'Les Femmes en Blanc'.
Philippe Bercovici is one of the most productive artists of humorous comics since the 1980s. Born in Nice, he was only fourteen years old when his first pages were published in the "Carte Blanche" section of the magazine Spirou. Two years later, he began his long collaboration with Spirou's main scriptwriter of the time, Raoul Cauvin.
'Sleeping Beauty' in 'Les Grandes Amours Contrariées'.
Cauvin and Bercovici's first project was 'Les Grandes Amours Contrariées', a humorous take on famous love stories, that were published in Spirou between 1979 and 1981 and collected in book format by Dupuis in 1982. In 1981 Bercovici and Cauvin began their successful hospital humor series 'Les Femmes en Blanc'. Collected in books by Dupuis since 1986, the series shows Bercovici's early caricatural big noses-style evolve to the trademark rapid sketchy style he uses today.
'Les Femmes en Blanc'.
While continuing to work on his hit series with Cauvin, Bercovici also began a fruitful collaboration with scriptwriter François Corteggiani. Together, they conceived series like 'Robinson et Zoé' (in Gomme, 1982), 'Kostar le Magnifique' (in Circus, 1984), 'Barnabé, Envoyé Spécial', 'Big Bang Orchestra' (in Je Bouquine, from 1986), 'Yann et Julie' (in P'tit Loup, 1989) and 'Le Grand Panic Circus' (in Pif Gadget). In addition, they made albums like 'Testar le Robot' (Fleurus, 1987) and 'Téléfaune' (Dargaud, 1993).
'Grand Panic Circus'.
From 1989, Bercovici was present in the Belgian magazine L'Instant with 'Leonid et Spoutnika', a gag series written by Yann. In the 1990s he embarked on new series for Spirou, starting with 'Cactus Club' with François Gilson (1994-2005). Initially using the pseudonym Thélonius for a while, he created 'Le Boss', a new editorial comic starring Spirou's editor-in-chief, written by Zidrou between 1997 and 2007.
'Le Boss'.
He teamed up with Dutch artist Gerrit de Jager to create 'Eva en Adam' ('Et Dieu Créa Eve') for L'Écho des Savanes and the Flemish Panorama. This latter series should not be confused with the Swedish comic series 'Eva & Adam' by Måns Gahrton and Johan Unenge.
Also for L'Écho, Bercovici also made 'L'Ensexyclopedie' with Jean-Michel Thiriet. He additionally worked with Zépo on the gag series 'Maison Avec jardin' in Le Journal de Mickey (collected in books by Vents d'Ouest as 'Les Deschamps' in 2006-07), with Bob de Groot on 'Père Noël et Fils' for Glénat between 2006 and 2008, and with Noblet on 'AdoStars' for Dupuis between 2007 and 2009. 'With Zidrou he was responsible for a relaunch of Degotte's classic 'Flagada' character for Glénat in 2008 and 2009.
'AdoStars'.
Having mocked almost everything, from hospitals to holiday resorts, and from popstars to his own editor-in-chief, Bercovici has been working on a series of topical humor books for Dupuis since 2012. Together with Dal he has poked fun at neighbours ('Chers Voisins') and real estate agents ('Á Vendre'), while he had a comical look on sports with Cauvin. Bercovici and Dal have additionally cooperated on a comic book adaptation of the France 2 hit series 'Fais Pas Ci, Fais Pas ça'.
'Chers Voisins'.
Bercovici has also worked with the publishing house 12bis on satirical comics with more adult topics since 2008. He had a comical take on families and their holidays in 'Camping Globe Trotter Car' and 'Monique et Robert' with Pat Perna, while ridiculing the rich and their wines with Benoist Simmat in 'Les Caves du CAC 40' and 'Robert Parker Les Sept Péchés Capiteux'. He even made satirical books on terrorism with Mohamed Sifaoui, including 'Ahmadinejad Atomisé' and 'Ben Laden dévoilé'. He has been working with writer André Lebrun on celebrity comics for Joker Éditions since 2013. They have produced a comic series about the Belgium national football team The Red Devils ('Les Diables Rouges', since 2013), and a comic book about the Belgian singer Le Grand Jojo ('Le Grand Jojo. Non, Peut-être!', 2014).
'Ben Laden Dévoilé'.
Bercovici has proven to be a real dynamo. He is able to draw a great many series at the same time, while also doing artwork for various advertising campaigns and comics in commission. His rapid style earned him the reputation to draw "faster than his shadow". To further demonstrate this talent, Bercovici illustrated a whole issue of Spirou on his own, including the continuing stories, in 1999.
Bercovici was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to 'Baston Labaffe no. 5: La Ballade des Baffes’ (Goupil, 1983), an official collective parody comic of André Franquin’s 'Gaston Lagaffe’. In 1990 he paid graphic tribute to François Walthéry in the collective homage book 'Natacha. Special 20 Ans' (Marsu Productions, 1990), which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Walthéry's series 'Natacha'.He paid tribute to Nikita Mandryka in the collective comic book 'Tronches de Concombre' (Dupuis, 1995).
On 3 December 2014 'Les Femmes en Blanc' received their own comic book wall at the Place de la Vècquée / Vècquéeplein in Brussels, as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route.
All the pages of Spirou issue #3183 (14 April 1999) were completely drawn by Philippe Bercovici.