Lariflette

An artist from Verneuil-sur-Avre, Daniel Laborne had already created his own magazine at age twelve, titled Le Journal Épastrouillant, which he distributed among his schoolfriends. In 1916 he started drawing more professional, at first as an industrial designer for the Chevallier brothers in Verneuil and the Salmson factories in Argenteuil, but from 1930 as an illustrator, among others for the magazines Le Cri Sportif, L'Auto, L'Intransigeant and Marius. In 1934, Laborne created his first actual comic in Football magazine: 'Les Aventures du P'Tit Piaf et de son Chien Chout'. Laborne additionally created characters like Père la Fouine and Baball, but it was in 1939 when he created his best known character, 'Lariflette'. The character started out as the mascot of the soldier's page in Le Petit Parisien and his adventures were continued in Coq Hardi from 1946, after an interupation during Laborne's own army time in World War II. At the same time, in 1946, the 'Lariflette' series became a daily comic in Ouest France, and this version ran until 1988. Daniel Laborne also started the spin-off series 'Polop le Caïd', about Lariflette's nephew from Paris, in La France au Combat (1946) and 'Tatave, le Fils de Lariflette', about his son in Le Petit Canard (1949). Text (c) Lambiek