Jérôme Moucherot ("Jerome Katzmeier" in English editions) is a middle-aged, unremarkable-looking insurance salesman. Unremarkable, except for the fact that he's almost dwarf-life in stature, wears a leopard-skin suit, and has a nose-piercing with a fountain pen stuck through it. Nominally he's sort of a throwback-50's family man with a patient, frumpy wife and three homely little boys. In fact, Jerome is essentially author / artist François Boucq's whimsical, fertile soil of an overlooked everyman, one who appears in a series of satirical, absurdist stories. Typically he rises (or sometimes retreats) to the occasion in surreal, amusing ways that classic heroes would never dream of doing.
Me, I'm familiar with the short stories as seen in Heavy Metal, and I'm currently reading The Walls Have Teeth, one of the full-length books that clocks in at 80pp. It appears that there are ~5 books in total, I take it some being collections and some extended adventures.
Ah yes, and in terms of personal peeves? I'd say the banter, while generally amusing, can sometimes weight down the natural pace of the comic. Also, the absurdist stories can be a bit hit or miss, altho TBF that's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect here. On the whole, though, this is a classic series my fellow silly gooses would do well to check out.
"This man is a beast. With his leopard-print suit, his noble bearing and piercing gaze, his agile yet powerful walk… and his pen stuck up his nose, he is as alluring as he is frightening. His name is Katzmeier, Jerome Katzmeier. His mission: to destroy the fear of tomorrow, allowing everyone to board the train of progress as it departs from the dock of the hassles of everyday life. In other words, Jerome Katzmeier is an insurance agent. But one not quite like the rest…" --Mediatoon
“He's an insurer-explorer in a leopard costume who goes in search of himself in the jungle of existence” --WP FR
So then, as a prize for lasting so long, below is one of my favorite "Jerome" short stories. Interestingly, the author happens to be a master kendo swordsman (5th-dan rank). One wonders if he interjected some of that 'kendo spirit' in to the panels:
https://imgur.com/gallery/gNdXxjG
Note: Did anyone else catch a bit of a Roger Rabbit tribute near the beginning?
Boucq of course is the same bloke who gave us the one-armed Old West lawman "Bouncer," as well as the hilarious adventures of Death and his porcine companion, Lao-Tsu. He's quite a versatile artist & writer, and for whatever reasons, visually he seems to like playing up the physical homeliness of his characters, not unlike his fellow creator Hermann (so far covered here briefly via his art).
More on François Boucq below, and if you do click, make sure you scroll to the bottom to see his hysterical poster tribute to other famous characters:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/boucq.htm
