Joseph Béhé

Joseph Griesmar, who uses the pseudonym Joseph Béhé, studied Decorative Arts in Strassbourg, where he learned the finer points of several artforms, including painting and sculpting. He worked in the atelier of Claude Lapointe, head of the Academy's illustration section. While still studying, Béhé had his first professional assignments. In 1986 he met Toff, a science researcher, with whom he created 'Péché Mortel,' a political fiction in which a deadly virus ruins planet earth. Finally, in 1989, Dargaud accepted this comic and published it in Pilote. He continued to work for Dargaud, and made 'La Péniche Bleue' with a script by Delisse, under his own name, in 1990. He then launched the 'Pour l'Amour de de l'Art' saga with scripwriters Serge Le Tendre and Pascale Rey in 1991. Béhé drew the first album, and handed over the artistic duties to Jean-Pierre Danard afterwards.

In 1992, Vents d'Ouest became his permanent publisher. For them, Béhé teamed up with Toff again and made the scientific thriller 'Double Je'. With Marc Jesser, he set up 'Le Jeu', a company game about the understanding between publishers and authors. He also edited 'Nique la Crise', a collective album about exclusion. With scriptwriter Eric Boisset, he made 'Minuit à Rhodes', a two episode police story, in 1995. In 1997, he relaunched 'Péché Mortel' with Toff, and created three new titles between 1997 and 1999. In 2001 he drew the first episode of Giroud's series 'Le Decalogue': 'Le Manuscrit'. In 2004, he worked with Giroud again, this time on 'Le Légataire', a sequel to 'Le Décalogue'. From 2003, he has cooperated with Thomas Mosdi on the 'Chimères' saga. Together with Claude Lapointe, Cyril Bonin and Christian Heinrich, Béhé set up Atelier BD, a website featuring courses in drawing comics, interviews and news.