Born in Paris, Yvan Alagbé met Olivier Marboeuf in 1990. Marboeuf studied biology and mathematics and Alagbé studied mathematics and physics. They ventured into the alternative comic scene, and created the Dissidence Art Work association in 1991. From 1992, they made L'Oeil Carnivore, a fanzine about comics, litterature, music, cinema and painting. Their first big project, 'Ville Prostituée', drawn by Alagbé and written by Marboeuf, was published by Vents d'Ouest in 1993. Afterwards, they founded their own publishing house, Amok, and began the alternative comics review Le Cheval sans Tête.
For this publication, Alagbé made 'Nadir' (with Marboeuf), 'Nègre Jaunes' and a comics adaptation of Büchner's play 'Woyzeck' (with Éléonore Stein). Alagbé participated in the collective book 'Le Réveil des Nations', for which he drew story 'Courroux' about the Rwanda massacres. At his own publishing house Amok, he then published 'Dyaa' in the collection Feu in 1997, followed by 'Personne ne Connait mon Nom' in the collection Espèces. Editorial director of Amok, which later became Frémok after the fusion with Fréon, Yvan Alagbé is a prominent representative of the French small-press comic.
Negre Jaune, by Yvan Alagbé