Murena

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 Tournai (Belgium) in 1961, Philippe Delaby was a natural born artist. It wasn't until the age of 8, however, that he discovered his passion for comics, when his father gave him his very first album. Ever since, these stories in speech bubbles have been a major part of his life. At 14 he was accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts in his hometown, where he fine-tuned his talent. Fascinated by Ingres and the Flemish masters, he got to grips not only with the art of drawing, but oil painting as well. His attraction to comics took over nevertheless, and at the age of 18 he won a competition for young artists that opened to him the pages of the magazine "Tintin." From the weekly magazine for readers "7 to 77" came "Hello Bédé," which he illustrated with a script written by Y. Duval, and "Arthur au royaume de l'Impossible" and "Richard Coeur de Lion," two sagas that earned him a Clio Award at the Paris History Fair in 1993. The same year he illustrated "Bran," written by J.-L. Vernal, which tells the story of a young Gaul. In 1994, together with novelist L. Delisse he released "L'Étoile polaire," a medieval fantasy thriller published by Le Lombard. In 1997, encouraged by the scriptwriter Jean Dufaux, he masterfully brought back to life the imperial Rome of Nero in the award-winning "Murena," published by Dargaud (Europe Comics in English). With his growing success, Philippe Delaby allowed himself to escape into the "Complainte des landes perdues" ("Lament of the Lost Moors," Cinebook), a fantasy world imagined by his friends Jean Dufaux and Grzegorz Rosinski. Philippe Delaby died on January 29, 2014.