Yslaire

Bernard Hislaire published his first material in the fanzine Robidule. After his studies at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels, he joined the magazine Spirou in 1975. He did several illustrations and short stories, often in cooperation with Jean-Marie Brouyère or Raoul Cauvin. He created 'Coursensac et Baladin au Pays des Tahétéhus', his first continuing story, with text by Brouyère in 1978. A year later, he began the romantic series 'Bidouille et Violette', that ran until 1985. From 1980 to 1983, he also did numerous illustrations for La Libre Belgique.

Hislaire radically changed his style in 1985. He took on the pseudonym Yslaire and began 'Sambre' with text by Balac (a pseudonym of Yann) in Circus. This critically acclaimed and darkly romantic fin-de-siècle story is drawn in a far more realistic style than Hislaire's earlier work and has several literary references. He briefly returned to Spirou in 1987 to write the first series of gags for 'Le Gang Mazda', drawn by Christian Darasse.

After completing the 'Sambre' saga, Yslaire began his internet comics project 'Mémoire du XXème Ciel' in cooperation with the psycho-analyst Laurence Erlich. The site was launched in 1997 and the first version of the comic book appeared at Delcourt in 1999. A year later, the final version appeared, completely redone, at Les Humanoïdes Associés under the title 'XXeciel.com'. As a scenarist, Yslaire wrote 'Trois Vierges' for Jean-Luis Boccar in 2003.