Jean Van Hamme

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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 Thorgal, XIII and Largo Winch.

1 Biography
2 Bibliography
3 Awards
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Jean Van Hamme was born in Brussels in 1939.^[1] After having studied economics, 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 Tintin magazine, with major awards following soon.

In the next decade, Jean Van Hamme created two new bestselling series, XIII 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. However, the fame of Van Hamme as one of the major realistic comic authors of Europe is quite established.^[1] Les maîtres de l'orge and Largo Winch have both been made into a TV series, and XIII and again Largo Winch 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.^[2] In 2005, XIII and Largo Winch shared the fourth place with 500,000 copies each.^[3]

[edit] 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: 28 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: 14 albums, 1990-, artwork by Philippe Francq: Dupuis
Les maîtres de l'orge: 8 albums, 1992-1999, artwork by Francis Vallès: Glénat
Blake and Mortimer: 3 albums, 1996-, artwork by Ted Benoît: Editions Blake et Mortimer
Wayne Shelton: 3 albums, 2001-2003, artwork by Christian Denayer: Dargaud

[edit] 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

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Jean Van Hamme". In België gestript, pp. 187-189. Tielt: Lannoo.
^ Ratier, Gilles. ACBD bilan 2006. ACBD.fr. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.
^ Ratier, Gilles. ACBD bilan 2005. ACBD.fr. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.