Born in 1958 in Namur, Denis Lapière started his sociology studies after having had a taste of the thrills of motor racing. In the mid 1980s he was one of the founders of the Tropica BD bookstore in Charleroi, which became the meeting point for many artists. Once he started getting some contacts, Lapière started writing scripts, which gradually found their place in the editorial landscape. He started at Spirou, producing short stories.
He then published his first album in 1987: "Mauro Caldi" (Éditions Michel Constant Mirror). In 1990, he started "Charly" with Magda, a fantasy thriller that had Spirou readers on the edge of their seats. In the years that followed, Denis wrote scripts for several titles in the Aire Libre collection, a new means of expression for adult comics at Dupuis. With Jean-Philippe Stassen, he created "Le Bar du Vieux Français", which won numerous awards around the world.
For Paul Gillon, he wrote "The Last of Cinemas" about the fate of a film producer during the twentieth century. While continuing his adult comics collaborations (with Pellejero and Mezzomo in particular), Lapière continued to work on more family-orientated strips like "Ludo" (with Bailly and Mathy), "Oscar" (with Durieux) and the reboot of "Tif et Tondu" (with Sikorski). In the 2000s, Denis Lapière had several experiences as a film screenwriter (with Pierre-Paul Renders).
He also tried out an editorial role (launching collections Punaise" and "Puceron at Dupuis). In early 2010 he led two major projects: a collaborative work called "Alter Ego" and the new adventures of "Michel Vaillant", which he co-wrote with Philippe Graton. With nearly one hundred albums under his belt, Denis Lapière is one of today's most accomplished writers.
Parallèlement au photojournalisme, Philippe Graton s'est toujours investi dans les aventures de Michel Vaillant.
D'abord en assistant son père dans les repérages, puis comme éditeur.
Il signe son premier scénario en 1994 avec "La Piste de Jade" et crée la collection "Les Dossiers Michel Vaillant". Depuis, il pilote la destinée du champion et veille à la cohérence éditoriale de l'oeuvre créée par son père.
En 2012, après une réflexion en profondeur sur le personnage, Philippe Graton écrit de nouveaux axes scénaristiques et donne le départ de la Nouvelle Saison.
Marc Bourgne knew very early on that he'd be a comic book writer, but being as enamored with history as he is with story-writing, he started off by doing an MA in History at the Sorbonne.
He even worked as a teacher for a few months, before he was spotted by Dargaud and asked to contribute to the "Génération éponyme" collection. He wrote and illustrated "Etre libre, " a book about two teenagers growing up in the US, his go-to backdrop. This series soon got him recognized as one of the new masters of realism, to the extent that he was entrusted with illustrating the continuation of "Barbe Rouge." But he missed writing his own stories, so, while still continuing his work on "Barbe Rouge, " he created "Frank Lincoln, " which gave him scope to illustrate the backdrops of the country he'd studied for his thesis, Alaska.
Ever since, Bourgne flits between writing and illustration. As an avid historian and comic book fan, he's just as able to recite the life events of Charles 1st as he is to illustrate the latest exploits of "Michel Vaillant", "All Watcher" or the "I. R.$ Team." As they say, variety is the spice of life!
At the age of 4, Benjamin Benéteau and his family left their home in Vendée and moved to the other side of the world to Tahiti, in French Polynesia.
He spent his whole childhood and teenage years under the Tahitian sun. Although drawn by the sciences, he became increasingly passionate about drawing. Once he had his Baccalaureate under his belt, he decided to leave Tahiti for rather different climes: Belgium. In 2002, he started his studies of comic book illustration at the École Supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc. He graduated three years later, and soon began his own comic book projects in collaboration with a friend.
In January 2008, the organizer of the Andenne Comic Fair put Benéteau in contact with Mathieu Reynès, who at that precise moment was looking for someone to work on the realist backdrops of what looked like it was going to be a big project, even if it wasn't yet particularly well defined. They hit it off right away, and Benjamin signed his first contract, launching himself into the cross-continental adventure of the "Alter Ego" series.
Benéteau seems to be drawn to those big series, because it wasn't long before he took on the wheel-screeching, fast-riding "Michel Vaillant" as well.
