Born in Liège on November 16th, 1965, Frédéric Seron, known as “Clarke,” could do almost anything — playing instruments, speaking Spanish, composing songs in German, writing in Danish, singing in Latin… and producing an unbelievable number of comic strips every week.
After studying at the School of Fine Arts and Architecture, he went into fashion illustration before falling for comic strips while contributing to local collective publications (“Qui a tué François Walthéry” and “B.D. Mode, c’est belge”).
In 1987, he published his first personal album for publisher Khani, entitled “Rebecca – Bon anniversaire, Papy,” based on a script by another beginner, François Gilson, who hardly left his side again.
The weekly comics magazine Spirou featured his series “Cambrioleurs,” written by Crosky, and the fantasy mini-strips “Africa Jim,” illustrated by Gilson. It was with Gilson that Clarke discovered the charms of witchcraft by launching “Mélusine” in 1992. Bewitched, Dupuis quickly gave the eternal witch’s apprentice her own collection of albums.
The Humour Libre collection later allowed him to diversify his work and audience. Based on scripts by Yann, he blithely massacred the biographies of respectable authors Andersen and Perrault presented with the series “Sales petits contes” (Dirty Little Tales).
Over the years, Clarke has never stopped seeking new horizons, and the result is a body of work that features everything from political satire — as with “Mister President” (Le Lombard; Europe Comics in English) — to societal critiques, such as with his recent graphic novel “Les Danois” (Le Lombard; “The Danes,” Europe Comics).