Igor Baranko

17 April 1970, Ukraine

L'Exterminateur 17

Igor Baranko is a Ukrainian comic artist, best-known for his sardonic and sometimes scary stories. He was born in Kiev, where he also studied Fine Arts. After a military service of two years in the Red Army and following the fall of the USSR, Baranko went to the Buddhist regions of Siberia in search of the meaning of life. Back in the Ukraine, the euphoria of independence was replaced by economic slump. Baranko decided to try his luck with Western European publishers, and submitted his pages to European fanzines. In the years 1993-1998, he also published several graphic novels in his home country, such as 'Povernennya Mamaya' ('The Return of Mamaia'), 'Svyatoslav ta vikinh' ('Svyatoslav and Viking') and 'Mamay-zmiyeborets' ('Mamaya-victorious'). He won the US Immigration Lottery in 1999, allowing him to move to the United States, where he created his first professional comic work.

He illustrated a couple of 'Bart Simpson' stories for Bongo Comics in 2000, and released 'Pifitos: A Newly Found Unknown Poem of Homer' (2001) and 'Skaggy the Lost' (2002-2004) through Slave Labor Graphics. His comic 'The Horde' was published simultaneously in the US and in France (as 'L'Empereur-Océan') in 2003. It was a futuristic tale about a new Russian dictator with the vision to invoke the spirit of Ghengis Khan and his Golden Horde to create an empire reaching from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic.

Skaggy the Lost #3

In that same year, he began his collaboration with French scriptwriter Jean-Pierre Dionnet on the science fiction saga 'Exterminateur 17 - La trilogie d'Ellis', a follow-up to the 'Exterminator 17' series by Dionnet and Enki Bilal, published by Les Humanoïdes Associés between 2003 and 2008. In 2005 and 2006, Baranko also released his alternative history solo series 'La Danse du Temps' ('The Danse of Time') through this publishing house. It was followed by the historical diptych 'Les Princesses Égyptiennes' in 2010 and 2011.

The Horde

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Milo Manara

12 September 1945, Italy

L'Odyssee de Giuseppe Bergman

Milo Manara is one of the few comic artists who manages to make erotic comics and still succeed in keeping a reputation as a genuine artist. This is especially true of his serial, 'Giuseppe Bergman', which is a combination of experimental narrative and explicit sex. Manara is known to be interested in painting in general and the classical painters like Rafael in specific. As a boy, he even ran away from home to see an exhibition of the painter Giorgio di Chirico.

Giuseppe Bergman

Born in Luson (Bolzano), Maurilio Manaro initially earned a living by assisting sculptors. He became interested in comix in the late sixties. His first work appeared in the 'Genius' pocket books by publisher Furio Vanio in 1969, and in magazines like Terror, Telerompo, and the French magazines Alter-Linus and Charlie Mensuel. Other early creations include the sexy pirate 'Jolanda' with scriptwriter Francesco Rubino for publisher Erregi (1971-73). For the children's magazine Corriere dei Ragazzi, he adapted 'Le Decameron' and worked with Milo Milani on the series 'La Parola alla Giura'.

From 'Kama Sutra', a tantra-inspired book by Milo Manara

In 1976 came 'Lo Scimmiotto', the first of his more ambitious projects. Manara illustrated five episodes of the collection 'L'Histoire de France en Bandes Dessinées' for the French publisher Larousse between 1976 and 1978. In later years, Manara continued to work on similar educational collections, such as 'La Découverte du Monde en Bandes Dessinées' (Larousse, 1979), 'L'Histoire de la Chine' (1980) and 'La Storia d'Italia a Fumetti' (Mondadori, 1978).

L'Homme de papier (Paper Man)

Also in 1978, he cooperated with Alfredo Castelli on 'L'Uomo delle Nevi' for Cepim and he started with the series 'Giuseppe Bergman'. This was first serialized in the legendary author comics magazine À Suivre by Casterman and it later also appeared in Italy in books published by Nuova Frontiera. Other work by Manara from this period include a variety of short stories that were published in À Suivre and collected in albums like 'Trompeuse Apparence' (Kesselring, 1984).

Manara briefly ventured into westerns with 'Quatre Doigts, L'Homme de Papier' in Pilote (1982), before establishing himself as one of the grandmasters of erotic comics. Manara's book 'Déclic' ('Il Cioco' or 'Click' in English, 1983) was notorious for its erotic subject - a woman transforms into a nymphomaniac when a button is pushed. Initially published in Playmen in Italy and L'Écho des Savanes in France, sequels followed in 1991, 1994 and 2001.

Wilma

In the years that followed, Manara produced erotic works like 'Le Parfum de l'Invisible' (two volumes, 1986 and 1995), 'Candide Camera' (1988), 'Kama Sutra' (1997), 'Le Piège' (1998), 'Révolution' (2000) and 'Piranèse, la Planète Prison' (2002), and also new stories with 'Giuseppe Bergman'.

