The Universe Chronicles

Ingo Römling was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1969. Even before starting school, he learned to read on his father's lap with the comic book "Asterix." When he first saw the magazine "Heavy Metal" as a teenager, he began to dream of one day being a comic book artist. But it would take a few years before that. He first worked as an illustrator, graphic designer and art director for various advertising agencies and record companies. Around 2008, he rethought his goals and joined a German team of zombie apocalypse illustrators and authors called "Die Toten" ("The Dead"). In 2013, in collaboration with author Peter Mennigen, he published the first volume of the successful series "Malcolm Max," about a friendly ghost hunter in Victorian London. In 2014, Römling joined up with the "Star Wars" saga as an official Disney illustrator. He participated in the comic book adaptation of the TV series "Star Wars Rebels" and "Star Wars Resistance" on behalf of Panini. He also illustrated the comic version of the Han Solo adventure "Smuggler's Run" by Greg Rucka. In 2018, he met Richard Marazano and, the following year, began illustrating the series "Les Chroniques de l'univers," the first volume of which was published by Dargaud in 2020 ("Chronicles of the Universe," Europe Comics in English).

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.