Death of Job, father of “Yakari”, the friend of children and tepees – Libération

Suddenly, images of freedom came back to us: the wind, the meadow, a papoose running among the grass or galloping, perched on his best friend, a black and white horse with a yellow mane named Little Thunder. With the announcement this Wednesday, October 9 by the Lombard editions of the death of Job, André Jobin of his real name, at 96 years old, a whole section of our youthful readings resurfaced from our memories. The Swiss screenwriter created in 1969 with the designer Derib one of the most famous children’s series in French-speaking comics: Yakari. The adventures of the young Sioux from the Lakota tribe have accompanied generations of kids, until today, the series still being in progress, in its 42nd volume, and adapted into a cartoon, feature film, novel, video game, etc.

Harmony with nature

Taking up the fantasy universe of the American West like many post-war collections (Lucky Luke, the Blue Tunics, Blueberryetc.), Yakari has always distinguished itself by its pacifist, ecological, anti-speciesist dimension. In the albums, the characters live in harmony with nature, play and help each other. If they sometimes have to face hostile beasts, like the grizzly bear or the mischievous pelican, it always ends well. It must be said that Yakari has the gift of speaking to animals, which helps, a secret known only to her friend Arc-en-Ciel.

“Yakari is a child who loves animals, like me, said Job to Free Middayin 2020. He is an adventurer, a little boy who has never met a white man, who only knows the Sioux. He is mischievous, resourceful, benevolent, loving justice, faithful in friendship, he has no enemies.” The one who “had never traveled to the United States” had made his hero’s territory a little paradise, before it was ravaged by colonization. With Dominique at the color, the two authors had the merit of familiarizing young readers with bits of Native American culture, such as the famous pemmican eaten in our memories every third page and with the fauna and flora of South America. North, sometimes mythical, like the famous Nanabozo, the prankster rabbit.

Jura gathering

It was Dérib, the designer, who had the idea for the character Yakari, who remained in his drawings for many years before he met Job. Trained as a journalist and activist for the Jura Rally, a Swiss autonomist and separatist association demanding the reunification of all Jura components and separation from the canton of Bern, André Jobin then directed the Toad with Glassesa weekly youth magazine inspired by the newspaper Tintin. After a first series on a learned owl, The Adventures of Pythagoras and Co.the two friends launch into Yakari. Job accepts the idea on two conditions, specifies Le Lombard: “May the young hero always remain a child of the wild, and may the plots never fall into Western clichés.” «I didn’t want to use […] the stagecoach, the sheriff, the weapons and all that: Yakari is a child, an innocent. He is even a non-hunter. said Job, in 2013.

The success was such that a magazine ended up being created in the name of the main character and the albums conquered France and Belgium and were translated into around twenty languages. Twice awarded the Youth Prize at the Angoulême festival, in 1982 and 2006, Job continued to write screenplays for Yakari until 2014, then leaving the torch to Joris Chamblain. Tonight, there is no doubt that the Dakota beavers, on their dam, will tap their tails rhythmically to pay homage to him.