Michel Rabagliati grew up reading European comics like 'Tintin', 'Spirou', and 'Gaston' and 'Asterix'. He copied his favorite ones: 'Gaston and Spirou' and 'Les Petits Hommes' (by Pierre Seron). When Rabagliati was fifteen, he stopped drawing comics and concentrated his creative talents in the field of graphic design. After studying typography and graphic design, Rabagliati became a graphic designer and illustrator in 1982. By 1997, he started drawing again. He published his first comic strip, 'Paul à la Campagne' ('Paul in the Country'), in 1999 with the Montreal publisher Les Éditions de la Pastèque.