Pauvre Jean Pierre

After a short career in animation, working on the movies of Belgian comic hero 'Paryrus', Grégory Mardon took the decision to become purely a comic artist. His debut album is a personal story about his grandfather: 'Vagues à l'Âme', published in 2000 by Les Humanoïdes Associés. It is a somewhat melancholic homage to a man who used to be a Steve McQueen type of guy. With 'Vagues à l'Âme', Mardon won the Prix du Lion for young comic artists, which is an initiative of the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée in Brussels. His second album, 'Cycloman', is a superhero co-operation with Charles Berberian ('Monsieur Jean'). Shortly after this book, Mardon was asked by Dupuis to make a one-shot for their respectable collection Aire Libre: this graphic novel called 'Corps à Corps' was published in March 2003. It is a fresco of modern life, telling the stories of different people meeting each other and making an unexpected new reality. Mardon works in a typically French style, influenced by artists like Etienne Davodeau and Jacques de Loustal. Text (c) Lambiek