Sparte #2 - 'Ignorer Toujours La Douleur'.
Christophe Simon is a Belgian comic artist and painter, specializing in historical comics. He is best known as a co-worker of Jacques Martin, continuing several of his series, such as 'Orion' (1998), 'Lefranc' (2001-2002) and 'Alix' (2006-2011). With scriptwriter Patrick Weber, he subsequently created his own series set in antiquity, 'Sparte' (Lombard, 2011-2015), about the ancient city of Sparta. His further work has included award-winning collaborations with scriptwriter Jean Van Hamme and the political history series 'Chroniques Diplomatiques' (2021- ) with writer Tristan Roulot.
Orion #3 - 'Le Pharaon'.
Early life
Christophe Simon was born in 1974 in Namur, and had an early interest in traveling and history. His two passions found common ground when he first visited Italy. He is passionate about the academic classicism of antiquity and has directed his artwork into this direction. He spent one year studying art history and archaeology at the Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix in his hometown, and then attended comics courses by Vittorio Leonardo at the Academy of Fine Arts in Châtelet. He later settled in the village of Namêche, not far from Namur.
Jacques Martin
In 1993, Simon started working for Jacques Martin, the Franco-Belgian expert of well-documented historical comics. He assisted Rafael Moralès on the artwork of the 24th album of Martin's signature series 'Alix' ('Les Barbares', 1998), and succeeded Martin as the artist of 'Orion', a series set during Greek Antiquity, following the adventures of the Athenian youngster Orion. However, he only drew the third album ('Le Pharaon', 1998) and it wasn't until 2011 that a fourth album appeared, drawn by Marc Jailloux.
Lefranc #15 - 'El Paradisio'.
After 'Orion', Simon drew the second volume of the spin-off diptych 'L'Odyssée d'Alix' (1999), of which the first installment had appeared in 1987. In 2001 and 2002 he drew two albums of Jacques Martin's more contemporary detective series 'Lefranc', succeeding Gilles Chaillet. For the backgrounds he got assistance from Olivier Pâques. In turn, Simon assisted Pâques on the backgrounds of the first album of 'Loïs' in 2003. In collaboration with writer Georges Bischoff, Christophe Simon additionally participated in the creation of Jacques Martin's book about the history of the Alsace region, 'Histoire d'Alsace' (2001). By 2006 he was appointed lead artist of 'Alix', succeeding Moralès starting with the album 'C'était à Khorsabad' (2006). At this point, Jacques Martin's personal involvement in his creations slowed down, and François Maingoval and Patrick Weber were brought in as scriptwriters. Simon made three albums until 2008, with additional background art provided by Cédric Hervan and Manuela Jumet. After that, additional artists like Ferry, Marco Venanzi and Marc Jailloux also alternated on the artwork of new books, with Simon contributing another episode with scriptwriter Michel Lafon ('La Conjuration de Baal', 2011). In the educational spin-off series 'Les Voyages d'Alix', Simon drew the book 'Alexander Le Conquérant' (2009) with Marc Daniëls and Rik De Wulf as assistants.
Alix #26 - 'L'Ibère'.
Sparte
In 2011, Simon and Patrick Weber moved away from Jacques Martin's productions and created their own historical series for publisher Le Lombard. 'Sparte' (2011-2015) is set in the second century before Christ, when the legendary city of Sparta was plunged into decadence under leadership of the troubled King Nibis. Agésilas is the charismatic leader of a resistance movement that wants to restore Sparta in its former glory. The war wages on when Nibis sends the bounty hunter Diodorus after the brave resistance leader, who, unbeknownst to anyone, is actually a woman. The series came to an end after three volumes.
Corentin - 'Les Perles de Sa-Skya' (2016).
Continuations
In 2012, Simon additionally worked with Jean-François and Maryse Charles on the fourth album in their fantasy series 'Ella Mahé'. The previous installments had been illustrated by Charles in collaboration with André Taymans, Francis Carin and Brice Goepfert. With the scriptwriter Jean van Hamme, Christophe Simon paid homage to the legendary comic creator Paul Cuvelier with a new comic book of his signature hero 'Corentin'. The story was a comic adaptation of a 1975 'Corentin' text story, written by Jean van Hamme for Tintin Sélection. The comic version of 'Les Perles de Sa-Skya' (Le Lombard, 2016) won the Prix Saint-Michel in the "Press Award" category at the Comics Festival Belgium in Brussels.
Recent history
Simon and Van Hamme collaborated again for 'Kivu (Le Lombard, 2018), a one-shot comic album inspired by the life of the Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege. In 2019, Jean Van Hamme and Christophe Simon were awarded the Prix Saint-Michel for "Best Album". With scriptwriter Tistan Roulot, Christophe Simon then launched 'Chroniques Diplomatiques' (2021- ), a historical comic series based on the political and diplomatic crisis in the post-World War II period.
'Kivu' (2018).