Spellbound

Jose Luis Munuera was born in 1972 in Southern Spain. After studying Fine Arts at the University of Granada, he became an illustrator of ‘historietas', as comics are called in Spain. But the 90s would prove a difficult period for newspapers and comic book publishing. This pushed Munuera to leave Spain for Angoulême. His hard work convinced Delcourt to publish his first series, with Joann Sfar as the writer. Together they created the series Les Potamoks. When it met with limited success, the dynamic duo pitched their work to another publisher: Dargaud. And thus came into being the adventures of Merlin, the famous magician who was never far from loyal companions Tartine the ogre and Jambon the pig. The series captured quite an audience, and when Sfar no longer had time to produce the scripts, their ongoing adventures were penned by Jean-David Morvan. This would be the beginning of a long artistic partnership between Munuera and Morvan. The science-fiction bestseller by Morvan and Buchet, Sillage (Delcourt), was transformed through Munuera's artwork into a children's series called Nävis, which ran for six issues. Meanwhile, Dupuis Publishing contacted the Morvan-Munuera duo to take on the reboot of its franchise character: Spirou. With Le Signe de Lune, co-written with his friend Enrique Bonet, Munuera really came into his own; the series published as part of the ‘Long Courier' collection by Dargaud, received rave reviews from both critics and the public at large. To this day his productive collaborations continue with the series Sortilèges (Spellbound), scripted by Jean Dufaux, and Fraternity, scripted by Juan Diaz Canales, for which the compilation was released in 2014 by Dargaud.

Jean Dufaux has always told stories that bring together words and images. Initially attracted by the 7th art, he studied film production at the Institut des Arts et Diffusion in Brussels. But words remained such an important part of his life that he became a journalist, playwright and novelist, before once and for all embracing his true calling as a comic book author. Over his career, Jean Dufaux has produced a massive body of work, comprising some 200 titles and counting. His work is original and fiercely independent of trends, holding more complexity than might be apparent at first glance: "Complainte des landes perdues" (Dargaud, "Lament of the Lost Moors" Cinebook), "Double masque" (Dargaud, "Game of Masks" Europe Comics), "Murena" (Dargaud, Europe Comics in English), "Rapaces" (Dargaud, "Raptors" Europe Comics), "Djinn" (Dargaud, Europe Comics in English), "Croisade" (Le Lombard, "Crusade" Cinebook), "Barracuda" (Dargaud, Cinebook in English), "Sortilèges" (Dargaud, "Spellbound" Europe Comics), "Loup de Pluie" (Dargaud, "Rain Wolf" Europe Comics), Dixie Road (Dargaud, Europe Comics in English), "Saga Valta" (Le Lombard, Europe Comics in English), "Conquistador" (Glénat)... The list goes on. This immense mosaic that rejects neither the exhilaration of the paperback novel nor the narrative ellipses of cinema aims above all to be a work of pleasure and of enchantment, in the fantastic and occult sense of the term. His wildly successful series, selling millions of copies and garnering numerous prizes and awards, have been published across Europe, Japan, and the United States. Jean Dufaux is president of the jury for the Diagonale Prize, awarded annually in Belgium to outstanding comic book artists, and in France Jean Dufaux was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009.