Iznogoud is a French comics series featuring an eponymous character, created by the comics writer René Goscinny and comics artist Jean Tabary. The comic series chronicles the life and times of Iznogoud, the Grand Vizier of the Caliphate of Baghdad at an undefined period in the past. His greatest desire is to replace the Caliph, leading him to repeatedly utter the phrase "I want to be Caliph instead of the Caliph", a phrase that has been adopted in French and some other European languages to characterize overly ambitious people. Iznogoud is supported by his dimwitted yet faithful servant, Wa'at Alahf.
Marsupilami is a comic book character and fictional animal species created by André Franquin. Its first appearance was in the 31 January 1952 issue of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou. Since then it appeared regularly in the popular Belgian comics series Spirou & Fantasio, as a pet of the main characters, until Franquin stopped working on the series; the character's final appearance in the series during Franquin's lifetime was in 1970.
Thorgal is a fantasy adventure Franco-Belgian comics series by Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and Polish graphic artist Grzegorz Rosiński. Debuting in 1977, it has incorporated elements of Norse mythology, the legend of Atlantis as well as science fiction and horror.
Largo Winch is a Belgian comic book series by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme, published by Dupuis. It started as a series of novels by Van Hamme in the late 1970s, but stopped due to a lack of success and the huge amount of work Van Hamme had in the meantime with his comic books. When artist Philippe Francq wanted to start a series with Van Hamme, he revived his old hero, and reworked the novels into the first albums of the comic book series. Later, more stories followed.
Valérian and Laureline, originally titled Valérian: Spatio-Temporal Agent and also commonly known as Valérian, is a French science fiction comics series, created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières. It was first published in Pilote magazine in 1967; the final installment was published in 2010. All of the Valérian stories have been collected in comic album format, comprising some twenty-one volumes plus a short story collection and an encyclopædia.
Lucky Luke is a Western bande dessinée series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their partnership lasted until Goscinny's death in 1977. Afterwards, Morris used several other writers until his own death in 2001. Since Morris's death, French artist Achdé has drawn the series, scripted by several successive writers.
Yoko Tsuno is a comics album series created by the Belgian writer Roger Leloup published by Dupuis in Spirou magazine since its debut in 1970. Through thirty volumes, the series tell the adventures of Yoko Tsuno, a female electrical engineer of Japanese origin surrounded by her close friends, Vic Video and Pol Pitron. Their adventures bring them to, among other places, Belgium (Bruges), Germany, Scotland, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and also into outer space. The stories are heavily technology driven, with concepts like robot dragons, suspended animation, time travel, and even an alien species called the Vineans. Despite the often exotic settings and science-fiction plot lines, the stories generally remain realistic on the personal level between the characters and friendship, love and spirituality are some of the key themes of the series. The art is drawn in Ligne claire style, although having originally started out in the Marcinelle style. When depicting real-world settings, Leloup aspires to be as true to reality as possible, with places like Burg Katz or Rothenburg ob der Tauber depicted with almost photographic skill.
XIII ("Thirteen") is a Belgian graphic novel series about an amnesiac who seeks to discover his past. It was created by writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance. It is currently being written by Yves Sente and Youri Jigounov. The storyline of the first five volumes was adapted into a video game in 2003, also titled XIII, which was released on several platforms. A Canadian television film based on the series, XIII: The Conspiracy, was released in 2008. It was followed in 2011 by two seasons of a TV series, each 13 episodes, called XIII: The Series.
Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira, more famous under his pen name Léo is a Brazilian comics creator.
Blake and Mortimer is a Belgian comics series created by the writer and comics artist Edgar P. Jacobs. It was one of the first series to appear in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin in 1946, and was subsequently published in book form by Le Lombard.
Clifton is a Franco-Belgian comics series in the humorous spy-genre, featuring the exploits of Colonel Sir Harold Wilberforce Clifton. It was created by Raymond Macherot in 1959, and has since passed on to other artists and writers. Over the fifty years of publication of the Clifton series, approximately twenty albums and twenty smaller stories have been published, totalling about 800 pages.
Le Lombard, known as Les Éditions du Lombard until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when Tintin magazine was launched. Le Lombard is now part of Média-Participations, alongside publishers Dargaud and Dupuis, with each entity maintaining its editorial independence.
Seccotine is a recurring character from the Spirou et Fantasio comics, and the first major female character of the series, a strong-willed reporter. She was created by André Franquin, and made her first appearance in La turbotraction serialised in 1953 and published in the album La corne de rhinocéros in 1955.
Cinebook Ltd is a British publishing company that publishes comic albums and graphic novels. It describes itself as "the 9th art publisher," the 9th art being comics in continental Europe, especially France, Belgium and Italy.
L'Élève Ducobu is a comic series created by Zidrou (scenario) and Godi (drawing). The series tells the adventures of Ducobu, a comic and eccentric dunce. The series first appeared in September, 1992, in the Belgian comics magazine Tremplin. The first album was published in 1997 by Le Lombard and from this year have appeared in the French comics magazine Le Journal de Mickey.
Sheena & The Rokkets is a Japanese rock band, formed in 1978. They are one of the most popular acts in the Mentai Rock scene.
The Bellybuttons is a Canadian comics series written by Maryse Dubuc and illustrated by her husband, Marc "Delaf" Delafontaine. Dubuc and Delafontaine are based in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Youri Jigounov, is a Russian comic writer and artist. .
Alfa Anderson is a soul /rhythm and blues/ disco singer and teacher, best known as one of the lead singers of the 1970s band Chic.
