Jean Van Hamme
Encyclopedia
Jean Van Hamme is a Belgian
novelist and comic book
writer. He has written scripts for a number of Belgian/French
comic series, including Histoire sans héros, Thorgal
, XIII and Largo Winch
.
in 1939. After having studied business administration at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management
, he worked as a journalist and in the marketing department of Philips
. In the meantime, he started writing, and one of his first scripts was adapted by Paul Cuvelier
in 1968. In 1976, he became a full time writer, and in the next few years he published seven novels and some movie scripts, e.g. for Diva
.
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
. The duo won major awards in the French and Belgian comic book industry.
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 (lit. "The Master Brewers") 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 Largo Winch
were the basis for computer games.
, 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. In 2005, XIII and Largo Winch shared the fourth place with 500,000 copies each. In 2010, he was the second-bestselling author of comics in France, after Christophe Arleston
but before Albert Uderzo
and Hergé
, with 1.05 million copies sold.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
novelist and comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
writer. He has written scripts for a number of Belgian/French
Franco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
comic series, including Histoire sans héros, Thorgal
Thorgal
Thorgal is a critically acclaimed Belgian comic book series by the Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and the Polish graphic artist Grzegorz Rosiński. It first appeared in serial form in the "Tintin" magazine in 1977, and has been published in hardcover volumes by Le Lombard from 1980 on...
, XIII and Largo Winch
Largo Winch
Largo Winch is a Belgian comic book series by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme, published by Dupuis.The principal character is Largo Winch whose birth name is Largo Winczlav. Other important characters include Nerio Winch , senior Group W executives John D. Sullivan and Dwight E...
.
Early years
Jean Van Hamme was born in BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
in 1939. After having studied business administration at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management
Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management
The Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management is an economics and management school and a Faculty of the Université libre de Bruxelles, in Brussels, Belgium.-History:...
, he worked as a journalist and in the marketing department of Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
. In the meantime, he started writing, and one of his first scripts was adapted by Paul Cuvelier
Paul Cuvelier
Paul Cuvelier was a Belgian comics artist best known for the comic series Corentin, published by Le Lombard, which first appeared in the first issue of Tintin.-Biography:...
in 1968. In 1976, he became a full time writer, and in the next few years he published seven novels and some movie scripts, e.g. for Diva
Diva (film)
Diva is a 1981 film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, adapted from a novel of the same name by Daniel Odier . It is one of the first French films to let go of the realist, harsh mood of 1970s French cinema and return to a colourful, melodic style, called cinema du look...
.
Thorgal, XIII and Largo Winch
Van Hamme's main breakthrough came in 1977, when he created the VikingViking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
hero Thorgal
Thorgal
Thorgal is a critically acclaimed Belgian comic book series by the Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and the Polish graphic artist Grzegorz Rosiński. It first appeared in serial form in the "Tintin" magazine in 1977, and has been published in hardcover volumes by Le Lombard from 1980 on...
for Grzegorz Rosiński
Grzegorz Rosinski
Grzegorz Rosiński is a Polish comic book artist. He is best known for the series Thorgal.-Early life:Grzegorz Rosiński was born in Stalowa Wola in 1941...
, a relatively unknown Polish comic artist. The mix of medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
legends and heroic fantasy
Heroic fantasy
Heroic fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy which chronicles the tales of heroes in imaginary lands. Unlike stories of sword and sorcery, heroic fantasy narratives tend to be intricate in plot, often involving many peoples, nations and lands. Grand battles and the fate of the world are common themes,...
soon became a huge success in the comics magazine
Franco-Belgian comics magazines
Belgium and France have a long tradition in comics. They have a common history for comics and magazines.In the early years of its history, magazines had a large place on the comics market and were often the only place where comics were published. Most of them were kids-targeted.In the 1970s,...
Tintin
Tintin (magazine)
Le journal de Tintin or Kuifje , was a weekly Belgian comics magazine of the second half of the 20th century...
. The duo won major awards in the French and Belgian comic book industry.
In the next decade, Jean Van Hamme created two new bestselling series, XIII (inspired by Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity) with William Vance
William Vance
William Vance, the pen name of William van Cutsem, born 8 September 1935, is a Belgian comics artist widely known throughout a long career for his distinctive style and work in Franco-Belgian comics.- Biography :...
and Largo Winch
Largo Winch
Largo Winch is a Belgian comic book series by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme, published by Dupuis.The principal character is Largo Winch whose birth name is Largo Winczlav. Other important characters include Nerio Winch , senior Group W executives John D. Sullivan and Dwight E...
(based on his own novels) with Philippe Francq
Philippe Francq
Philippe Francq is a Belgian comic book artist, best known for the series Largo Winch.-Biography:Philippe Francq was born in Etterbeek in 1961. He was since his youth an ardent comic reader, who grew up with the comics from Tintin magazine from the 1950s...
