Cosmonauts of the Future

Né le 6 mai 1969 à Issy-les-Moulineaux, dans les Hauts-de-Seine, Manu Larcenet ne cache pas l'influence des lectures d'enfance sur ses études : cours de graphisme au lycée de Sèvres, puis école des Arts Appliqués. Il avoue sa motivation profonde : "J'ai fait beaucoup de musique punk rock pour épater les filles, mais comme les filles ne s'évanouissaient pas, j'ai fait du dessin (bien qu'elles ne s'évanouissent toujours pas). Après, j'ai commencé à vieillir. C'est là que les ennuis ont commencé : illustrations pour WIND MAGAZINE, participation à des fanzines rock et politiques jusqu'à mon arrivée à FLUIDE GLACIAL où on est quand même bien parce que j'ai pu y faire quatre albums. Sinon, je m'amuse de temps à autre dans les pages de SPIROU, seul ou avec des copains. Avec mon frère, j'ai aussi fait deux albums de cartoons, chez Glénat, et deux jeux de rôles chez Les Rêveurs de Runes, qui viennent de publier mon deuxième album autobiographique après "Dallas Cow-boy" (Presque... pas cher, joli, en vente partout)." La collection "Humour libre" lui ouvre une série d'anthologies de cartoons complètement délirants sous le titre général "La Vie est courte". Avec sa muse Jean-Michel Thiriet, il y impose une vision déjantée et corrosive de notre univers quotidien. En parallèle, le journal de SPIROU publie les avatars de "Pedro le Coati" qu'il anime avec Michel Gaudelette, son complice de FLUIDE GLACIAL. Pedro est désormais édité en albums (pas chers, jolis, en vente partout aussi).

Born in 1964 in Fontainebleau, Lewis Trondheim had a dull childhood and an uneventful adolescence. When he was 15, he copied his cousin, and went to a technical college. He tried for his first diploma - science and mechanics - but he was so bad at it that they repatriated him to philosophy and literature. With his philosophy Baccalaureate in the bag, he started out in comics because he fancied telling stories and wanted to try out drawing; basically he was curious and wanted to do something a bit unconventional. Around 25-years-old, armed with a photocopier, he single-handedly published a fanzine. It lasted for 12 issues. On discovering that minimalist art has its limits, he decided to learn how to draw. And he came up with "Lapinot et les carottes de Patagonie" (L'Association et le lézard, 1992 ; réed. L'Association, 1995). In 1990, with five other artists, he founded the editorial structure "L'Association." Then he realized that you can actually make a living with this job. He left Paris for the South, became a dad and then got into Dargaud in 1995 with the 4th volume of the "Formidables aventures de Lapinot." He got a prize at Angouleme 1994 for the album "Slaloms" (L'Association, 1993), and in 1996 he received the Comic Book Totem at Montreuil Book Fair. In collaboration with Joann Sfar and other authors, he worked on the heroic-fantasy project "Donjon" (Delcourt) in the late 90s. From 2000, he created for Delcourt various kids' series, such as "Allez Raconte" (2001-2003), with José Parrondo, "Le roi catastrophe" (2011-2005), illustrated by Fabrice Parme, as well as a solo project "Kaput & Zösky" (2002-2003). Over the years, several TV adaptations have been made of Lewis Trondheim's albums, such as "La Mouche" (Le Seuil, 1995; 65 episodes broadcast on France 3 from September 2000). In 2004, he became the director of the "Shampooing" series at Delcourt, for which he also ended up producing several albums. But that didn't' stop him releasing other new series with different publishers. In 2011, he started "Ralph Azam" (Dupuis), quickly followed by "Maggy Garrison" (Dupuis), with images by Stéphane Oiry. Trondheim was made a knight of the order of Arts and Literature in 2005, and the following year received the grand prix at Angouleme festival.