned the trade as an assistant to American cartoonist [[Martin Branner]] on the ''[[Winnie Winkle]]'' strip from 1934 to 1936.

In 1938, Velter created the title character for the launch of a new magazine by Belgian publisher [[Dupuis|Éditions Dupuis]], ''[[Spirou (magazine)|Le Journal de Spirou]]''. Signed with the pen-name Rob-Vel, the story was titled ''Groom au Moustic–hôtel'' (''Bellboy at the Hotel Mosquito'', named after another of Dupuis magazines). Later the same year, he created Spirou's inseparable companion, the squirrel [[Spip (comics character)|Spip]], for the story ''L’héritage''.

When Velter was drafted and wounded in 1940, his wife Davine (Blanche Dumoulin) took over the strip for a while.

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

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
* [http://bdoubliees.com/journalspirou/auteurs5/robvel.htm Rob-Vel publications in ''Le Journal de Spirou''] BDoubliées {{in lang|fr}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[http://lambiek.net/artists/r/rob_vel.htm Rob-Vel biography] on Lambiek Comiclopedia
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20020519031650/http://spiroutj.free.fr/hist/robv.htm Rob-Vel biography] on non-official Spirou site {{in lang|fr}}

{{Spirou & Fantasio}}

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velter, Robert}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Paris]]
[[Category:French comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:French comics artists]]
[[Category:French comics writers]]
[[Category:French humorists]]
[[Category:Spirou et Fantasio]]
[[Category:French male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]


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