'Masquerouge' #5.
Marco Venanzi is a Belgian creator, specialized in historical comics. He is best known for succeeding André Juillard on the 'Masquerouge' series (1992-2004) and for writing and drawing new albums in Jacques Martin's classic series 'Alix'. He has regularly worked in a steady collaboration with Michel Pierret, most notably on a series of comics by commission of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.
Early life and career
Marco Venanzi was born in 1963 in Rome into an Italian family of artists. When he was one year old, his parents emigrated to Belgium, where he grew up in Liège. Having a cultural upbringing, Venanzi enjoyed visiting museums and reading historical comics like Jacques Martin's 'Alix'. Marco's younger brothers are the publisher Luca Venanzi (b. 1967) and the Belgian entrepreneur and former football manager Bruno Venanzi (b. 1970).
In 1986 and 1987, after studying Illustration and Comic Art at the Institut Saint-Luc in Liège, Venanzi created his first historical short stories for the comic magazines Tintin and Tintin Reporter in collaboration with scriptwriter Michel Dusart. Besides comics, Venanzi's further work has included illustrations for children's magazines like Je Bouquine, as well as press cartoons and advertising work.
'Masquerouge' #9. Dutch-language version.
Masquerouge
In 1990, Venanzi appeared in Vécu, the magazine with historical comics by Éditions Glénat, drawing the short story 'Heure de la Curée', written by Rodolphe. Two years later, still at Glénat, Venanzi had his professional breakthrough as the new artist of 'Masquerouge', a historical series written by Patrick Cothias about a masked vigilante in 17th-century France. The stories are set against the religious wars that plagued the country during that period. During the early 1980s, the three initial stories of the series had been drawn by André Juillard and were serialized in Pif Gadget magazine (1980-1982) and published in book format by Glénat in 1984. Cothias and Juillard then dropped the series to create 'Les 7 Vies de L'Épervier' (1983-1991) for Circus magazine, a prequel saga set in the same universe. Aimed at a more mature audience, 'Les 7 Vies de l'Épervier' was a landmark in French historical comics for its focus on character-driven plots instead of time periods. The success prompted Cothias to create spin-off series focusing on different characters from the original cycle. This included a relaunch of 'Masquerouge', for which Venanzi was brought in as the artist. Between 1992 and 2004, Venanzi worked with writer Cothias on seven new volumes.
Historical comics
In addition to his work with Cothias, Venanzi also undertook some other projects. With writer Michel Dusart, he made a comic book about Abbé Edouard Froidure (1899-1971) for the Durbuy-based comics label Coccinelle BD in 1992. It told the true story of a Belgian Catholic priest who survived the Dachau concentration camp and later initiated several welfare projects against poverty and social exclusion. For the same imprint, Venanzi explored the actual life of Jesus Christ in the fictional story 'Auriac' (2002), about a Celtic doctor in search of his friend Nessim. The story was written by Benoît Despas, and drawn in collaboration with Alain Sikorsksi. For the Glénat collection 'Histoires et Mystères', Venanzi additionally produced the album 'La Confrerie des Chevaliers de l'Orge' (1993) with writer Laurence Frelin.
'Hidalgos' #1. Dutch-language version.
Collaborations with Michel Pierret
With the 'Masquerouge' series coming to an end, Marco Venanzi began a regular collaboration with writer and fellow artist Michel Pierret. Their first joint creation was 'Hidalgos', a historical fiction about Miguel de Cervantès, the writer of 'Don Quixote'. Two books were published in Glénat's Vécu collection in 2003 and 2007. From a script by Alexis Nolent, Venanzi and Pierret joined art duties on the celebrity comic about soccer player Zinedine Zidane (Casterman, 2005). They additionally worked on several contemporary albums for Casterman by commission of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group, the liberal-centrist political group of the European Parliament. These have included 'Opération Dragon Rouge' (script by Thierry Robberecht, 2006), 'Le Protocole Aïda' (script by Yannick Laude, 2008), 'Tempête Sur la Finance Verte' (script by Alain-Germain Laubry, 2011), 'La Chute de la Dame en Blanc' (script by Yannick Laude, 2013) and 'Complot Contre L'Union' (script by Yannick Laude, 2018).
'The Aïda Protocol' and 'Tempête Sur La Finance Verte'.
Jacques Martin series
In 2008, Venanzi illustrated an educational book about the Templars, which appeared as the seventh volume in Jacques Martin's collection 'Les Voyages de Jhen'. Since 2010, he has also provided artwork for the similar collection 'Les Voyages d'Alix'. In the same year, Marco Venanzi first collaborated on Jacques Martin's signature comic series 'Alix'. His first album was the 29th installment, 'Le Testament de César', for which he provided both script and artwork. In later years, he has provided the artwork for more albums in the series, 'L'Ombre de Sarapis' (script by François Corteggiani, 2012) and 'L'Or de Saturne' (script by Pierre Valmour, 2016).
Alix - 'Le Testament de César'. Dutch-language version.
Le Dépisteur
With writer Antoine Ozanam, Marco Venanzi has worked on the diptych 'Le Dépisiteur' (Glénat, 2023), a historical series featuring a group of former Jewish scouts searching for Jewish children hidden in France during the Second World War.
Regional work
Based since 2008 in the Villers-le-Temple district of the town of Nandrin, Marco Venanzi has worked at the Armageddon atelier in nearby Liège, which he shares with the comic artists Batem, Clarke, Marc-Renier, Benoît Ers, Ludo Borecki, Johan Pilet, Corentin Longrée and Mathieu Barthélémy. Together with Michel Dusart, Marco Venanzi has supervised the local history comic project 'Histoires et Légendes en Condroz' (2011), a comic strip created by 52 students from the independent school of Nandrin and the municipal schools of Villers-le-Temple and St Séverin. He has additionally participated in regional collective comic projects, such as the anthologies 'Folklore Wallon en Bulles' (Dricot, 2010) and 'Il Était une Fois 1914' (Abbaye de Stavelot, 2014).
'Le Dépisiteur' (2023).