Artist admits first victim is an old comic French writer (8)
I believe the answer is:
rabelais
'french writer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artist admits first victim is' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'admits' is an insertion indicator.
'first victim' becomes 'abel' (I've seen this before).
'ra' placed around 'abel' is 'rabela'.
'rabela'+'is'='RABELAIS'
'an old comic' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rabelais that I've seen before include "Racy writer" , "bawdy writer" , "Sixteenth century French author of Gargantua and Pantagruel" , "16th-century French satirist, noted for earthy humour" , "Creator of Gargantua" .)