Fred, whose real name was Othon Aristidès, was a French cartoonist and comic-strip writer of Greek descent. A poet of drawing, he was the creator of Philémon, a dreamlike and surrealist series published in Pilote, and one of the founders of the satirical magazine Hara-Kiri.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1931 in Paris to Greek parents, died in 2013
- Co-founder in 1960 of the satirical magazine Hara-Kiri with Professor Choron and Cavanna
- Created the series Philémon in the magazine Pilote in 1965
- Received the Grand Prix of the city of Angoulême in 1980
- Published the final Philémon album, “Le Train où vont les choses,” in 2013
Works & Achievements
Satirical newspaper — “dumb and nasty” — that reinvented the French humor press and gave rise to Charlie Hebdo.
Fred's flagship series, a dreamlike and surrealist masterpiece of comics, published in Pilote and then as albums by Dargaud.
The first Philémon album, which sets up the principle of the letter-islands of the Atlantic Ocean.
A Philémon album praised for its graphic inventiveness and its poetic humor.
A tender and melancholic tale, one of Fred's most personal works outside of Philémon.
The return of Philémon after a long hiatus, hailing the still-intact imagination of its author.
Official recognition of Fred's entire body of work through the highest distinction in French-language comics.
Anecdotes
Fred, whose real name was Othon Aristidès, was born in Paris in 1931 to a Greek father. As a child, he devoured cartoons and American comics, and signed his first gags with a short, punchy pen name, “Fred,” to hide a family name he found too complicated.
In 1960, Fred co-founded, together with the writer François Cavanna and Professor Choron, the magazine Hara-Kiri, which proclaimed itself “dumb and nasty.” The publication's ferocious and absurd humor would earn it several bans from the censors, but also a place as a pioneer of the French satirical press.
His most famous series, Philémon, rests on a dizzying idea: the letters of the words “ATLANTIC OCEAN” written across geography maps are in fact islands where one can go ashore. There his hero lives dreamlike adventures, chatting with a shipwrecked well-digger and a learned donkey.
Fred worked very slowly and suffered long periods of doubt: Philémon went through several interruptions lasting several years. He said he drew “the way one dreams,” letting the story build itself at the tip of the pen rather than following a preset plan.
A great admirer of poetry and wordplay, Fred slipped visual puns and logical paradoxes worthy of Lewis Carroll into his pages. René Goscinny, who published him in Pilote, saw in him one of the most singular authors of French comics.
Primary Sources
The letters written on the maps of the oceans are real islands where you can come ashore — that is the secret Philémon will discover in spite of himself.
Hara-Kiri, a stupid and nasty magazine.
I never know where I'm going; I draw the way one dreams, and the story unfolds all by itself beneath the pen.
Key Places
Fred's birthplace and the heart of his career: it is here that he was born in 1931, created his works, and died in 2013.
Where the satirical magazine was founded in 1960, a hub of the irreverent post-war humour press.
Headquarters of the magazine run by René Goscinny, where Fred brought Philémon to life alongside the great names of Franco-Belgian comics.
The homeland of Fred's father, the source of part of his identity and of his taste for mythological and poetic worlds.