Lucky Luke (2012)
Achdé, whose real name is Hervé Darmenton, was born in Lyon. He worked as a radiologist, before leaving a career in medicine and dedicating himself fully to drawing in the mid-1980s. He published his first comics and illustrations in publications like Le Midi Libre, Rare et Cher and the German monthly Labo, while working for an ad agency in Nîmes. He self-published his first comic book called 'Destins Croisés in 1988.
CRS = Détresse
Darmenton, who used the phonetic spelling of his initials H.D. as his pseudonym, was hired by Dargaud to create his series 'CRS = Détresse'. Written by either Achdé himself or Erroc and Raoul Cauvin, this comical series about the French security forces was published in book format from 1993 to 2007. Other series by Achdé for Dargaud were 'Woker', about an interplanetary Tarzan with Roger Widenlocher in 1997, and 'Doc Véto' about a veterinarian with scripts by Christian Godard between 2000 and 2002. Also with Widenlocher, he was present in Spirou with 'Fort Braillard' in 1997.
Doc Véto
As a scriptwriter, he made the trilogy 'La Esmeralda' in cooperation with Jean-Marc Stalner, based on a novel by Victor Hugo. Achdé's caricatural drawing style suits well with the many humorous series published by Bamboo, for which he has worked on 'Les Damnés de la Route' with Hervé Richez and Michel Rodrigue since 2000.
Les Damnés de la Route
Achdé got the opportunity to continue the adventures of the famous cowboy 'Lucky Luke', his childhood favorite, following the death of its creator Morris. He made the first three books in cooperation with the French comedian Laurent Gerra before teaming up with the writers' duo Daniel Pennac and Tonino Benacquista in 2010. In 2011, Achdé also made an installment in the spin-off gag series 'Kid Lucky', for which he also wrote the scripts.
Lucky Luke - L'Homme de Washington (Metro, 16/12/2008)
In addition to his work on the world-famous cowboy, Achdé found the time to start 'Les Canayens de Monroyal', a series about an ice hockey team published by Boomerang since 2009. It is continued by Bamboo as 'Les Hockeyeurs' since 2012.
Les Hockeyeurs
Achdé in Erlangen, 2016 (Photo: Henrik Bernd)