The Muse: Volume 0

Oriol is one of the most promising of the Spanish authors working in comics today; he studied at the Joso school from 1996 to 2003, before starting his professional career in 2003 in the animation field. He worked with the production company Filmax, where he was involved in the production of "Donket Xote," dealing with the graphic development side of things. He also developed concepts and backgrounds for the film "Noctura." Today he teaches digital illustration at the Joso school. In 2010, with Zidrou, he published his first short comic, "Maman Noël," in a collective album with Dupuis. In 2012, still working on a script from Zidrou, he published "La Peau de l'ours" with Dargaud ("Bearskin," Europe Comics), a stunning one-shot that takes us from present-day Italy to the mafia networks of the 1930s United States. In 2017, also in collaboration with Zidrou, he then collaborated on the wonderfully surreal "Natures mortes" (Dargaud; "The Muse," Europe Comics 2018).

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).