Alain Dodier

Alain Dodier was born in Dunkirk in 1955 and cannot remember a time when cartoons were not part of his life. When he was quite young, he'd practice copying out the characters of the Journal de Mickey before he had access to a library full of comic books where he would spend entire days combing the shelves. His best friends were Gaston and Lucky Luke. He soon surrendered to his passion. Six months before sitting his finals, he abandoned his schooling and took advantage of the few weeks before the exam to spend all his time drawing! He did not pass his exams but did become a comic book artist. His first strips appeared in the fanzine Falatoff in 1973, and then in “Carte Blanche” in Spirou. To survive, he became a part-time postman: he had to get up early, but that left him the time to draw during the day. He started his professional career in Pistil, an ecological magazine, with animal stories (Marty et Titine) and a detective series (Janotus, agent spécial). His association with Makyo – a neighbor of his – led to the creation of two series: the fantasy story Gully (Dupuis) and, in a more realistic tone, Jérôme K. Jérôme Bloche (Dupuis; Europe Comics in English). Serge Le Tendre joined up with them to recount the early adventures of Jérôme Bloche. With the world of Jerome well in hand, Dodier started producing both the illustrations and the text for this series in which the main character bore an increasing resemblance to his spiritual father. Dodier admired Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum, which is how Jerome ended up being a private detective. The long-running series has now captured devoted fans across Europe and beyond.