Sherman

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).

Stephen Desberg was born in Brussels in 1954 and started out as a comic book author in 1976, writing short stories for Tintin magazine (Le Lombard). A follower of Maurice Tillieux, the creator of "Gil Jourdan," in 1980 Desberg began working for the weekly Spirou magazine (Dupuis), taking over the "Tif and Tondu" adventure series, illustrated by Will. He then successively created the characters 421, Billy the Cat, Mic Mac Adam and Jimmy Tousseul, before gradually moving to a more adult readership, publishing two albums in the Aire Libre collection by Dupuis, alongside Will: "Le Jardin des désirs" (1989) and "La Vingt-Septième Lettre" (1990). An original and versatile writer, Desberg goes from one genre to another with ease and inventiveness. In 1996 he tackled the topic of racism with illustrator Bernard Vrancken in "Le sang noir," a romantic saga in four albums published by Le Lombard. As an American citizen, Desberg has also explored many themes linked with his other home country, as evidenced by the long-running financial thriller "IR$" with Le Lombard, also illustrated by Vrancken. America serves as a backdrop in his other albums as well, such as "L'étoile du désert" (1996, Dargaud, 2016 Europe Comics, "Desert Star"), a twilight western created with Enrico Marini. Desberg is also passionate about religious themes, having collaborated with Enrico Marini on riddles of Christian origins in "The Scorpion" (2000-2014, Dargaud, Cinebook in English), a saga bursting with flamboyant heroes with capes and swords in eighteenth-century Rome. A writer as prolific as any out there, Desberg has authored many other series over the years, including "Cassio" (2007; Europe Comics in English 2018), "Miss October" (2012; Europe Comics in English 2018), "Sherman" (2011; Europe Comics in English), and "Golden Dogs" (2014; Europe Comics in English 2016), all with Le Lombard. Along the way, he also continued work on the saga "Black Op" (2005 Dargaud, 2015 Europe Comics), a series illustrated by his friend Hugues Labiano. His recent work includes the espionage series "Jack Wolfgang" (2017, Le Lombard, Europe Comics in English), together with Henri Reculé, centered on a whip-smart wolf who is both world-famous food critic, and secret agent for the CIA.