Joseph Loeckx

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Jo-El Azara
Loeckx at a signing session, 2000
Birth name	Joseph Franz Hedwig Loeckx
Born	May 4, 1937 (age 69) Drogenbos, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Area(s)	artist
Pseudonym(s)	Jo-El, Ernest
Notable works	Taka Takata

Joseph Franz Hedwig Loeckx is a Belgian comic book artist. He works under the pseudonym of Jo-El Azara. Important works by him are Clifton and Taka Takata. He was born in Drogenbos, a vicinity of Brussels, Belgium, on 4 May 1937.

Loeckx is sometimes referred to as Joseph-R. Loeckx. This is an error. During his working live, first he used the penname of Jo-El, subsequently Ernest, and last and continuingly as Jo-El Azara, under which name he has drawn most of his comics.

A long career of working with the larger names in Belgian and French comics, including Hergé, Macherot, and Uderzo, he was active in publishing his own Taka-Takata albums under his Azéko label.

He lives in South of France close to the Pyrenees where he published his eleventh Taka-Takata album in 2005.