André Juillard developed a passion for comic books at a very young age. As a child, he’d devour the weekly Tintin mag. Without even realizing it, he became a specialist in the ‘ligne claire’ style through his reading of Hergé, Jacobs, Martin and Bob De Moor at the height of their talent. His second great influence was his high school history book, especially the bit about Antiquity. His passions ended up transforming him into a modern author who draws on the past.
Once he’d finished school in 1967, he signed up for the school of Decorative Arts in Paris, where he met Martin Veyron and Jean-Claude Denis. In 1974, he started out with a western, written by Claude Verrien, who also wrote “Les Aventures chevaleresques de Bohémond de Saint-Gilles” for Juillard’s art work. Educated amateurs were, at the time, the great hope of realist comic books.
In 1978, he started a fruitful collaboration with Patrick Cothias with “Masquerouge,” published in Pif Gadget. In 1982 the pair published the first pages of “Sept Vies de l’Épervier,” which was at once classified as a “classic of modern comics.” Juillard created a whole new trend of realist historical comic books. He inspired a movement. And he, humble as ever, continued on his way.
Like all great illustrators, he also tried his hand at writing the tale himself to which he’d then put the images. Thus he published the intimate “Cahier Bleu” that won him the prize for best album at Angouleme Festival 1995. The next year, he received the festival’s Grand Prix.
The first cycle of “Sept Vies de l’Épervier” came to a close after seven albums with Glénat publishing. But the gorgeous Arianne de Troil was so missed by her creators and her public, that she came back as the leading lady of “Plume-aux-vents” published by Dargaud. In 2014 “Quinze ans après,” launched the third cycle of the Epervier series.
In the late 80s, Juillard was asked if he’d like to get on board with the most famous detective pair of Franco-Belgian comics: Blake and Mortimer. He turned down the opportunity, not yet feeling quite up to the challenge. Nonetheless, in 1998 he created a collection called ‘Le Dernier Chapitre,” with his old accomplice Didier Convard, featuring 4 one-shots narrating the final adventure of the most famous heroes of Franco-Belgian comics. Naturally, an opus was reserved for Philip Mortimer and Francis Blake. The moment of truth came in 2000, when he did the artwork for Yves Sente’s script of the 14th Blake and Mortimer, “La Machination Voronov.” In 2003 the same team published the first volume of the two-part series “Les Sarcophages du 6e continent,” followed only a year later by the second volume. In 2016, still with Yves Sente, was released a new opus of the adventures of Blake and Mortimer: “Le Testament de William S.”
Aside from his contribution to the Blake and Mortimer series, he’s worked with numerous well-know writers such as Pierre Christin on “Léna” and Yann on “Mezek” (2011 Le Lombard, 2016 Europe Comics).
