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.

Marc Bourgne knew very early on that he'd be a comic book creator, but being as enamored with history as he is with storytelling, 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 "Être 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 the chance to illustrate the backdrops of Alaska, which he'd studied for his thesis. Ever since, Bourgne has alternated between writing and illustration. As an avid historian and comic book fan, he's just as able to recite the life events of Charles I as he is to illustrate the latest exploits of "Michel Vaillant" (Dupuis/Europe Comics), "I.R.$ All-Watcher" and "I.R.$ Team" (Le Lombard). As they say, variety is the spice of life!

At the age of 4, Benjamin Benéteau and his family left their home in western France and moved to the other side of the world, in French Polynesia. He spent his whole childhood and teenage years under the Tahitian sun. Although interested in science, he became increasingly passionate about drawing. Once he had his high school diploma 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 Saint-Luc Art Institute. 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 realistic 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 (Dupuis/Europe Comics). Benéteau seems to be drawn to ambitious series, because it wasn't long before he took on the wheel-screeching, fast-riding "Michel Vaillant" saga as well (Dupuis/Europe Comics).

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).