André Franquin was born in Brussels the ?rd January 1924.

1942. He attends clases at the École St. Luc (Brussels), studying decoration.

In 1944, Franquin is hired to work for the animation studio CBA. Maurice de Bevere (aka Morris, creator of Lucky Luke) is already employed there while Pierre Culliford (aka Peyo, creator of the Smurfs) will work there until the studios shut down due to bankruptcy.

1945: After CBA’s closure, Morris gets Franquin a foot in the door at Le Moustique. His drawings will also be published in Bonnes Soirées and Plein Jeu, two successful magazines of the era.

1946: Franquin meets Joseph Gillain (aka Jijé, creator of Blondin et Cirage, Valhardi and Spirou’s sidekick fantasio) and is promptly brought into the Spirou magazine team in Marcinelle (Belgium).

Spring 1946: Franquin’s makes first forays drawing Spirou et Fantasio’s adventures with a short story entitled The Tank. By May, he has taken on the characters full time. Franquin moves in with Jijé in Waterloo.

1948: He travels to Mexico and the States.

Autumn 1950: Franquin marries Liliane Servais. Henceforth, they will be known as the “Franquins’.

31 January 1952: Spirou et les Heritiers (Spirou and the Inheritors) sees the first appearance of the Marsupilami.

1955: Yvan Delporte is appointed editor of Spirou, a job he’ll keep until 1968.

In 1955, Franquin created Modeste et Pompon for Tintin magazine, Spirou’s main competitor.He drew the serie until 1959.

19 February 1957: André and Liliane’s daughter Isabelle is born.

28 February 1957: Gaston makes his memorable debut in Spirou magazine.

13 June 1957: To celebrate the 1000th issue of Spirou magazine, Franquin creates a labour intensive cover which involves him drawing 999 Spirou heads... he then surreptitiously hides one of Gaston in the layout to make 1000!

5 December 1957: Gaston gets his own strip! From unemployed cartoon hero, Gaston graduates to office boy. He begins his adventures with a series of two strip cartoons in the lower half of Spirou’s pages. In December 1957, Franquin introduces us to yet another new character, le Petit Noël, testament to his fascination with childhood. Gaston’s adventures continue as half page gags. The 30 June 1966, 412 half-page cartoons later, Gaston finally gets upgraded to a full page strip!

1968: Franquin’s journeys with Spirou and Fantasio draw to an end. Panade à Champignac (a word play, meaning both Trouble in Champignac and Baby Food in Champignac, an allusion to the mayhem laced adventure, involving the Count of Champignac’s nemesis Zorglub, regressing to the mental age of a 2 year old) will be the last adventure he works on. Meanwhile, the Golden Years of Gaston are about to begin... Prunelle replaces Fantasio as the irascible office manager and the infamous checkered Fiat 509, Office Longtarin, and the worlds of nature, music and city life henceforth become Gaston’s new habitat.

1970: Though Lagaffe had on occasion introduced a few unusual animals into the office, in the 70s, he starts to see things on a far grander scale, and his menagerie begins to overwhelm the workspace - grey mice, goldfish, a mischievous tomcat and a laughing seagull join the editorial ranks. Franquin also starts to draw his first monsters!

1971: Franquin switches Gaston’s creativity into high gear and a stream of whimsical inventions are unleashed in the strips.

1974: Franquin receives the grand prize for his body of work at the first Angouleme Festival.

1975: Franquin teams up Will, Macherot and Delporte to work on Isabelle (created in 1970)

1975: Tintin et Moi is published. Hergé confesses to Numa Sadoul: “When I see Franquin for instance, I think to myself: but how can people compare us? He’s a great artist next to which I am but a mediocre illustrator.”

1977: Le Trombone Illustré introduces Franquin’s first Idées Noires. Franquin pursues his humanitarian and Green aims by agreeing to illustrate projects for Greenpeace, Unicef, and Amnesty International.

1978: Franquin helps create Arnest et La Taupe Augraphie with Delporte (co-writer) and Jannin (illustrator)

1982: Health concerns force a momentary interruption in Franquin’s career.

1986: The national Graphic Arts prize is awarded to Franquin in Belgium.

1987: Assisted by Luc Collin (aka Batem) on the drawing table, and Michel Regnier (aka Greg) for the storylines, he launches the Marsupilami’s solo adventures.

5 January 1997: Franquin dies in the year of the 40th anniversary of Gaston Lagaffe’s creation.