Jean Cabut, who used the pseudonym Cabu, studied art in Paris and published his first work in L'Union magazine in 1954. He served in the Army during the Algerian Civil War, while also drawing for the army newspaper, Bled. In 1960, he made his first appearance in the satirical monthly Hara-Kiri, and two years later, in Pilote magazine. For this magazine, Cabu developed the character of Duduche, that appeared in a series of strips based on his college memories. This comic ran in Pilote until 1972, and then moved to Charlie Hebdo and Charlie Mensuel.
La Potache est Servi (Pilote 278, 1965)
Also in Pilote, Cabu started a collaboration with René Goscinny, which resulted in the creation of 'Potachologie Illustrée' and the section 'Ce Qu'il Ne Faut Pas Faire...'. At the end of the seventies, he began working for publisher Le Square, and created a series of satirical comics on French society ('Mon Beauf', 1976, 'La France des Beaufs', 1979) and manipulation through advertising ('Votez Mère Denis', 1981). He also appeared in Benoît Lamy's documentary 'Cartoon Circus' (1972), a Belgian documentary about cartoons and comics, in which he was interviewed alongside Siné, Picha, Roland Topor, Jean-Marc Reiser, François Cavanna, Professeur Choron, Gal, Georges Wolinski, Willem, Joke and Jules Feiffer.
An accomplished caricaturist and political cartoonist, Cabu's work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers (Ici-Paris, Rock and Folk, Candide, France-Soir, Le Figaro), and in various satirical albums published by Albin Michel. In 1982, he started to contribute frequently to Le Canard Enchaîné. Eight years later, he worked of La Grosse Bertha, and from 1992, for the new Charlie Hebdo. In addition, Cabu worked for television, among others on 'Récré A 2' wth Dorothée and 'Droit de Réponse' with Michel Polac.
In 2008 an asteroid was named after him. A longtime contributor to Charlie Hebdo, Cabu was among the cartoonists killed during the terrorist gun attack on the magazine's offices on 7 January 2015. Among the other casualities were Charb, Wolinski and Tignous.
