Born on 6 December 1950, Michel De Bom, known as Bom, studied advertising at the Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Brussels before turning to writing. In the mid 1970s, he took the first steps towards this in Spirou with a new wave of young authors (Watch, Dédé and Bosse) with whom he attempted to launch a monthly publication entitled Zazou, which only lasted one issue.
He wrote the scripts for the stop-comics of “Déboussolés” for Watch, produced gags and whole stories for “Alcofribas et O’Trus” with Dédé and increased the number of articles on the mysteries of our planet.
In 1978, he wrote adventure serials for “Flagada” by Degotte and launched the fantasy gorilla “Big Joe” with Malik.
Bom was a fond companion to a capricious black cat which he introduced into the world of “Broussaille” and channelled the poetic fantasy of his cartoonist friend Frank into meticulously constructed long stories.
It was at Tintin that he created a great many scripts and characters from 1980 onwards, with a veritable army of cartoonists such as Walli (“Modeste et Pompon”, “Chlorophylle”, “Gil Sinclair”), Sidney (“Julie, Claire et Cécile”), Patrice Cadot (“Yvain et Yvon”, “Chaffoux'”), Urbain (“Katy Brizard”), Crisse (“Nahomi”), Drèze (“Louis Valmont”), Rodrigue (“Les Conspirateurs”), Thierry Caiman (“Sylvain de Rochefort”), etc.
A keen reader of Cami, Bom is one of the best humorists of his generation, developing popular scripts, relying both on a clear gift of perceptiveness and a real love of original and effective endings.
