Jean Van Hamme

Infobox Comics creator


name = Van Hamme
imagesize =
caption =
birthname = Jean Van Hamme
birthdate = birth date and age|1939|1|16
location = Brussels, Belgium
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = Belgian
area = writer
alias =
notable works = "Story without hero", "Thorgal" "XIII" "Largo Winch"
awards = full list

Jean Van Hamme (born January 16, 1939) is a Belgian novelist and scenario writer of comic books. He has written scenarios for a number of Belgian/French comic series, including "Story without hero", "Thorgal", "XIII" and "Largo Winch".

Biography

Jean Van Hamme was born in Brussels in 1939.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Jean Van Hamme". In België gestript, pp. 187-189. Tielt: Lannoo.] After having studied business administration at the Solvay Business School, he worked as a journalist and in the marketing department of Philips. In the meantime, he started writing, and a first scenario was adapted by Paul Cuvelier in 1968. In 1976, he became a full time writer, and in the next years he published seven novels and some movie scripts, e.g. for "Diva". But his main breakthrough came in 1977, when he created the Viking hero "Thorgal" for Grzegorz Rosiński, a relatively unknown Polish comic artist. The mix of medieval legends and heroic fantasy soon became a huge success in the comics magazine "Tintin", with major awards following soon.

In the next decade, Jean Van Hamme created two new bestselling series, "XIII" (inspired by Robert Ludlum's "The Bourne Identity") with William Vance and "Largo Winch" (based on his own novels) with Philippe Francq. Other series like "Les maîtres de l'orge" and "Chninkel" have received more critical acclaim but lower sales.

The fame of Van Hamme as one of the major comic authors of Europe is quite established. The artists he works with draw the characters in a realistic style, even if the stories themselves tend to verge towards fantasy.

"Les maîtres de l'orge" and "Largo Winch" have both been made into a TV series, and "XIII" and again "" were the basis for computer games.

After the death of Edgar Pierre Jacobs, when the last unfinished story of "Blake and Mortimer" was completed by Bob de Moor, the editor asked Van Hamme to write new stories. The first one, "The Francis Blake Affair", appeared in 1996 and was a huge success, and Van Hamme has since created two more "Blake and Mortimer" stories.

In 2002, Jean Van Hamme announced his intention to write fewer comics, and to concentrate more on theatre and film scripts, but seems to have changed his mind again and has since created two new stories. He seems to have abandoned two of his most successful series, "Thorgal" and "XIII", although he does not oppose other authors from continuing the series. He has also announced his intention to create a spin-off series of "Thorgal", focusing on his son Jolan.

Van Hamme is one of the best selling European comics writers, with many of his series in the best selling lists each year. In 2006, the latest "Thorgal" placed fifth in the French list with 280,000 copies published, while "Lady S.", with Philippe Aymond, had 90,000 copies. [cite web|last=Ratier|first=Gilles|url=http://www.acbd.fr/bilan/page/bilan-2006.html#5|title=ACBD bilan 2006|publisher=ACBD.fr|accessdate=2007-02-08] In 2005, "XIII" and "Largo Winch" shared the fourth place with 500,000 copies each. [cite web|last=Ratier|first=Gilles|url=http://www.acbd.fr/bilan/page/bilan-2005.html#3|title=ACBD bilan 2005|publisher=ACBD.fr|accessdate=2007-02-08]

Bibliography

* "Epoxy": 1 album, 1968, artwork by Paul Cuvelier: Losfeld
* "Mr. Magellan": 2 albums, 1970-1971, artwork by Géri: Le Lombard and Dargaud
* "Corentin": 2 albums, 1970-1974, artwork by Paul Cuvelier: Le Lombard and Dargaud
* "Michael Logan": 4 albums, 1977-1981, artwork by André Beautemps: Thaulez
* "Histoire sans héros": 2 albums, 1977-1997, artwork by Dany: Le Lombard and Dargaud
* "Domino": 4 albums, 1979-1982, artwork by André Chéret: Le Lombard and Dargaud
* "Arlequin": 3 albums, 1979-1985, artwork by Dany: Le Lombard and Dargaud
* "Tony Stark": 4 albums, 1980-1982, artwork by Edouard Aidans: Fleurus, Novedi and Hachette
* "Thorgal": 29 albums, 1980-, artwork by Grzegorz Rosiński: Le Lombard
* "XIII": 17 albums, 1984-, artwork by William Vance: Dargaud
* "Le Grand Pouvoir du Chninkel": 1 album, 1988, artwork by Grzegorz Rosiński: Casterman
* "S.O.S. Bonheur": 3 albums, 1988-1989, artwork by Griffo: Dupuis
* "Largo Winch": 16 albums, 1990-, artwork by Philippe Francq: Dupuis
* "Les maîtres de l'orge": 8 albums, 1992-1999, artwork by Francis Vallès: Glénat
* "Blake and Mortimer": 4 albums, 1996-, artwork by Ted Benoît and René Sterne: Editions Blake et Mortimer
* "Wayne Shelton": 5 albums, 2001-2006, artwork by Christian Denayer: Dargaud

Awards

* 1978: Best Story at the Prix Saint-Michel, Belgium
* 1980: Best Story at the Prix Saint-Michel
* 1983: Best Comic at the Prix Saint-Michel
* 1989: Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France:: - nominated for Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards, Spain
* 1990: Best Script at the Haxtur Awards:: - nominated for Best Long Comic Strip and Best Short Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards
* 1991: nominated for Best Short Comic Strip and Best Script at the Haxtur Awards
* 1992: nominated for Best Long Comic Strip and Best Script at the Haxtur Awards
* 1993: France Info Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival:: - nominated for Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards
* 1994: Best International Writer at the Max & Moritz Prizes, Germany:: - nominated for Best Script at the Haxtur Awards
* 1996: Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards:: - nominated for Best Script at the Haxtur Awards
* 1997: Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
* 2003: nominated thrice for the Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
* 2004: nominated for Best Long Comic Strip, Best Short Comic Strip and Best Script at the Haxtur Awards
* 2005: nominated for Best Short Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards:: - nominated for the Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
* 2006: nominated for the Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival:: - nominated for the Grand Prix Saint-Michel and for Best Comic (Dutch language) at the Prix Saint-Michel:: - nominated for Favourite European Comic at the Eagle Awards, United Kingdom
* 2007: nominated for the Grand Prix Saint-Michel and for Best Story at the Prix Saint-Michel [cite web |url=http://cfbelgium.free.fr/blogfestival/download/Saint_Michel_2007_Sint_Michiels.pdf |title=Les nominés 2007 |accessdate=2007-10-15]

References

External links

* [http://lambiek.net/artists/v/van-hamme_jean.htm Jean Van Hamme biography] on Lambiek Comiclopedia