Thierry Smolderen

Thierry Smolderen was born in 1954 in Brussels. He spent the 1970s studying film animation in Brussels, as well as dabbling in theater and music. It wasn't until the mid-1980s that he launched his career writing comic books, alongside his work as a critic and essayist for Cahiers de la bande dessinée. He first turned to science-fiction, taking on the follow-up to Dans l’ombre du soleil (Glénat, 1989) with Colin Wilson, and Hybrides (Glénat, 1987-1991) which he co-wrote starting with its second volume. He also contributed to an erotic series, Fripons, published by Humanoides Associés. With the same publisher, he then authored Karine Springwell (1990-1995) with Philippe Gauckler, Colère noire (1990-1993) with Philippe Marcelé, and Nombre (1991-1992), with Egger. In 1993, Smolderen made his début at Dargaud with Gypsy (Dargaud 1993, Insight Editions in English 2018), a highly acclaimed series with art by Enrico Marini. Thierry Smolderen later teamed up with Dominique Bertail, with whom he produced L’Enfer des Pelgram (Delcourt, 1998-2000). The two would work together again in 2008 for a new series, Ghost Money (Dargaud, 2008). In 2013, Smolderen teamed up with artist Alexandre Clérisse to produce two other spectacular and award-winning graphic novels with Dargaud, the otherworldly Souvenirs de l’empire de l’Atome (2013; Atomic Empire, IDW in English, Nov. 2018) and the psychadelic Été diabolik (2015, Diabolical Summer, IDW in English, 2019). Married and a father of two, Thierry Smolderen has lived in Angoulême since 1994. He teaches scriptwriting and the history of European comics at the École Européenne Supérieure de L’image (ÉESI). He also coordinated the master’s program in European comics, which he helped found in partnership with the University of Poitiers.