Marcel Remacle (1926-1999)  was one of the classic authors who worked with Belgian weekly magazine Spirou in the golden age of Belgian comics. At the age of eighteen, he assumed the pseudonym Ted Smedley and published his first comics in the Belgian press (Pourquoi Pas, L’Âne Roux, Le Moustique, En Marche). In 1956, he started working for the Belgian publishing house Dupuis, creating at first for the magazine Risque-Tout, and continuing with Spirou after the demise of Risque-Tout in November of the same year. For Spirou, he created his most important series ‘Le Vieux Nick’ – a story of a sailor at the turn of the 17th century – in 1958. The title character was soon joined by his antagonist the Blackbeard (‘Barbe-noire’), who became increasingly popular and ultimately made it to the title. ‘Le Vieux Nick et Barbe-noire’ was published until the author’s retirement in the 1990s.

Marcel Remacle – Ted Smedley: “Barbe-Noire / Blackbeard”, 1978, 30 x 39 cm