Thomas Ott

There aren't many comix artists from German-speaking countries whose work has been translated into other languages. Luckily, the Swiss artist Thomas Ott makes wordless scratchboard comix, which helps in making his work known in the rest of the world.

Born in Berne, Ott studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich and began working in the independent comics scene in the second half of the 1980s. His work was published in various European magazines, including Ahai, Hochparterre, Okay Erotik Magazin, Strapazin, Tagesanzeiger-Magazin and Weltwoche in Switzerland, Boxer, Geo-Spezial, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Tempo in Germany, as well as El Vibora in Spain and Bulles Dingues, Culte, L'Écho des Savanes, Libération, Stronx and Vogue in France.

The titles of his books, like 'Tales of Error' and 'Hellville, Tales from the Edge', already suggest that he is fond of the darker sides of life, which he depicts in his books with painstaking clarity. Since 1995, he is a regular contributor to Lapin, the publication of the French publisher L'Association. Among his other books are 'Cinema Panopticum', 'Greetings from Hellville' and 'The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8'. The multi-talented Thomas Ott makes animations, is the lead singer of a band called The Playboys, and on top of this, he makes political satires, comics and caricatures for various newspapers and magazines.