The Client: Volume 0

Zidrou (Benoît Drousie) was born in 1962 in Brussels. Starting out as a teacher, he began writing books and songs for children in the early '90s. In 1991, he met the illustrator Godi with whom he created "L'Elève Ducobu" (Le Lombard 1997, "Ducoboo," Cinebook 2006). And thus his career as a comics writer began! He created numerous series for children and teenagers, from "Crannibales" to "Tamara" and "Sac à Puces," all with Dupuis, as well as "Scott Zombi," published by Casterman. Zidrou also took over the series "La Ribambelle" (Dargaud). In addition, he is the author of the more realistic but no less sensitive "La Peau de l'ours" (Dargaud 2012, "Bearskin" Europe Comics 2015), "Le Client" (Dargaud 2013; "The Client," Europe Comics 2018 in English), "Lydie" (Dargaud 2010; Europe Comics 2018), "Les Folies Bergère" (Dargaud 2012, Europe Comics 2015), "La Mondaine" (Dargaud 2014, "Vice Squad" Europe Comics 2016), and "Les 3 Fruits" (Dargaud 2015). In 2015, Zidrou was back in fine form with three new titles published by Dargaud, across multiple genres: "Bouffon," with Francis Porcel; a new family series called "Les Beaux Étés," with Jordi Lafebre ("Glorious Summers," Europe Comics 2018); and, in collaboration with Philippe Berthet, a thriller set in the deepest and darkest regions of Australia, "Le Crime qui est le tien" (Europe Comics 2018). Most recently, with Le Lombard he has also completed the "African Trilogy" with artist Raphaël Beuchot, including "Le Montreur d'histoires" (2011; "Once Upon a Time in Africa," Europe Comics 2017), "Tourne-disque" (2014; "Record Player," Europe Comics 2017) and "Un tout petit bout d'elles" (2016, Europe Comics 2017), as well as rebooting the classic thriller series "Ric Hochet" alongside artist Simon Van Liemt (2015; Europe Comics in English 2017). In 2017, he embarked on yet another new series with José Homs, the fantastic adventure saga "Shi" (Dargaud, Europe Comics in English) stretching across two centuries in England, and his bibliography grew further with the publication of the wonderfully surreal "Natures mortes" (Dargaud 2017; "The Muse," Europe Comics 2018).

Man (Manolo Carot) was born just outside of Barcelona in 1976. His first illustration work was with role-playing games, such as Aquelarre, and for the magazine "Lider," of which he was the artistic director. Man published his first comics pages with the publisher La Cúpula, in the erotica magazine "Kiss Comic." Over the course of six years, he went on to publish a number of other stories, including "Universitarias" and "Huesos y tornillos," later published in the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands. Also with La Cúpula, alongside writer Hernan Migoya, he published "El hombre con miedo" and "Kung fu Kiyo," and with Glénat Spain he put out two volumes of "Ari, la salvadora del Universo." Man's work has also extended to the Spanish edition of "Playboy," as well as numerous story boards, press cartoons, and magazine covers. He also teaches occasional courses on comics. With Dargaud, Man published the five-part series "En sautant dans le vide" in 2008 and 2009, as well as "Mia" (2008), which tackles the topic of bulimia with just the right touch. And in 2013, together with scriptwriter Zidrou, he published the crime fiction graphic novel "Le Client" (Dargaud; "The Client," Europe Comics 2018).