(ANSA) - ROME, JANUARY 22 - Jean Graton, the creator of the famous Michel Vaillant cartoon dedicated to the world of car racing, died on January 21 in Brussels at the age of 97.
His long series of comic stories began in 1957 with the publication of the adventures of the intrepid pilot Michel Vaillant in Tintin magazine.
It should be noted that in the early stories the protagonist is the young Italian mechanic FrancoMoriani, with the characteristics and features of the future MichelVaillant, a name that appears after 5 comic releases.
These are the years in which Formula 1 and important races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans begin to interest a wider audience and for Vaillant's success is immediate.
This was followed by albums by Jean Graton that became true cult objects, such as 'The 13 is at the start', 'The faceless pilot' or 'The ghostof the 24 Hours'.
More than 20 million albums have been sold to date.
Jean Graton's passion for motorsports was deep and led him to spend most of the time in the paddocks, thus meeting real characters (this is the case of Jacky Ickx) who will become legends of his comics alongside Michel Vaillant.
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