'Les Ailes du Singe' #2 - 'Hollywoodland' (2017).
Étienne Willem was a Belgian comic creator and storyboard artist, specialized in steampunk fantasy comics, often with anthropomorphic animal characters. Starting his comic career with the Swiss publisher Paquet, he wrote and drew series like 'Vieille Bruyère et Bas de Soie' (2004-2007), 'L'Epée d'Ardenois' (2010-2015) and 'Les Ailes du Singe' (2016-2019). By the time he moved over to publisher Bamboo and its Drakoo imprint, he began working with scriptwriters like Jack Manini and Pierre Pevel for the series 'La Fille de l'Exposition Universelle' (2018-2021), 'Les Artilleuses' (2020-2021) and 'Le Paris des Merveilles' (2022-2023).
Early life and career
Étienne Willem was born in 1972 in the industrial Walloon city of Charleroi. He showed an early interest for history and steampunk, but also dreamed of becoming a comic artist; interests he could combine later in life. After studying History at the University of Liège, he graduated with a degree in Romance Philology (the study of languages, literatures, and cultures of areas that speak Romance languages). However, instead of pursuing an academic career, Willem turned to the arts. As an artist, he was fully self-taught.
Animation career
In 1997, Willem began working as a storyboard artist and supervisor with Studio 352, an animation and video production company in the province of Luxembourg. Through the studio, he has been part of the art department on TV series like 'Liberty's Kids' (2002), 'Strawberry Shortcake' (2003), 'Trollz' (2005), 'Dino Squad' (2007), 'Horseland' (2006-2008) and 'Tara Duncan' (2010). Later on, he was a layout artist on the animated feature films 'Ethel and Ernest' (2016), based on the Raymond Briggs graphic novel, and 'The Breadwinner' (2017), both produced by Melusine Productions.
'Vieille Bruyère et Bas de Soie' #3 - 'Le Cercueil des Souvenirs' (2007).
Comics at Paquet
Through his work in animation, Étienne Willem trained both his drawing techniques and storytelling skills, eventually allowing him to start working as a comic creator in his spare time. For his first project, he took inspiration from 19th century and early 20th-century whodunnits by John Dickson Carr, Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Set in 1930s England, 'Vieille Bruyère et Bas de Soie' (2004-2007) stars the elderly Inspector Arbuckle and his young assistant, Miss MacMillan. Willem's first series was picked up by the Swiss publisher Philippe Paquet, who released three books.
For the same publisher, Willem subsequently wrote and drew 'L'Epée d'Ardenois' ("The Sword of Ardenois", four volumes, 2010-2015) and 'Les Ailes du Singe' ("The Monkey's Wings", three volumes, 2016-2019), both animal adventure comics set in historical eras, the first one in a small medieval village, the second in 1930s USA during the Great Depression.
'La Fille de l'Exposition Universelle' #3 - 'Paris 1878' (2021).
Comics at Bamboo
In 2018, Étienne Willem switched publishers, and joined the Belgian company Éditions Bamboo. By then, he also began collaborations with scriptwriters, starting with Jack Manini for the trilogy 'La Fille de l'Exposition Universelle' ("The Girl of the World Expo", 2018-2021). In each of the stand-alone detective stories, Julie Petit-Clou plays the leading role against the backdrop of one of the World Expos in Paris, successively in 1855, 1867 and 1878. In every episode, she is a little older. The series was supposed to be nine albums, but came to an end after three.
Joining Bamboo's Drakoo fantasy imprint, Willem's next collaboration was with his friend Pierre Pevel, a fantasy and sci-fi novelist specialized in alternative history. Their first series was 'Les Artilleuses' ("The Gunners", three volumes, 2020-2021), a crime mystery comic in a steampunk version of 1911 Paris. The comic's setting originated from Pevel's novel series 'Le Paris des Merveilles' ("The Paris of Wonders"), where Paris is inhabited by mystical creatures such as fairies, wizards, gnomes and dragons. Among other wonders, the Eiffel Tower is made of white wood, the Champs-Élysées is lined with trees that have leaves glowing in the dark, and a metro line leads straight to Ambremer, the capital of the Fairytale World. Between 2022 and 2023, Pevel and Willem also adapted the original novel series into the comic book format, resulting in the diptych 'Les Enchantements d'Ambremer'.
Les Artilleuses (2021).
Graphic contributions
In 2005, Étienne Willem was one of the contributors to the tribute art book 'Lanfeust Par Ses Amis', celebrating Scotch Arleston and Didier Tarquin's popular high fantasy comic series. Ten years later, he also participated in the book 'Népal, 25 Avril 2015' (Zand Plein, 2015), of which the profits went to the victims of the 25 April 2015 earthquake in Nepal.
Recognition and legacy
In 2017, Étienne Willem was awarded the "Grand Prize of Walloon Comics". Several of his series also appeared in Dutch translation. Known for his expressive artwork, revealing his background in animation, Étienne Willem also openly expressed his passion for steampunk by appearing in genre costumes at events. Based in Saint-Pierre, a town in the province of Luxembourg, Willem posted his final sketch on his Facebook page on 14 June 2024. He committed suicide two days later, on the 16th. He was 51 years old.
Following his sudden death, the online comic community responded in shock. Drakoo publisher Christophe Arleston gave the following statement: "Étienne was 51 years old, an extraordinary talent as a storyteller matched with the modesty of the truly great, magnificent drawing skills, an improbable collection of kilts, an inexhaustible kindness, an immense culture, sublime whiskeys, a beard which sometimes had a life of its own, a low, hearty laugh and eyes sparkling with this strange mixture of mischief and despair which made him someone rare and precious."
Étienne Willem, photographed in 2017.