'Wachten op een Eiland' (2009).
Marc Legendre is one of the most versatile Flemish comic authors. His large oeuvre contains humorous creations like 'Biebel', a series of graphic novels and many scripts for other artists. Legendre was born in Antwerp, and began his career in the early 1980s as the editor-in-chief of Kuifje, the Flemish version of Tintin. His signature comic character made his first appearance in the competing magazine Robbedoes, however. Using the pen name Ikke, Legendre created the first stories the bald rebellious 'Biebel' in cooperation with writer Marck Meul from 1983. The comic was an instant success among the readers of Spirou's Flemish counterpart, and was soon collected in a series of albums by Standaard Uitgeverij until 2001.
'Biebel'.
For Standaard Uitgeverij Legendre began expanding his activities by writing scripts for other artists. He created the girl mecanic 'Sam' in collaboration with Jan Bosschaert, 'Cactus' with Jef Wellens, and 'De Familie Klipper' with Marcel Rouffa. Ikke also created the funny and moving gag strip 'Kas', for which he did the artwork himself. The cynical black humour strip 'Bang!' was drawn by Yurg and also printed in Robbedoes. He became chief editor of Suske en Wiske Weekblad in 1993.
The weekly published most of Ikke's series, such as 'Biebel' and 'Kas', but also the series 'Waterland', that Legendre wrote for Jeff Broeckx in 1994. Legendre dropped his editorial activities in 1995, when he moved to Gran Canaria. He continued to write scripts however, and in 1998, he launched the science fiction manga 'Mecanic' with Yurg, and 'Het Scream-team' with Dirk Michiels.
'Finisterre'.
Marc Legendre was then mainly active in the fields of advertising and television. He also wrote a travelling book and a couple of youth novels during his break from comics. In 2005, he made the graphic novel 'Finisterre', a moving tale about the Yugoslav war. Continuing to work in the graphic novel genre and in a realistic style, he later released 'Verder' (Atlas, 2007) and 'Wachten op een Eiland' (Atlas, 2009). He wrote the script for the trilogy 'Misschien Nooit Ooit', a psychological thriller drawn by Kristof Spaey in which every book tells the story from from another character's perspective.
Since 2012 Legendre is also part of the writing team of the 'Rode Ridder' comic. Between 2013 and 2015, Legendre and artist Charel Cambré were the authors of the critically acclaimed 'Amoras 2047', a more adult spin-off of 'Suske en Wiske'. The online teasers for the comic and its press release with an obituary notice for main character Wiske had caused quite a stir in the months prior to the publication of the first album. He won the Bronzen Adhemar, a famous Belgian comics prize, in 2013.
Since 2016 Legendre is part of the editorial board of the Flemish comics news magazine Stripgids, together with comic artists Nix, Simon Spruyt and Judith Vanistendael, and journalists Karl van den Broeck and Roel Daenen.
He paid tribute to Pom in the collective homage albums 'Kroepie en Boelie Boemboem. Avontuur In De 21ste Eeuw.' (2010) and 'Op Het Spoor van Pom' (2011). He also paid homage to Marc Sleen in 'Marc Sleen 90. Liber Amicorum' (Standaard Uitgeverij), a book that celebrated Sleen's 90th anniversary. Legendre also made a graphic tribute to Merho's 'De Kiekeboes' in the collective tribute album 'Vier door Derden' (Standaard Uitgeverij, 2022).
In 2015 his 'Amoras 5: Wiske' (co-created with Charel Cambré) won the Willy Vandersteenprijs.
'Kas'.