Al Coutelis

After his graduation, Alexandre Coutelis worked in several fields, before turning to comics (he even participated in the French boxing championship). After his military service, he finally turned to his childhood dream: drawing comics. He joined the team of Pilote magazine in 1971, where he made several illustrations. He then took on a long career as a press illustrator, before beginning his true comics career in Pif Gadget and Scoop in 1976. He took on the comic 'Goimbax, le VRP Masqué' for the provincial press and several comics for magazines like Fluide Glacial and L'Écho des Savanes. In 1984 he drew the 'Dampierre et Morrisson' series and 'La Dame de Singapour' in Charlie Mensuel.
In 1985, he illustrated 'Chuck Dougherty, le Privé' in L'Écho des Savanes, a story written by Jean-Michel Charlier. The cooperation with Charlier was continued in 1988, when Coutelis took over the artwork of the 'Tanguy et Laverdure' series. Unfortunately, Coutelis illustrated only one album of the series, because Charlier died a year later. In the 1990s, Coutelis illustrated such comics as 'Le Vagabond des Limbes' (text Christian Godard and Bollée) and 'Man, Super-héros Polyvalent' (text Setbon). In 1995, he drew several parodies of TV shows in L'Allumé. A year later, he became one of Fluide Glacial's main artists, illustrating 'Bienvenue à Welcome Land' (written by Tronchet)
Text (c) Lambiek