Taka Takata

Joseph F. Loeckx, best known as Jo-El Azara, was born in Drogenbos. He came up with his most famous creation in cooperation with scriptwriter Vicq, the Japanese soldier 'Taka Takata'. He studied art at the Institute Saint-Luc in Brussels. Azara met Willy Vandersteen during a holiday, and the master of Flemish comics asked him to work at the Vandersteen Studios, where he collaborated on the 'Suske en Wiske' episode 'De Lachende Wolf' in 1953. In 1954, he drew a short story about 'Hamlet' for Junior/Ons Volkske. Jo-El Azara eventually became one of the most popular artists of humorous comics for magazine Tintin, where he created his own series for the first time. After short stories with Yves Duval in 1962 and the gag series 'Évariste Confus' in from 1963 to 1965. Taka Takata remained a popular feature from 1965 throughout the rest of the 1960s and the 1970s. Azara also drew one story starring the British detective 'Clifton', a series created by Raymond Macherot, in 1969. Text (c) Lambiek