External links
- Biography at Lambiek's Comiclopedia
- Official site of Le Scorpion, with biography of the authors
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| Stephen Desberg | |
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| Born | Stephen Desberg 10 September 1954 Brussels, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Area(s) | writer |
| Awards | full list |
Stephen Desberg (born 10 September 1954 in Brussels) is a Belgian writer of comics. In 2010, he was the 10th bestselling author of comics in France, with 412,000 copies of all his comics together sold that year. [1]
Stephen Desberg was born in Brussels in 1954 as the third child of an American lawyer from Cleveland and a French mother who taught him French at the Sorbonne after the Liberation of Paris. They settled in Brussels when Stephen's father became responsible for the distribution of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films in Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands. [2] After finishing college two years late, he studied law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, but didn't finish his studies. [2]
His youth was mainly dominated by American movies, but he also enjoyed the weekly Spirou magazine with series like Buck Danny or the works of Raymond Macherot. He only discovered the authors who published in the main competitor Tintin magazine much later. He became a regular at the comics shop of Michel Deligne, who also republished classic comics and a fanzine. After Desberg published his first work here, Deligne introduced him to Maurice Tillieux, one of the major authors of Spirou at the time. At first, he offered some ideas and synopses to Tillieux for series like Jess Long and Tif et Tondu , but he eventually moved to full scenarios for Tif et Tondu, drawn by Will. He started working for a number of other Spirou authors, including Benn, Pierre Seron, Raymond Macherot and Eric Maltaite (the son of Will). [2]
His first success came in 1980 with Billy the Cat , drawn by Stéphane Colman. He also created 421 with Eric Maltaite, in 1983 Arkel with Marc Hardy, and in 1988 Jimmy Tousseul with Daniel Desorgher. Despite all this, he was simultaneously but unsuccessfully trying to become a professional musician. [2]
By the late 1980s, he moved from the young adolescent comics more towards the adult comics and graphic novel market, with 2 comics with Will and a series with Johan De Moor, the son of Bob De Moor, for Casterman, his first move away from publisher Dupuis. After some more short-lived series and collaborations, he started IR$ with Bernard Vrancken. In 2000 starts Le Scorpion with Enrico Marini. Both series became a considerable success. [2] In the following decade, Desberg started a considerable number of new series with multiple artists and publishers, making him by 2010 one of the major writers of contemporary Franco-Belgian comics.
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Bandes dessinées, abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics, are comics that are usually originally in the French language and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition in comics separate from English-language comics. Belgium is a bilingual country, and comics originally in the Dutch language are part of bandes dessinées culturally; these BDs are translated to French and concurrently sold to the French-reading audience.
Pierre "Peyo" Culliford was a Belgian comics writer and artist who worked under the pseudonym Peyo. His best-known works are the comic strips The Smurfs and Johan and Peewit, in which the Smurfs first appeared.
Jean, knight Van Hamme is a Belgian novelist and comic book writer. He has written scripts for a number of Belgian/French comic series, including Histoire sans héros, Thorgal, XIII and Largo Winch.
Spirou is a weekly Franco-Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company since April 21, 1938. It's an anthology magazine with new features appearing regularly, containing a mix of short humor strips and serialized features, of which the most popular series would be collected as albums by Dupuis afterwards.
The Prize for Best Album, also known as the Fauve d'Or, is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. As is the customary practice in Wikipedia for listing awards such as Oscar results, the winner of the award for that year is listed first, the others listed below are the nominees.
This Prize Awarded by the Audience - Cultura is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival since 1989.
The Prix Jeunesse 9-12 ans is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. It rewards the best album for a 9 to 12 years old targeted public. The award started in 1981 as the "Alfred enfant", without the distinction in age groups. In 1984, the named changed for one year to "Alfred du meilleur album enfant". From 1987, distinction is made between the age categories. This award is then called "Alfred moins de 12 ans". In 1988, the name changes to "Alfred du meilleur album jeunesse". In 1989, the name changes again to "Alph'art Jeunesse". Between 1991 and 1995, the distinction between the two categories disappears. In 1996, the name changes to "Alph'art Jeunesse 9-12 ans".
Raymond Macherot was a Belgian cartoonist. Although not nearly as famous as fellow Belgian cartoonists such as Hergé or André Franquin, Macherot's work, both as artist and writer, remains highly regarded among critics and collectors.
Éditions Dupuis S.A. is a Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.
Enrico Marini is an Italian comics artist.
Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regions of Belgium each have clearly distinct characteristics, they are constantly influencing one another, and meeting each other in Brussels and in the bilingual publication tradition of the major editors. As one of the few arts where Belgium has had an international and enduring impact in the 20th century, comics are known to be "an integral part of Belgian culture".
The Prix Saint-Michel is a series of comic awards presented by the city of Brussels, with a focus on Franco-Belgian comics. They were first awarded in 1971, and although often said to be the oldest European comics awards, they are actually the second oldest comics award in Europe still presented, behind the Adamson Awards. Their history is quite erratic though, with a long pause between 1986 and 2002.
The Humour award was presented to a comic at the Angoulême International Comics Festival from 1989 until 2001.
Gil Jourdan is a Belgian detective comic strip created by Maurice Tillieux. It is a combination of mystery, adventure and humour.
René Follet, sometimes known by the pen name Ref, was a Belgian illustrator, comics writer and artist.
Willy Maltaite, better known by the pseudonym Will, was a Belgian comics creator and comics artist in the Franco-Belgian tradition. In the genre known in Francophone countries as bande dessinée, Will is one of the young cartoonists trained by Jijé, who made them live and work with him in his studio in Waterloo. He is considered one of la Bande des Quatre, and a founding member of the Marcinelle school.
Maurice Tillieux was a Belgian writer and comic artist. He is regarded by many as a major figure of post-war Belgian comics.
Tif et Tondu is a Belgian comic strip about a duo of private investigators, originally created, written and drawn by Fernand Dineur. Several artists and writers have worked on the series but the most popular version is that drawn by Will, with writers Maurice Rosy, Maurice Tillieux, and Stephen Desberg. The strip first started in 1938 and lasted until 1997, just one year short of its 60th birthday.
Marcel Denis was a French-speaking Belgian comics creator. He was the creator of the series Hultrasson and Les Frères Clips in Spirou magazine. He also made two episodes of Tif et Tondu. He was a part of the so-called Marcinelle School, influenced by Jijé and André Franquin.
Yves Duval was a Belgian comics author who mainly worked for Tintin magazine, but also wrote comics, stories, and articles for other magazines.
