Michel Vaillant

Born in 1958 in Namur, Denis Lapière started his sociology studies after having had a taste of the thrills of auto 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 book 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 at Dupuis, aimed toward adult readers. With Jean-Philippe Stassen, he created "Le Bar du Vieux Français," which won numerous awards around the world. For artist Paul Gillon, he wrote "La dernière des salles obscures" about the fate of a film producer during the twentieth century. While continuing his graphic novel collaborations (with Pellejero and Mezzomo in particular), Lapière continued to work on more family-orientated comics 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 the collections "Punaise" and "Puceron" at Dupuis). In early 2010 he led two major projects: a collaborative series called "Alter Ego" and the new adventures of "Michel Vaillant" (Dupuis/Europe Comics), 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.

Alongside photojournalism, Philippe Graton has been invested in the "Michel Vaillant" series right from the start, first as an assistant to his father Jean Graton, the founder of the series, and then as an editor. He created his first script, "La Piste de Jade" ("The Jade Run") in 1994, and also created the collection "Les Dossiers Michel Vaillant" ("The Michel Vaillant Files"). Ever since, he's steered the destiny of his champion and ensured the editorial coherence of his father's work, including serving as co-scriptwriter for the new season of "Michel Vaillant" with Denis Lapière (Dupuis/Europe Comics).