Chartier Le Samedi Cover

Another great Albert Chartier cover for Le Samedi, 20 octobre 1956

Albert Chartier (1912-2004)

Cartoonist and illustrator Albert Chartier’s best known work is "Onésime," a monthly, full-page strip that appeared in Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs from 1943 until 2002. Other strips were “Séraphin,” “Les Canadiens,” and “Suzette.” His work appeared in La Presse, the Montreal Star, the Montreal Gazette, Le Samedi and the Weekend Magazine. Albert Chartier died at age 91 and was buried in St. Jean de Matha, the small town near Joliette where he lived which was also the setting for the comic strip Onésime.

Top > "Al" Chartier, Weekend Magazine May 14, 1960

Le Samedi (1888-1963)

Frédéric Poirier launched Le Samedi in 1888 as a humour magazine and it lasted until 1963 when it became Le Nouveau samedi. Directeur artistique was comic artist Hector Brault. Insides of Le Samedi consisted of feuilleton, roman policier and photo essays. Poirier published a similar magazine, La Revue populaire, which also carried bande dessinée by Brault. How long they were publishing comic pages is anyone's guess. Twenties? Thirties, Forties?



I have had a small collection of clippings of the comic pages for about ten years now but always figured they were reprints of European bande dessinée and British comic art. Recently I bought the issue pictured, from 19 septembre 1942, and noticing Hector Brault's signature on the comic pages looked him up to discover that he was from Québec and a cartoonist. Needless to say I was visibly chuffed to rediscover such an interesting fellow in Canadian comic history.

The cover at the top of the page is by another rather famous Canadian cartoonist, Albert Chartier, well-known for his comic strip work. Jeet Heer has an article on Chartier HERE. Did Chartier also contribute adventure serials to Poirier's popular magazines?



Poirier published one more magazine, Le Film.







Signed Bob ?