Serge Ernst was born in Thimister on 13 February 1954 and studied drawing, engraving, illustration and advertising at the Saint-Luc Institute in Liège. He then returned to the Institute as an illustration teacher. This was a great experience that lasted for a year.
His pleasant meetings with Didier Comès and François Walthéry encouraged him to try his luck with cartoons. In May 1975, Tintin magazine commissioned the first “Clin d’Œil”, which went on to appear every week for 15 years. Between 1981 and 1989, Éditions Lombard devoted nine albums to these large, surprising and tantalising productions.
At the same time, Ernst started producing humorous cartoons with “Les Égarés” (1977), “William Lapoire” (1978) and “Les Cases de l’Oncle Ernst” (1983).
In 1990, at Éditions de la Sablière in Paris, he published “Ciel, Mon Mardi!” with a preface by Christophe Dechavanne and, in 1991, “L’Europe en Douce”.
In 1991, he changed direction: he started working at Éditions Dupuis were he created “Les Zappeurs”, which regularly appeared in the Spirou magazine and were published in albums in 1994. Since volume 8, “Zappez manège”, he has collaborated with Janssens for the text in order to provide a greater parody of the television world of his favourite heroes.
Ernst now lives in France, though he is kind enough to visit the magazine’s editorial offices (and his relatives) at Christmas and bring them some fine bottles of wine and gastronomic specialities from his region.
