Fred and Liliane Funcken

The Belgian artist couple Fred and Liliane Funcken have been making a variety of historical comics since their first cooperation in Tintin magazine in 1956. Their work is characterized by a realistic, precise style which gives their comics a classic touch. Fred Funcken began his professional career as an illustrator in Spirou and Bonnes Soirées in 1939. He joined the studios of Guy Depierre a year later and began producing comics. In his early work, he used a variety of pseudonyms, such as Fred Gu, Fred Dye, Dick John's, Ranch, Mac Bones, Léo Lyon and Hector Hugo.

Throughout the 1940s, he illustrated such series as 'Bob Hunter' for L'Eclair, 'Bricole', 'Tommy Tuller' and 'Roberjac' for Bimbo, as well as 'Akkor, Roi de la Planète' and 'Robin Moderne'. He cooperated with such artists as Marcel Moniquet and Fernand Cheneval. He also appeared in Jeep, Blondine and Héroic albums, where he created 'Clem and Shorty' in 1956 .

While designing displays for a big department store, he met his future wife Liliane Schorils. Fred Funcken then joined Spirou, doing several 'Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' and later Tintin, where he began 'Le Chevalier Blanc' (written at first by Raymond Macherot).

He also adapted several classics to comics, like 'Le Comte de Monte–Cristo'. Since 1956, Fred began collaborating with his wife Liliane and they have done so ever since. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, they created such series as 'Harald le Viking', 'Jack Diamond', 'Lieutenant Burton', 'Capitan' and 'Doc Silver'.

Along with Yves Duval, they produced 'La Plus Grande Histoire du Monde' and 'La Famille des Saint-Preux' in the 1970s. They revived the 'Chevalier Blanc' series in 1987, this time written by Didier Convard. In 1993, they created 'La Chute de l'Ailge', about the battle at Waterloo. Their knowledge of history and their fine documentation, led to their illustrations of 'L'Encyclopédie des Uniformes et de Armes de Tous les Temps', of which appeared seventeen books from 1965 to 1982.