However, Manara also kept on working in other genres. With Hugo Pratt, for whom Manara has great respect, he worked on 'L'Été Indien' (in Corto Maltese) and 'El Gaucho' (in Il Grifo). Manara also worked with one of his other heroes, Federico Fellini, on 'Voyage à Tulum' (Corriere della Serra, 1986) and 'Le Voyage de G. Mastorna dit Fernet' (Il Grifo, 1992). With Enzo Biagi he participated in Mondadori's series about 'Christophe Colomb' in 1992.

Together with 20 other comic artists (Zep, Ptiluc, Frank Margerin, Yslaire, Cosey, Philippe Vuillemin, Loustal, Gilbert Shelton, Max Cabanes, Dupuy & Berberian, François Boucq, Gérald Poussin, Thomas Ott, Frank Pé, Frank Le Gall, Riff Reb's, Eric Buche, Enrico Marini and Valott) he illustrated a record single for the project '20 Vraies Fausses Pochettes De Disque Par 20 Vrais Dessinateurs de BD' (1995). Manara chose for a song by Gilberto Gil.

Colomb

In 1995, Manara made 'Gulliveriana' for Les Humanoïdes Associés, loosely based on the oeuvre of Jonathan Swift. He worked with Neil Gaiman on 'The Sandman: Endless Nights' for DC/Vertigo in 2003 and relaunched 'Giuseppe Bergman' in BoDoï in 2004. In 2004 Manara teamed up with Alejandro Jodorowsky for a new series about the 15th century Pope family Borgia. He did an 'X-Men' project for Marvel with Chris Claremont, called 'X-Women', in 2009, and worked with Vincenzo Cerami on 'Gli Occhi di Pandora' ('Pandora's Eyes') in the same year. In 2013 he started to do variant covers for issues of Marvel comic books.

Besides comics, Manara has produced a great variety of portfolios and illustrations for collections like Glamour Books. He has also done character designs for the animated TV series 'City Hunters'.

www.MiloManara.it

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Loisel

Born 4 December 1951, France

Peter Pan

Régis Loisel is one of main and first French authors that have worked in the fantasy genre since the 1970s. The style that Loisel used for his famous series 'La Quete de l'Oiseau du Temps' has become a standard for the European artists that work in this genre. In 1972, Loisel made his debut in the magazine Pieds Nickelés, while attending comics courses in Vincennes. From 1974, he was present in Mormoil and Pilote. In the following year, he joined Serge Le Tendre in the creation of a first version of 'La Quête de l'Oiseau du Temps' in Imagine.

La Quete de l'Oiseau du Temps

He worked with Patrick Cothias on 'Capitaine Kergenec' (in Pif Gadget), 'Norbert le Lézard' in Plop and on the creation of Tousse-Bourin magazine. His fantasy stories for this magazine were collected in the album 'Nocturnes' (Kesselring, 1978). Loise made occasional appearances in Métal Hurlant and Fluide Glacial, and started the atelier Bergame with Olivier Taffin, Michel Rouge and Fabien Lacaf. In cooperation with Taffin, he illustrated 7 pantomime comic strips that came with Malabar chewing gum in 1983.

A new version of 'La Quête de l'Oiseau du Temps' was launched in Charlie Mensuel in 1982. Albums were published by Dargaud. In the 1980s, he also produced illustration portfolios, such as 'L'Offrande' (Trihan, 1984) and 'Troubles Fêtes' (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1989). In 1990, he started his second popular serial, 'Peter Pan', which is a mix of the classical adventure story with a Dickensian story of an orphan. In 1993, he made 'La Dernière Goutte' with G.P. Taladiart for La Sirène and 'Les Petits Rêveurs' in the collection Grain de Sable of Vents d'Ouest.

Peter Pan

In the late 1990s, Loisel and Le Tendre launched a spin-off series of 'L'Oiseau du Temps', called 'L'Ami Javin', for which they wrote the scripts together and left the artwork to Lidwine. Loisel also proved a versatile writer for other artists, namely Philippe Sternis ('Pyrénée', 1998), Christine Oudot ('Fanfreluches pour une Sirène', 2001), Pierre Guilmard ('Les Farfelingues', 2001-04) and Vincent Mallié ('Le Grand Mort', 2007, co-written by Djian).

Magasin General (2009)

In 2000, Loisel made 'Mali Mélo - Carnet d'un Voyage', based on his experiences during a trip through Africa (co-scripted by Yvon Le Corre and Serge Le Tendre). In the following year, he produced 'Personnel' and 'Triptyque' for Granit Éditions. In 2006 he teamed up with Jean-Louis Tripp to create 'Magasin General', a poetic series set in a small town in 1940s Quebec. For this series, that is published by Casterman, the artists developed a joint style, with Loisel doing the pencil work, Tripp the finished art and François Lapierre the colors. In addition to comics, Loisel has also cooperated on the Disney animation films 'Mulan' and 'Atlantis', as well as Olivier Dahan's 'Petit Poucet'.

Magasin General (2009)

www.regisloisel.com

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