Thorgal - Volume 28 - Aniel - E-book - Epub fixed layout

Yann Balac'h was born and raised in Brittany, developing a particular passion for Breton culture and traditions over his school years, and spent much of his spare time playing the Breton pipe and practicing Breton wrestling. At the age of 23, he had an epiphany while visiting the Saint Tugdual church at Concarneau: he decided to become a craftsman of stained-glass windows. He got his qualifications and tried to make a living from his art.
But job openings were few and far between! So he did a master's degree on 'Mab Kagn, ' the kelp gatherers in the Trépassés Bay at Pointe du Raz in the 17th century, but he sadly never found a publisher for his thesis. That's when he discovered comic books at the Saint-Mayeux festival, thanks to Fournier's album "L'Ankou." So he launched himself into his very first comic book creation: "Les exploits de la patrouille des Macareux, " which was unfortunately turned down by the newspaper Ouest-France, but was eventually published in an obscure Belgian weekly...
named 'Spirou.' That's where he met the artist Hislaire, with whom he started working on "Sambre, " which was initially set in Brittany... until Hislaire decided he'd prefer it to be in the South of France. Disappointed by this 'betrayal, ' Yann abandoned comic books and started competing in Breton wrestling tournaments, and soon found considerable success. Unfortunately, following a dodgy leg-lock, he had to give it all up! Disillusioned with the Celtic world in general, he made his way over to the US, where he found a new passion for 'nose art' techniques (the decoration of airplane cockpits) by the side of ex-US Air Force pilots.
But there aren't so many job openings in that either. After a rather dark (and derelict) time in his life, he somehow got embroiled in borderline legal diamond trafficking, between Anvers, Las Vegas and Rabat Gan in Israel. He learnt to distinguish a Tsavorite from a Boart in just a glance, and to spot the tiniest imperfection in any gem. When the police get wind of his activities, he had no choice but to flee to Australia where he got into seeking and exporting meteorites...
but the competition was pretty stiff! The years went by, and he became increasingly bitter towards the sense of his own failure. At the Saint-Malo festival of "Surprising Travelers, " as he was signing his autobiography, he met artist Joel Parnotte, who was doing a signing of his own work "Les Aquanautes." The two of them hit it off, and decided to create the "Sang des Porphyre" saga, based on a true story about the Rotheneuf family, bloodthirsty pirates who terrorized the coast of Saint-Malo in the 18th century. He later partnered up with André Juillard for "Mezek" (Le Lombard 2011, Europe Comics 2016), a fast-moving drama about mercenary fighters at the dawn of the Israeli state.
And later that year, he published the tenth volume in the striking historical fiction series "Pin-Up" (Dargaud 1994, Europe Comics 2017), alongside artist Philippe Berthet. Also in 2011, Yann contributed his writing talents to the legendary series "Thorgal, " giving rise to the sub-series "Louve" and, a few years later, "Thorgal - The Early Years" (Le Lombard; Europe Comics in English), in tandem with artist Roman Surzhenko. Fascinated by these artists' superb images, Yann has now fully returned to his early passions, weighing anchor once and for all in the magical world of comics! Polish comics artist Grzegorz Rosinski is not so much an illustrator as a movement.
And the idea of movement is also a fitting way to describe the artist's work as a whole. Over the course of his remarkable career, his only fear was to be defined and limited by some form of identifiable style. In this way, ever since publishing his first illustrations at the age of 16, Rosinski never stopped evolving and advancing as a graphic artist. After earning a degree in fine arts in Warsaw, Rosinski soon became the star and artistic director of "Relax, " the first Polish comics magazine.
But he never stopped seeking new opportunities, which in 1976 led him to come to Belgium. He would soon meet author Jean Van Hamme, whose fantasy saga "Thorgal" would launch them both into the comics ether. Over the years, Rosinski stayed loyal to both his collaborators and his readers, but his high level of production allowed him to vary his work, alternating between "Thorgal" and other notable series such as "La complainte des landes perdues" (Dargaud; "Lament of the Lost Moors, " Cinebook), with writer Jean Dufaux.
Starting in 2010, while continuing to illustrate the original "Thorgal" series, Rosinski took on the additional task of supervising the creation of "The World of Thorgal, " a new collection of stories taking place in parallel with the main series, and brought to life by a talented crop of authors and artists. After 40 years, the "Thorgal" series remains as vibrant as ever, and peers and readers alike view Rosinski as one of the legendary figures of our era.