One of the true greats of erotic bandes dessinées, Georges Pichard, started out working in publishing, but became an illustrator in 1946. After working on various magazines such as C’est Paris for 10 years, he then moved into comics with his debut strip, Miss Mimi. In 1964, he teamed up with writer Jacques Lob, and they created the superhero parodies Ténébrax and Submerman, but it wasn’t long before Pichard moved on to become a pioneer of erotic comics.
Pichard’s first erotic work was Blanche Épiphanie, written by Lob and published in 1967. The story was a parody of the damsel-in-distress novels from the turn of the century, with the heroine constantly molested by the oversexed villain, Adolphus, until her masked hero rescues her. Three years later, Pichard teamed up with Tunisian-born writer George Wolinski to create their famous series, Paulette. Wolinski was no stranger to erotic comics, as he’d started contributing political and saucy cartoons, illustrations, and comic strips to the satirical monthly Hara Kiri as early as 1960.
But Paulette’s adventures took Pichard and Wolinski’s creativity to new levels. Paulette, like many of her comic heroine counterparts, invariably became involved in escapades that involved sex, many including bondage scenes. Pichard’s art had a unique appearance, drawing tall, well-endowed, powerful-looking women, whose large eyes and excessive mascara gave them a Teutonic, gothic look.
Other large-mammaried misadventurers followed Paulette, like Caroline Choléra, Marie-Gabrielle, and Carmen, as Pichard collaborated with various writers, including Danie Dubos.
Like his Italian counterpart, Guido Crepax, Pichard adapted some of the world’s famous erotic stories, such as The Mémoirs of Don Juan by Guillaume Apollinaire and The Kama-Sutra by Vatsyayana, into graphic novel form.
In his latter years, Pichard returned to l’École des Arts Appliqués in Paris, where he had studied art as a young man—except this time he was teaching a new generation of French comic creators. One of these lucky students was David B., who recounted the experience in his award-winning graphic novel, Epileptic. Pichard’s Paulette series was a strong influence on the younger artist.
After a 40-year career, Pichard passed away in June 2003, leaving a long and lasting legacy of erotic comics that still inspires and arouses to this day.
The various covers of Pichard’s Paulette series reveal the artist’s keen sense of design and consistency througout the series.
Paulette’s problems often involved her being tied up and held hostage.
