The Authors
Grzegorz Rosinski
Artist
Polish comics artist Grzegorz Rosinski is not so much an illustrator as a movement. And the idea of movement is also a fitting way to describe the artist’s work as a whole. Over the course of his remarkable career, his only fear was to be defined and limited by some form of identifiable style.
In this way, ever since publishing his first illustrations at the age of 16, Rosinski never stopped evolving and advancing as a graphic artist. After earning a degree in fine arts in Warsaw, Rosinski soon became the star and artistic director of Relax, the first Polish comics magazine.
But he never stopped seeking new opportunities, which in 1976 led him to come to Belgium. He would soon meet author Jean Van Hamme, whose fantasy saga Thorgal would launch them both into the comics ether.
Over the years, Rosinski stayed loyal to both his collaborators and his readers, but his high level of production allowed him to vary his work, alternating between Thorgal, with such collaborators as Yves Sente, Xavier Dorison, and Yann, and other notable series.
Starting in 2010, while continuing to illustrate the original Thorgal series, Rosinski took on the additional task of supervising the creation of The World of Thorgal, a new collection of stories taking place in parallel with the main series, and brought to life by a talented crop of authors and artists.
After 40 years, the Thorgal series remains as vibrant as ever, and peers and readers alike view Rosinski as one of the legendary figures of our era.
illustrated by Grzegorz Rosinski
Jean Van Hamme
Scriptwriter
Born in Brussels on January 16th, 1939, Jean Van Hamme is a great artistic talent who holds degrees in finance, journalism, and civic law. After a brilliant international career, he left his job as general manager of Philips Belgium in 1976 to become a writer. While writing six novels based on the adventures of Largo Winch for Mercure de France, he also took up scriptwriting for the magazine Tintin, including strips for Attanasio, Paul Cuvelier, Dany, etc.
He then started on the legendary Thorgal saga for Grzegorz Rosinski. Afterward, he created the XIII series alongside Vance at Dargaud, and Les Maîtres de l’Orge for Vallès at Éditions Glénat. We can also thank him for several television scripts as well as screenplays. In 1987, he managed publisher Dupuis, launching the best-selling series Largo Winch with Philippe Francq, and devising what would later become the “Aire Libre” collection.
Having mastered the techniques of popular storytelling, Van Hamme has become a scriptwriter who turns everything he writes into gold, including bringing the characters of Blake & Mortimer back to life in 1996 with illustrator Ted Benoît, continuing in the tradition of Edgar P. Jacobs. In addition to teaching at the Institut d’Arts de Diffusion (Louvain-la-Neuve), Van Hamme has also served as chairman of the Centre Belge de le Bande Dessinée.
Written by Jean Van Hamme
A Heroic Fantasy story
taking place all over the world
Created in 1977
by J. Van Hamme & G. Rosinski
an extended universe
with several spin-off series
Still relevant
with several releases per year
Yves Sente
Scriptwriter
Yves Sente was born in Brussels in 1964. When he was little, he read La Marque Jaune, Jacobs’ masterpiece, over and over again. Little did he know at that age that The Adventures of Blake and Mortimer would determine his destiny…!
In 1998, while he was working for Le Lombard, he worked with the cartoonist André Juillard on the script of La machination Voronov, a new episode of the Blake and Mortimer, a Cold War story acclaimed by critics and the public. Yves Sente then went on to write Les Sarcophages du 6e continent, where he reveals the young life of Professor Mortimer. He confirmed his writing talents with La Vengeance du Comte Skarbek and then Thorgal, taking over for Jean Van Hamme alongside Rosinski.
He then began the series Le Janitor with François Boucq, before going back once again to Blake and Mortimer in the Le Sanctuaire du Gondwana, in the heart of Africa. In 2011, he started on yet another project: the adventures of XIII with Iouri Jigounov. In 2012, Yves Sente brought Blake and Mortimer to England for Le Serment des cinq Lords and later Le Baton de Plutarque.
His most recent projects include the transatlantic adventure Il s’appelait Ptirou, which recounts the origins of the character Spirou, and the spectacular graphic novel Cinq branches de coton noir, a historical war drama illustrated by Steve Cuzor.
