La Rose de Jéricho #1 - 'Premier Jour' (1995).
Uriel is the pen name of the French comic creator and character designer Michel Gibrat. For the publishing house Vents d'Ouest, he created the two-volume graphic novel 'La Rose de Jéricho' (1995, 2000).
Life and career
Not much is known about Michel Gibrat, except that he is a brother of comic creator Jean-Pierre Gibrat. Like his brother, he was presumably born in Paris, and raised in Rueil-Malmaison into a family of unionists. While during the 1980s and 1990s Jean-Pierre Gibrat developed himself into one of the foremost French comic creators, Michel's excursion into the medium has remained limited. Under the pen name Uriel, he created the fantastical detective story 'La Rose de Jéricho', of which two volumes were published by Vents d'Ouest (1995, 2000).
'La Rose de Jéricho'.
Set a few months before the Second World War, the young physicist Adrien Sevrand is preparing to scientifically prove the existence of the Afterlife. However, to complete his experiment, he lacks one last piece, the Rose of Jericho. When he recognizes it among the pieces gathered at an exhibition at the Grand Palais, he decides to steal it. Assisting Adrien on his mission is his friend Ursula Münder, who fled Nazi Germany and works in Paris as a "Lady Burglar". They soon discover they are not the only ones who are after this precious and mysterious artefact.
In the mid-2000s, Uriel was supposed to become the artist for the fourth volume of the collective comic book series 'Quintett' by scriptwriter Frank Giroud. However, he had to back out of the project for health reasons, and his role was taken over by Jean-Charles Kraehn. Some of the character studies and storyboards he had already made were included in a special volume with background dossier, 'La Colline aux Serments' (2009). That same book also contained sketches by TBC, who was supposed to draw volume five, but also had to cancel his commitment to the series. Besides Kraehn, the other artists of the 'Quintett' series were Paul Gillon, Cyril Bonin, Steve Cuzor and Giancarlo Alessandrini.
La Rose de Jéricho #1 - 'Dernier Jour' (2000).