Alcyon

As a teenager, Richard Marazano was fascinated by the arts, politics and the sciences. He was as intrigued by Robert Oppenheimer as he was by the myth of Prometheus. After much deliberation, Marazano decided to study physics and astrophysics in college, before finally starting out in the comic book world at the prestigious fine arts school in Angouleme. His first album, "Humain trop humain," illustrated by Éric Dérian, was released in 1995 (Le Cycliste). The following year he published the first volume of the series "Zéro absolu" (Soleil), with Christophe Bec. Marazano next joined publishing houses Humanoïdes Associés and Carabas where he published the two-part "Dusk" series (2000-2002), illustrated by Christian De Metter, and "Le Bataillon des lâches," a one-shot solo project. In 2003, with artist Michel Durand, he created the series "Cuervos" (Glénat), recounting the fight against the cartels of Columbia. "Cuervos" met with great critical acclaim and picked up some prestigious prizes, including best comic book adaptable for cinema at the Monaco Literary and Cinema festival in 2006. Marazano also enjoyed great public success with his award-winning science-fiction series "Le complexe du chimanzé" (Dargaud; "Chimpanzee Complex," Cinebook), illustrated by Jean-Michel Ponzio. Since then, Marazano has taken on more and more projects, with a variety of artistic collaborators. With Dargaud in particular Marazano has published a number of series over the last decade, including "Le rêve du papillon" (2010-2014), "S.A.M." (2011-2013; Cinebook in English), "Otaku Blue" (2012-2013), and "Le Protocole Pélican" (2011-2013), in collaboration with his accomplice Jean-Michel Ponzio. Alongside artist Marcelo Frusin, he has also explored antiquity with the ongoing series "L'Expédition" (2012; "Expedition," Europe Comics 2018), and he has joined with Christophe Ferreira for two other adventure series, "Alcyon" (2014-2015) and "Le monde de Milo" (2013-2015, Europe Comics 2016, "Milo's World"). Richard Marazano loves travel tales, and is also interested in Inca, Aztec and Mayan cultures, a diversity of interests manifest across his works.

As a child, Christophe Ferreira would watch cartoons on TV and try to draw them. A little further down the line, he'd practice on comic book albums that he'd borrow from the public library, namely "Spirou & Fantasio" (Dupuis, Cinebook in English), "Léonard" (Le Lombard; "Leonardo," Europe Comics), and, of course, "Astérix." In 1991, he saw "Akira" at the movie theater, and that was really what tipped the balance for him in favor of a life in illustration. Not knowing that there were schools specialized in animation and comic books, he took up graphic design studies for advertising, but soon realized that wasn't for him. He wanted to draw. Through his previous studies, he heard about the Gobelins school, and that changed everything. He sat the entrance exams for the animation department and ended up studying there for two years. After that, he worked in animation in France for a few years before going to Japan to work for various studios as an illustrator. He's now lived in Japan for years, meeting many of the people who've worked on films and series that have been a massive inspiration to him. Author Alex Alice was the one to encourage him to get into comic book art, and Christophe was also introduced to Richard Marazano, so they could work together on a cartoon series project. The project was never completed, but the pair stayed friends. Finally, after 15 years of Alice and Marazano chipping away at him, Christophe created his first comic book series with Marazano: "Monde de Milo" (Dargaud 2013, Europe Comics 2016 "Milo's World"), which was soon followed by another series in 2014, "Alcyon," also with Dargaud. Let's hope there'll be many more to come!