Pierre Frisano was a productive artist of French realistic comics from the post-War period, who has worked for both magazines and newspapers. After World War II, when he was only thirteen years old, Pierre Frisano falsified his birthdate, obtained his degree and went to work as a furniture maker. Shortly before going into military service, he was introduced to René Lexis, who worked for the publishing house Sagédition. With this publisher, Frisano (aged 14!) made his professional debut, making cover illustrations, short stories and novel illustrations. In 1952 he replaced Gérald Forton on 'Jim Cartouche', a comic series published by Ray-Flo publishers. Four years later, he cooperated on several women's magazines, followed by a period of ten years drawing (mainly) vertical strips for Paris-Jour.
From 1972, Frisano teamed up with Jean-Marie Pélaprat to make a comics adaptation of the television series 'Daktari'. During the same period, he began a longtime association with Raymond Maric for the children's press. For magazines like Le Journal des Pieds Nickelés, Le Journal de Bibi Fricotin and Lili & Aggie Magazine, the duo created such series as 'Le Patrouilleur de l'Espace', 'Macchus', 'Gorak' and 'Skatié' until 1979.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Frisano worked for even more magazines, including Pistil ('Swen et Bogi'), Télé-Junior ('Fantômas') and Captain Fulgur ('San Kukaï'). He also drew an album with 'Zorro' for MCL and cooperated on the publications of Edi-Europ, such as Défi, Super Fantastik and Vautour. In addition, he drew for Larousse collections like 'L'Histoire du Far West' and 'Découvrir la Bible', and worked on episodes with 'San Kukaï' and 'Capitain Fulgur'.
By 1981, he started working with Maric again, with comics for Spirou magazine ('Contes Défaits', 'Pérouana Prince Inca'), the publishing house Dargaud ('Che Guevara - les Barbudos du Granna') and R.T.L. (the Verdi adaptations 'Othello' and 'Aïda'). Other comics by Frisano from the 1980s include 'Sébastien, les Chemins de la Vie' (with Jean-Paul Tibéri, Loubatières), and the adaptations 'Jacquou le Croquant' and 'Sans Famille' (published in Okapi).
In the 1990s, he made 'Saint-Martin' and 'La Petite Thérèse de Lisieux', two new cooperations with Maric for publisher Le Signe. Between 1996 and 1999, Frisano and Maric made the historical series 'Courtisanes' for Glénat, followed by 'Relations publiques'. Pierre Frisano disappeared from the comics radar in the 2000s, besides some reprints of some older stories through Éditions Regards. He passed away in Montfermeil on 23 July 2013. His father Jean Frisano and nephew Thomas Frisano are also artists.
