Bagdad Inc.

Thomas Legrain est de ces âmes bien nées pour lesquelles la valeur n'attend point le nombre des années ! Il a commencé à dessiner à un âge bien antérieur à ses souvenirs, et entame sa première bande dessinée à l'âge de 12 ans. Disciple de « l'école Van Hamme » et de Travis Charest, il développe très tôt un goût pour le réalisme et les décors méticuleux. Pourtant, à l'âge des choix professionnels, il préfère étudier l'histoire et la criminologie, en franc partisan de l'apprentissage artistique individuel. Fort de son immense capacité de travail, il boucle néanmoins un album par an en parallèle de ses études. Et, à peine sorti de ces dernières, il poste quelques planches sur le web. Il ne lui faudra que deux petits mois pour se faire repérer par Jean-Claude Bartoll ("Insiders"), et signer avec lui, coup sur coup, "Mortelle Riviera" chez Glénat, et "L'Agence", chez Casterman. Trois petites années (et sept albums !) plus tard, il réalise un rêve d'enfant en rejoignant les éditions du Lombard, avec le scénariste Benec, autour de "Sisco", un thriller politique qui lui permet d'exprimer pleinement son don pour le dessin réaliste. En 2015 il s'offre une petite pause dans la série "Sisco" pour plonger dans "Bagad Inc", un techno-thriller réalisé avec Stephen Desberg.

Stephen Desberg was born in Brussels in 1954 and started out as a comic book author in 1976, writing short stories for Tintin magazine (Le Lombard). A follower of Maurice Tillieux, the creator of "Gil Jourdan," in 1980 Desberg began working for the weekly Spirou magazine (Dupuis), taking over the "Tif and Tondu" adventure series, illustrated by Will. He then successively created the characters 421, Billy the Cat, Mic Mac Adam and Jimmy Tousseul, before gradually moving to a more adult readership, publishing two albums in the Aire Libre collection by Dupuis, alongside Will: "Le Jardin des désirs" (1989) and "La Vingt-Septième Lettre" (1990). An original and versatile writer, Desberg goes from one genre to another with ease and inventiveness. In 1996 he tackled the topic of racism with illustrator Bernard Vrancken in "Le sang noir," a romantic saga in four albums published by Le Lombard. As an American citizen, Desberg has also explored many themes linked with his other home country, as evidenced by the long-running financial thriller "IR$" with Le Lombard, also illustrated by Vrancken. America serves as a backdrop in his other albums as well, such as "L'étoile du désert" (1996, Dargaud, 2016 Europe Comics, "Desert Star"), a twilight western created with Enrico Marini. Desberg is also passionate about religious themes, having collaborated with Enrico Marini on riddles of Christian origins in "The Scorpion" (2000-2014, Dargaud, Cinebook in English), a saga bursting with flamboyant heroes with capes and swords in eighteenth-century Rome. A writer as prolific as any out there, Desberg has authored many other series over the years, including "Cassio" (2007; Europe Comics in English 2018), "Miss October" (2012; Europe Comics in English 2018), "Sherman" (2011; Europe Comics in English), and "Golden Dogs" (2014; Europe Comics in English 2016), all with Le Lombard. Along the way, he also continued work on the saga "Black Op" (2005 Dargaud, 2015 Europe Comics), a series illustrated by his friend Hugues Labiano. His recent work includes the espionage series "Jack Wolfgang" (2017, Le Lombard, Europe Comics in English), together with Henri Reculé, centered on a whip-smart wolf who is both world-famous food critic, and secret agent for the CIA.