'S.T.A.R.' #1.
Thierry Cayman is a Belgian comic book artist, who has worked on both historical ('Sylvain de Rochefort', 'Jhen') as well as contemporary comic series ('S.T.A.R.', 'Lefranc').
Early life and career
Born in Brussels in 1962, Cayman was one of Eddy Paape's pupils at the Saint-Gilles Institute. He made his debut with two short stories written by Yves Duval for Tintin magazine at the age of 22. He remained a regular contributor to the magazine throughout the decade with many stories in cooperation with the writers Muriel Beullens, Bert Decorte and Bom. These included short-lived series like 'Ken Cargo' (with Decorte, 1986) and 'Mosquito' (with Bom, 1988).
Sylvain de Rochefort and other medieval-themed comics
In 1989 Cayman and Bom launched their medieval series 'Sylvain de Rochefort' (1989-1994) in Tintin's successor Hello Bédé. It was serialized until late 1992 and collected in four albums by Le Lombard between 1990 and 1994. Cayman remained in the same time period with 'Godefroy de Bouillon - Les Chevaliers maudits' (1995-1996), of which he made three albums with writer Claude Rappé for Éditions Hélyode and Claude Lefrancq Éditeur. When the publisher went bankrupt, Cayman initially went to work as an illustrator for Éditions Hemma and as a storyboard artist for advertising films.
'Sylvain de Rochefort' (Dutch version from Kuifje #12, 1991).
S.T.A.R.
He returned to comics with the contemporary thriller series 'S.T.A.R.' (2002-2006) in cooperation with novelist and scriptwriter Patrick Delperdange at Casterman. It deals with a team of three researchers from S.T.A.R. (Science and Technology, Analysis and Research) who develop a system that allows someone with locked-in syndrome to communicate via a computer. Their patient however suddenly disappears after gaining more and more control of this machine. The quest to discover what happened is apparently not without danger. Cayman and Delperdange additionally made the one-shot detective album 'Partie de plaisir' (Casterman, 2006).
Jacques Martin
Since 2006 Cayman has furthermore worked with Jacques Martin's creations. His first work was providing background art to the 17th album of 'Lefranc' ('Le Maître de l'Atome', 2006), which was drawn by André Taymans and Erwin Drèze. In 2008 he began drawing new albums of Martin's 'Jhen' from scripts by Hughes Payen in alternation with the original artist Jean Pleyers. This series set during the Hundred Years' War marks his return to historical comics.
'Jhen' #12.