. Other series like Les maîtres de l'orge (lit. "The Master Brewers") 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
Largo Winch (TV series)
Largo Winch is a television program based on the Belgian comic book series of the same name by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme that first aired on January 26, 2001 in France on M6, and May 3, 2001 in Germany on ProSieben...
have both been made into a TV series, and XIII
XIII (video game)
XIII is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Ubisoft. It was released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube consoles and the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. The game is based upon the 1984 Belgian XIII comic book series.XIII was developed and published by...
and again Largo Winch
Largo Winch: Empire Under Threat
Largo Winch: Empire Under Threat is an action-adventure video game released in 2002 by Dupuis. The game is based on the Largo Winch series....
were the basis for computer games.
Blake and Mortimer
After the death of Edgar Pierre JacobsEdgar Pierre Jacobs
Edgard Félix Pierre Jacobs, , better known under his pen name Edgar P. Jacobs, was a Belgian comic book creator , born in Brussels, Belgium...
, when the last unfinished story of Blake and Mortimer
Blake and Mortimer
Blake and Mortimer is a Belgian comics series created by the Belgian writer and comics artist Edgar P. Jacobs. It was one of the first series to appear in the Belgian comics magazine Tintin in 1946, and was subsequently published in book form by Les Editions du Lombard.The main protagonists of the...
was completed by Bob de Moor
Bob de Moor
Bob de Moor is the pen name of Robert Frans Marie De Moor , a Belgian comics creator. Chiefly noted as an artist, he is considered an early master of the Ligne claire style. He wrote and drew several comics series on his own, but also collaborated with Hergé on several volumes of The Adventures of...
, 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. In 2005, XIII and Largo Winch shared the fourth place with 500,000 copies each. In 2010, he was the second-bestselling author of comics in France, after Christophe Arleston
Christophe Arleston
Christophe Arleston was born in Aix-en-Provence, France. He is a French comics writer and editor. His real name is Christophe Pelinq. He has also worked as "Scotch Arleston".-Biography:...
but before Albert Uderzo
Albert Uderzo
Albert Uderzo is a French comic book artist, and scriptwriter. He is best known for his work on the Astérix series, but also drew other comics such as Oumpah-pah, also in collaboration with René Goscinny.-Early life:...
and Hergé
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
, with 1.05 million copies sold.
Awards
- 1978: Best Story at the Prix Saint-MichelPrix Saint-MichelThe Prix Saint-Michel is a series of comic awards presented by the city of Brussels, with a focus on Franco-Belgian comics. They were first awarded in 1971, and are the second oldest comics award in Europe still presented, behind the Adamson Awards...
, Belgium - 1980: Best Story at the Prix Saint-Michel
- 1983: Best Comic at the Prix Saint-Michel
- 1989: Audience AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize Awarded by the AudienceThis Prize Awarded by the Audience is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival since 1989.The prize was known as Alph-Art du public from 1989-2003, the Prix du public from 2004-2006, and since 2007 the Essentiel FNAC-SNCF, since it is sponsored by the retailer Fnac...
at the Angoulême International Comics FestivalAngoulême International Comics FestivalThe Angoulême International Comics Festival is the largest comics festival in Europe. It has occurred every year since 1974 in Angoulême, France, in the month of January.The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-
- - nominated for Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur AwardHaxtur AwardThe Haxtur Award is a Spanish award for comics published in Spain. It is awarded annually at the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias ....
s, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
- 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 AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Media awardThis media award was presented at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. It was given by different media over the years, with sometimes different awards in one year...
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
- - nominated for Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards
- 1994: Best International Writer at the Max & Moritz PrizesMax & Moritz PrizesThe Max & Moritz Prize is a prize for comic books, comic strips, and other similar materials which has been awarded at each of the biennial International Comics Shows of Erlangen since 1984...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
- 1994: Best International Writer at the Max & Moritz Prizes
- - 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 AwardsEagle AwardsThe Eagle Award is a series of awards for comic book titles and creators. They are awarded by UK fan voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's Eagle comic, the awards were set up by Mike Conroy, Nick Landau, Colin Campbell, Phil Clarke and Richard Burton, and launched...
, United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
- 2007: nominated for the Grand Prix Saint-Michel and for Best Story at the Prix Saint-Michel
- 2008: nominated for the Grand Prix Saint-Michel at the Prix Saint-Michel
- 2009: Grand Prix Saint-Michel
- 2010: nominated for Best Dutch Language Comic at the Prix Saint-Michel
- 2011: Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des LettresOrdre des Arts et des LettresThe Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
(the highest of the three ranks for that Order)
- - nominated for Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur Award
External links
- Jean Van Hamme biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia