Burebista
Valentin Tanase is one of Romania's most prolific comic artists, who has produced around 1,000 pages, mainly in the historical and science fiction genres. After the fall of communism in 1989 he also made humor, western, detective and erotic comics. Born in Iaşi he made his debut in 1972 with the historical short story 'Dreptatea lui Cuza Vodă', created in cooperation with Dumitru Almaş for a contest held by Cutezătorii magazine. He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest in 1978. In 1980, he published 'Dracula's Birthday' in Peur, the Romanian comic magazine in the French language. He began a fruitful collaboration with the children's magazine Cutezătorii in that same year.
He illustrated series like 'Întâlnire în spaţiu' (script Horia Arama, 1980-81), 'Temerarii spaţiului' (script Sorin Stefanescu, 1982), 'Mircea, domnul Tarii Romanesti' (script Dumitru M. Ion, 1982), 'Oştenii lui Mihai Viteazu' (script Dumitru Almaş, 1983), 'Coloana fără sfârşit', a biography of Constantin Brâncuşi (script Nina Stănculescu, 1984), and 'Taina Pergamentului' (script Tudor Popescu, 1986).
Temerarii Spatiului (1982)
In 1980 he drew stories with the historical character 'Burebista' (script Vlaicu Barna, 1980), a great king of Dacians, who fought against The Roman Empire. For tax reasons, he co-signed some of his work together with his wife Liana Tanase ('Intalnire in Spatiu') or with his friend Radu Vintilescu ('Ostenii lui Mihai Viteazul'). He was additionally present in Luminiţa with 'Planeta lianelor' and 'Planeta de gheaţă', two stories written by Horia Aramă in 1983-84.
By 1991 Tanase and scriptwriter Ovidiu Zotta were present in Universul Copiilor with 'Inspectorul Florentin', 'Teacher Joe şi Malcolm Joe' and 'Procesul lui Hillary Hunt'. He also produced several comic strips in Viitorul românesc. Several of his comics were translated for Belgian fanzines like Mog Belgium (since 1994), Auracan (1995-1999) and L'Inédit (1996).
Valentin Tanase became a member of the Romanian Artists Union in 1981. His paintings have been in exhibited in Romania, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and China. He made a large mural of the arrival of Michael the Brave in Alba Iulia for the Ministry of Defence in Bucharest in 1994. He is honorary member of the Morgan cars collectors, and has made many drawings for the association's Belgian, French, English and Canadian publications. He is currently head of the Army's Plastic Arts studios and continues to work as a painter, sculptor, book illustrator and commercial artist.
Taina Pergamentului