Jean-Claude Mézières was born September 23, 1938 in Paris, France.
In 1953, Jean-Claude entered the Parisian institute Arts Appliqués (Applied Arts), studying textile and wallpaper design with Jean Giraud, who later became famous as Moebius. Besides his studies, Mézières made comics for the French magazines "Fripounette et Marisette" (Fripounette and Marisette), "Coeurs Vaillants" (Valiant Hearts) and "Spirou".
After military service, Jean-Claude spent some years as a commercial artist, but went to America in 1965 to pursue his dream of becoming a cowboy in Montana and Arizona. However, he soon wanted to go back, and after meeting Pierre Christin at the University of Salt Lake City in Utah, they produced the comic "Le Rhum du Punch" (The Rum of the Punch) for Pilote in 1966.
Shortly after returning to France, the pair started work on "Valérian, Spatiotemporal Agent" (Valerian, Space-Time Agent), again for Pilote. In 1968, the first comic, "La Cité des eaux Mouvantes" (The City of Moving Water) was published. The comic immediately caught on, possibly because of Valérian's female partner, Laureline. The comic series currently encompass 20 collection albums and a guide to the universe, "Les Habitants du Ciel" (The Inhabitants of the Sky) from 1991. Jean-Claude released a two-volume set of illustrations, advertisements and other works, "Les Extras de Mézières" (The Extras of Mézières) in 1995.
In 1984, Jean-Claude was awarded the Grand Prix de la Ville d'Angoulêrne" (The Great Prize of the Town Angoulêrne).
See also other Comics creators. Audited August 19, 2002