Tif et Tondu - 'Les Vielles Dames aux Cent Maisons' (1995).
Alain Sikorski was a Belgian comic artist and advertising illustrator, with a career in comics spanning the 1990s and 2000s. Together with scriptwriter Denis Lapière, he provided Spirou magazine with the final episodes of the classic comic feature 'Tif et Tondu' (1990-1997), as well as the detective series 'La Clé du Mystère' (2000-2005). Between 2007 and 2012, he also continued the garage humor gag comic 'Garage Isidore' with writer François Gilson.
Early life and career
Alain Sikorski was born in 1959 in Liège as the son of a Polish father and Belgian mother. As his father was employed by the Union Minière mining company, Alain spent most of his early life in Congo and the Iranian capital of Tehran. Showing a talent for sports, he nearly made it into the Iranian swimming team. By the time he was sixteen, the Sikorski family returned to Belgium, where Alain studied technical printing at the Institut Don Bosco of Liège. After fulfilling his military service in Germany, Sikorsi began his career working for advertising and design agencies. For a period of ten years, he ran his own SP Graphic studio, which had to close its doors in 1987.
Venture into comics
During his commercial art years, Sikorski created a couple of work safety comic pages for the Cockerill-Sambre steel company. By the late 1980s, this first experience had fuelled his interest in becoming a comic artist. His main training in the field were the two volumes of Bernard Duc's 'L'Art de la BD' comics training course books. Another important graphic influence on Sikorski's own comic art was the Swiss artist Cosey. Becoming part of the Liège comics scene, Sikorski met comic creators like François Walthéry, Clarke, Olis and Marc Hardy, as well as Philippe Vandooren's, the editor of the comic book division at Éditions Dupuis. During his period, Sikorski made his first spot illustrations for the Dupuis comic magazine Spirou.
Tif et Tondu - 'L'Assassin des Trois Villes-Soeurs' (1994)
Tif et Tondu
In 1990, Sikorski got a call from scriptwriter Denis Lapière, who asked if he was interested in taking over the classic comic series 'Tif et Tondu' together. A mainstay in Spirou magazine since its first issue in 1938, the series had evolved along with its changing creators. After the first straightforward and largely improvised adventure stories by series creator Fernand Dineur, the series had become more mature in the hands of the comic artist Will. Over the years, Will had sent the adventurous duo on fantasy-filled adventures with writer Maurice Rosy, mystical detective investigations with Maurice Tillieux and on world-saving missions with Stephen Desberg. As a try-out, scriptwriter Denis Lapière had written a first story for Will, who was about to leave the series in pursuit of other artistic projects.
Tif et Tondu - 'Le Mystère de la Chambre 43' (1997).
Together, Alain Sikorski and Denis Lapière returned to the detective stories of the Tillieux era, but dropped the science fiction and fantasy elements. Also switching to a more realistic and cinematographic art style, the adventures of the baldheaded Tif and the bearded Tondu became more grounded in reality, inspired by Georges Simenon novels. Running their own urban detective agency, the two heroes, accompanied by their new assistant Mona, investigate down-to-earth cases involving fraud, forgery, arson, murder and kidnapping. Adding to the realism was the comic's switch to more aggressive storytelling, not only in the action sequences, but also in the character interactions between the two bickering crimefighters.
After six long to semi-long stories, the Sikorski-Lapière team created five book-length serials with 'Tif et Tondu'. However, sales declined, and by 1997, Éditions Dupuis decided to cancel the series. And so, after almost sixty years, one of Spirou magazine's longest-running comic features had come to an end.
La Clé du Mystère #4 - 'Mascarades' (2003).
Post-Tif & Tondu
After the end of 'Tif et Tondu', Sikorski and Lapière reappeared in Spirou magazine with a one-shot comic serial 'Une Voiture Pour la Vie', starring the character Caddy (1998). In 2000, they launched their "whodunit" detective series 'La Clé du Mystère' ("The Key to the Mystery", 2000-2005). Borrowing much of its set-up from the author's run on 'Tif et Tondu', the main heroes of the series were the private investigator and his young assistant Keli, who run the Europe Investigation Service. The five books in the series all came with a gimmick, as the final pages of each story were sealed, inviting the readers to discover who the culprit is themselves before reading on. The final installment of the series was written by Lapière in collaboration with François Maingoval.
When Dupuis canceled 'La Clé du Mystère' as well, Sikorski switched to a more comical graphic style. Between 2007 and 2012, he teamed up with scriptwriter François Gilson to continue the gag comic 'Garage Isidore', a garage humor feature previously drawn by, subsequently, Olis and Stédo.
La Clé du Mystère #1 - 'Meurtre Sous la Manche' (2000).
Graphic contributions
In 1990, Sikorski paid graphic tribute to François Walthéry in the collective homage book 'Natacha. Special 20 Ans' (Marsu Productions, 1990), which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Walthéry's series 'Natacha'. In 1993, Sikorski also participated in two new collectively created comic books with Dino Attanasio's 'Spaghetti' character, initiated by publisher Planète BD. However, as Attanasio was never informed about the project, he sued and the books quickly disappeared from the shops. In 1994, Sikorski was one of the artists of 'Putinkon, le Retour' for P&T Production, a comic based on the Putinkon character by the French comedian Éric Thomas.
Final years and death
With three of the comic series he worked on canceled, Sikorski left the comic industry in the early 2010s. Living in the town of Ouffet, Alain Sikorski died in January 2025 at the age of 65.
'Garage Isidore' (Spirou #3744, 13 January 2010).