Georges Bess
| Georges Bess | |
| Biographical information | |
| Born: | 1947 |
|---|---|
| Died: | N/A |
| Nationality: |  French
|
| Occupation: | Artist |
| Website: | N/A |
 Best Story (Sweden) 1978: "The Avenger from the Sea" | |
Georges Bess (born 1947 in Tunisia as Georges Bessis) is a French comics artist. He is known for being a Phantom artist during the 1970's and 1980's and for his collaborations with Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Biography
At the age of 18, Bess began a three-year education at an art school in Paris. He was a major in sculpting but also worked on animated films.
In the 1960's, he began to work in comics, for example for the magazine Pilote where he got to know Jean "Moebius" Giraud who taugh him more about drawing comics.
Bess moved to Sweden in 1970 where he lived for some years and drew comics for several publications including Dante, Mika, Pellefant and Anderssonskans Kalle. In 1976, he began to draw "The Phantom" for the Swedish Fantomen comic book, which he continued to do until 1987. Three of his Phantom stories were written by his future wife, Layla Gauraz.
Upon meeting Alexandro Jodorowsky in 1986, Bess began the Franco-Belgian comics phase of his career, and the two formed a productive partnership. Their collaboration began with the fairy tale-themed "Les jumeaux magiques" ("The Magical Twins") for the comics magazine Le Journal de Mickey, published as albums by Hachette.[1] Bess and Jodorowsky went on to publish a large body of work for publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés for more than a decade. They first produced the Tibetan series "Lama Blanc", on a subject that had occupied Bess since earlier travels.[2] Their next collaboration was a revival of the series "Anibal Cinq" previously drawn by Manuel Moro in the 1960's, featuring an android secret agent.[3] Their final project was the violent outlaw series "Juan Solo".
Leaving the creative partnership for the opportunity to pursue his own stories, Bess published "Escondida" in 1998, taking his work in new directions. In 1999 Bess joined with Milo Manara and Claire Wendling to illustrate the second volume of Pierre Louÿs' erotic masterpiece "Aphrodite" issued in three volumes.[4]
With his wife Layla Bess he created two albums titled "Leela et Krishna" in 2000 with publishing house Carabas, portraying ancient India.[5] In 2005, he started the series "Pema Ling" at publisher Dupuis, revisiting themes of Tibet, most recently the third volume "Yamantaka, seigneur de la mort" in 2007.
Bess currently lives on the Balearic Islands.[6]
Phantom work by Georges Bess
Stories
Team Fantomen stories
Illustrations
Fantomen Christmas Album 1981 back cover
