Maurice Tillieux (7 August 1921 – 2 February 1978) was a Belgian writer and comic artist. He is regarded by many as a major figure of post-war Belgian comics. Maurice Tillieux was born in Huy in 1921. At first he studied for the merchant navy, but his career prospects were sunk following the German invasion of Belgium in 1940. He claims that while waiting at Bordeaux for a ship that was to take him and his fellow students to South America, a Stuka dive-bomber attacked another ship, forcing Tillieux's to turn round and Tillieux to go home. He turned to writing and his first novel Le navire qui tue ses capitaines (The Ship that Kills its Captains) was published in 1943. Many of his stories would be set at sea or in the docks where his early ambitions may have developed. Two other novels are supposed to have been written at this time, but there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not they were actually published. Tillieux had already done some work as an artist. He contributed to various weekly and monthly comics as artist and writer, often signing his work with a variety of English pseudonyms.