Sparte #2 - 'Ignorer Toujours La Douleur'.
Christophe Simon is a Belgian comic artist and painter, specialized in historical comics. He is best known as a co-worker of Jacques Martin, continuing several of his series, such as 'Orion' (1998), 'Lefranc' (2001-2002) and 'Alix' (2006-2011). With Patrick Weber he subsequently created his own series set in antiquity, 'Sparte' (Lombard, 2011), about the ancient city of Sparta.
Orion #3 - 'Le Pharaon'.
Early life
Christophe Simon was born in 1974 in Namur, and had an early interest in travelling and history. His two passions found common ground when he first visited ancient Italy. He is passionate about the academic classicism of antiquity and has directed his artwork in this direction. He attended comics courses by Vittorio Leonardo at the Academy of Fine Arts in Châtelet. He also spent one year studying art history and archaeology.
Jacques Martin
In 1993 he started working for Jacques Martin, the Franco-Belgian expert of well-documented historical comics. He assisted Rafael Moralès on the artwork of the 24th album of Martin's signature series 'Alix' ('Les Barbares', 1998), and succeeded Martin as the artist of 'Orion', a series set during Greek Antiquity, following the adventures of the Athenian youngster Orion. He only drew the third album ('Le Pharaon', 1998) and it wasn't until 2011 that a fourth album appeared, drawn by Marc Jailloux.
Lefranc #15 - 'El Paradisio'.
Simon drew the second volume of the spin-off diptych 'L'Odyssée d'Alix' (1999), of which the first installment had appeared in 1987. In 2001 and 2002 he illustrated two albums of Jacques Martin's more contemporary series 'Lefranc', succeeding Gilles Chaillet. For the backgrounds he got assistance from Olivier Pâques. In turn, he assisted Pâques on the backgrounds of the first album of 'Loïs' in 2003. Simon additionally participated in the creation of Jacques Martin's book about the history of the Alsace region, in collaboration with writer Georges Bischoff ('Histoire d'Alsace', 2001). By 2006 he was appointed lead artist of 'Alix', succeeding Moralès from the album 'C'était à Khorsabad' (2006). At this point Jacques Martin's personal involvement slowed down, and François Maingoval and Patrick Weber were brought in as scriptwriters. Simon made three albums until 2008, with additional background art provided by Cédric Hervan and Manuela Jumet. After that, additional artists like Ferry, Marco Venanzi and Marc Jailloux also alternated on the artwork, with Simon contributing another album with scriptwriter Michel Lafon ('La Conjuration de Baal', 2011). In the spin-off series 'Les Voyages d'Alix', Simon drew the album 'Alexander Le Conquérant' (2009) with Marc Daniëls and Rik De Wulf as assistants.
Alix #26 - 'L'Ibère'.
Sparte
In 2011, Simon and Patrick Weber moved away from Jacques Martin's productions and created their own historical series at Le Lombard. 'Sparte' is set in the second century before Christ, when the legendary city of Sparta was plunged into decadence under leadership of the troubled King Nibis. Agésilas is the charismatic leader of a resistance movement that wants to restore Sparta in its former glory. The war wages on when Nibis sends the bounty hunter Diodorus after the brave resistance leader, who, unbeknownst to anyone, is actually a woman!
Ella Mahé
In 2012, Simon additionally worked with Jean-François and Maryse Charles on the fourth album in their fantasy series 'Ella Mahé'. The previous installments had been illustrated by Charles in cooperation with André Taymans, Francis Carin and Brice Goepfert.
Graphic homages
Simon and writer Jean van Hamme paid homage to Paul Cuvelier by creating a new adventure of 'Corentin' named 'Les Perles de Sa-Skya' (Le Lombard, 2016), which won the Prix Saint-Michel for "Best Album".
Corentin - 'Les Perles de Sa-Skya' (2016).