'Gorillakronieken 1 - Apen in Antwerpen'. Dutch-language version.
Bernard Linssen is a Belgian comic artist, best remembered for the adult comic books 'Chroniques Gorilles' (1990-1991), an action-packed series about anthropomorphic apes.
Early life and career
Bernard Linssen was born in 1956 in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek. During the second half of the 1970s, he worked in the studio of Édouard Aidans, alongside Magda Seron. Under the joint pen name Cary, Linssen and Seron made the caveman comic 'Les Aventures de Tumak' (1977) for the newspaper Vers l'Avenir. In the early 1980s, Linssen presented his work to Jean Van Hamme, which resulted in two short stories published in Tintin magazine and Super Tintin: 'Frère Cerf' (script by Van Hamme, 1980) and 'Le Paradis Terrestre' (script by Crisse, 1981).
Chroniques Gorilles
Linssen later drew the obscure comic book series 'Chroniques Gorilles' ('Gorillakronieken'). Scripted by Jean-Claude Smit-Le-Bénédicte (Mythic), the series was set in an anthropomorphic world where all characters are apes. Drawn in a realistic style, the stories are very action-packed. A rather surreal moment in the first story has the apes flee into the Antwerp Zoo, where nevertheless real non-anthropomorphic animals reside too. Two books were published by Éditions Himalaya (Loempia) in both French and Dutch language: 'La Loi des Séries' ('Apen in Antwerpen', 1990) and 'Les Ombres du Président' ('De Gorilla’s van de President', 1991).
Final years and death
After 'Chroniques Gorilles', Linssen left the comic industry. He died in 2025, at age 69.
'Broeder Hert' (Kuifje #2, 8 January 1980).