JACK PALMER is the clown prince of B.D. private eyes. He's a scooter-riding squirt and a low-rent private peeper in a beat-up fedora and a dingy, rumpled trenchcoat several sizes too big for him, with an ass-backwards style of investigation that leaves him stuck in some pretty bizarre predicaments. Not that he seems to work too hard at finding work. In Palmer's world, murder and mayhem, not to mention a fair percentage of the planet's population of weirdos and looney-tunes, come a-knocking.

And Jack always seems to answer the door.

A genial, fun series, but definitely not to be taken seriously. Sight gags and loopy plotlines abound, and creator Pétillon's influences, which include Mad Magazine as well as Hammett, Chandler, Bogart, etc., are more than evident. Palmer made his debut in 1974 in the pages of Pilote and later went on to appear in Charlie and VSD as well.

ALBUMS

• Petillon (1976)
• La dent creuse (1978; aka "Palmer se rebiffe")
• Gorous Derviche and Co. (1979; aka "Une sacrée salade")
• Les disparus d'apostrophes (1982)
• Le chanteur de Mexico (1984)
• Le prince de la B.D. (1985)
• Le Pékinois (1987)
• Mister Palmer et Docteur Supermarketstein (1987)

TELEVISION

• JACK PALMER
  Animated series for French television
  30 episodes
  Written by René Pétillon
  Directed by René Pétillon, Jacky Bretaudeau, Luc Vinciguerra
  Produced by Canal+, Les Cartooneurs associés, Hyphen.

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. A gros merci to Giancarlo Malagutti for the lead on the television show. An investigation is pending... Oh, and check out his web site.