Mr. Noir - Volume 1

Jean Dufaux has always told stories that bring together words and images. Initially attracted by the 7th art, he studied film production at the Institut des Arts et Diffusion in Brussels. But words remained such an important part of his life that he became a journalist, playwright and novelist, before once and for all embracing his true calling as a comic book author. Over his career, Jean Dufaux has produced a massive body of work, comprising some 200 titles and counting. His work is original and fiercely independent of trends, holding more complexity than might be apparent at first glance: "Complainte des landes perdues" (Dargaud, "Lament of the Lost Moors" Cinebook), "Double masque" (Dargaud, "Game of Masks" Europe Comics), "Murena" (Dargaud, Europe Comics in English), "Rapaces" (Dargaud, "Raptors" Europe Comics), "Djinn" (Dargaud, Europe Comics in English), "Croisade" (Le Lombard, "Crusade" Cinebook), "Barracuda" (Dargaud, Cinebook in English), "Sortilèges" (Dargaud, "Spellbound" Europe Comics), "Loup de Pluie" (Dargaud, "Rain Wolf" Europe Comics), Dixie Road (Dargaud, Europe Comics in English), "Saga Valta" (Le Lombard, Europe Comics in English), "Conquistador" (Glénat)... The list goes on. This immense mosaic that rejects neither the exhilaration of the paperback novel nor the narrative ellipses of cinema aims above all to be a work of pleasure and of enchantment, in the fantastic and occult sense of the term. His wildly successful series, selling millions of copies and garnering numerous prizes and awards, have been published across Europe, Japan, and the United States. Jean Dufaux is president of the jury for the Diagonale Prize, awarded annually in Belgium to outstanding comic book artists, and in France Jean Dufaux was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009.

Born in Wilrijk, near Antwerp, Werner Goelen, otherwise known as Griffo, studied for seven years at the Academy of Fine Arts. He then lived for three years within a community of artists, where he discovered comic books through an underground magazine the community published, called "Spruit." Meanwhile, he was also doing illustrations and caricatures for the magazines Mimo, Extra and Humo. In 1975, Griffo took on Franquin's series "Modeste et Pompon" for Tintin magazine. But he just wasn't all that convinced by his dabbling in comedy, and so he got into advertising, with a little foray into erotic illustration for Biofot Publishing. He traveled widely, and then returned to realism with the publisher Michel Deligne, for whom he created "L'ordre du Dragon Noir" (1982), a Bob Wilson adventure which was a precursor to the series "Munro," which Griffo published with Dupuis, in collaboration with author François Di Giorgio. Philippe Vandooren, then editor-in-chief of Spirou magazine, offered him the opportunity of illustrating "S.O.S. Bonheur," a story conceived by Jean Van Hamme for a TV series that never came to fruition. This trilogy, converted into comic book format, inaugurated in 1988 the Aire Libre collection, which would again feature Griffo in 1994 with "Monsieur Noir" (Europe Comics 2017), a two-part fantasy series with author Jean Dufaux. As he became increasingly inspired by adult comics, Griffo focused his output on storylines by Jean Dufaux, and the pair went on to produce the series "Béatifica Blues" (Dargaud 1986), "Giacomo C." (Glénat 1988), and "Samba Bugatti" (Dargaud 1992). He also collaborated with Patrick Cothias on the historical epic "Cinjis Qan" (Glénat 1996), and "Le Pension du docteur Eon" for the Signé collection at Le Lombard (1998). He stayed with Le Lombard for "Vlad," created in collaboration with Swolfs, to be followed by "Sherman" and "Golden Dogs" with scriptwriter Stephen Desberg (Europe Comics in English).