Billy the cat

Stéphan Colman is a Belgian comic book artist and writer, best-known as the original artist of 'Billy the Cat'. Born Stéphane Colman in Liège, he got his artistic interests through his grandfather, the painter Robert Crommelinck. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Liège, after presenting his work to Jijé. He published his first story ('Marsouin Pedzouille') in magazine Aïe! in 1980. He also contributed to the rock magazine En Attendent. After his military service, he made his solo comic 'White... le Choc!', that was published by Magic Strip in 1981. He then worked with the painter Fernand Flausch on 'Radical Café, that was also published by Magic Strip. Together with writer Stephen Desberg, he made a first rendition of his future series 'Billy the Cat' in a 20 page short story for magazine Spirou in 1982. Next, Colman left the comics world for several years to work in the advertising field. In 1988, he became artistic director of the ICOM, a company that conceives videoclips and communication films for among others MTV. In 1987, he returned to comics with a new version of 'Billy the Cat', again in cooperation with Desberg and for the magazine Spirou. The popularity of this series led to a TV cartoon series, which began in 1997. Colman eventually handed over the artwork of 'Billy the Cat' to Péral in 2002. Text (c) Lambiek