Quick Facts
Biography
Hermann Huppen (born 17 July 1938) is a Belgian comic book artist. He is better known under his pen-name Hermann. He is most famous for his post-apocalyptic comic Jeremiah which was made into a television series.
Biography
Hermann was born in 1938 in Bévercé (now a part of Malmedy) in Liège Province. After studying to become a furniture maker and working as interior architect, Hermann made his debut as comic book artist in 1964 in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou with a four-page story. Greg noticed his talent and offered him to work for his studio. In 1966, he began illustrating the Bernard Prince series written by Greg, published in Tintin magazine. In 1969, also in collaboration with Greg, he began the western series Comanche. This appeared at the same time as other western series such as Blueberry.
Hermann began writing his own stories in 1977, starting the post-apocalyptic Jeremiah series, which is still produced today. In the same period, he also made three albums of Nick, inspired by Little Nemo in Slumberland, for Spirou. In 1983 he began a new series, Les Tours de Bois-Maury, which is set in the Middle Ages and is less focused on action than his other works.
Hermann has also created many non-series graphic novels sometimes together with his son Yves H. One of them, Lune de Guerre, with a story by Jean Van Hamme, was later filmed as The Wedding Party by Dominique Deruddere.
Hermann is characterized by a realistic style and stories that are both somber and angry, with a sense of disillusion with regards to the human character in general, and current society more specifically.
Selected bibliography
Most of these comics have been published in French and Dutch: other translations are noted in the "remarks" column.
| Series | Years | Volumes | Written by | Editor | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bernard Prince | 1969–1980 | 14 | Greg | Le Lombard and Dargaud | Translated into German; Translated into Danish; Translated into Serbian; Translated into Swedish; Translated into Tamil by Lion Comics |
| Comanche | 1972–1983 | 10 | Greg | Le Lombard and Dargaud | Continued by Rouge for four more stories; Translated into Serbian; Translated into Tamil by Lion Comics |
| Jugurtha | 1975–1977 | 2 | Vernal | RTP, Le Lombard and Dargaud | |
| Jeremiah | 1979- | 33 | Hermann | Fleurus, Edi-3, Novedi, Hachette, and Dupuis | Translated into Serbian; volumes 1 & 4 translated into English and published by Fantagraphics in 1983 under the titles The Survivors: Talons of Blood and The Survivors: The Eyes That Burned; Jeremiah 13: Strike published by Catalan Communications in 1990. Jeremiah: Gun in the Water and Jeremiah: Mercenaries published by Strip Art Features (SAF) in 2002 and 2003. A new series began in March 2012, collecting 3 of the original French language tomes in each hardcover edition; the series is being simultaneously published in English (as The Jeremiah Omnibus by SAF and Dark Horse Comics), German (as Jeremiah Integrale by Kult Editionen), Italian (as Jeremiah. Ediz. integrale by Linea Chiara), and Spanish (as Jeremiah Integral by Planeta DeAgostini Cómics). |
| Alerte aux pirates | 1980 | 1 | Yves Duval and Step | Bédéscope | |
| Les Dalton | 1980 | 1 | Yves Duval | Bédéscope | |
| Hey, Nick! Are you dreaming | 1981–1983 | 3 | Morphée | Dupuis | Translated into English by SAF Comics 2003 |
| Les Tours de Bois-Maury (The Towers of Bois-Maury) | 1984–2006 | 14 | Hermann | Glénat | Volume 12 written by his son Yves H.: translated into Danish, published in English by Titan Books Volume 13 also written by Yves H. |
| Abominations | 1988 | 1 | Hermann | Glénat | Published in English in 1990 by Catalan Communications |
| Missié Vandisandi | 1991 | 1 | Hermann | Dupuis | |
| Sarajevo Tango | 1995 | 1 | Hermann | Dupuis | The first book Hermann made in direct color. |
| Le secret des hommes-chiens | 1995 | 1 | Yves Huppen | Dupuis | First collaboration with his son Yves |
| Caatinga | 1997 | 1 | Hermann | Le Lombard | |
| Wild bill is Dead | 1999 | 1 | Hermann | Dupuis | Translated into English by SAF Comics 2003 |
| Liens de sang | 2000 | 1 | Yves H. | Le Lombard | Published in English by Dark Horse Comics |
| Lune de guerre | 2000 | 1 | Jean Van Hamme | Dupuis | |
| Manhattan Beach 1957 | 2002 | 1 | Yves H. | Le Lombard | Translated into English by SAF Comics 2003 |
| Zhong Guo | 2003 | 1 | Yves H. | Dupuis | |
| The girl from Ipanema | 2005 | 1 | Yves H. | Le Lombard | Translated to Danish |
| Sur les traces de Dracula : Vlad l'empaleur | 2006 | 1 | Yves H. | Casterman | Translated to Danish; Translated into Serbian |
| La vie exagérée de l'Homme Nylon | 2007 | 1 | Hans-Michael Kirstein | Le Lombard | |
| Afrika | 2007 | 1 | Hermann | Le Lombard | Danish translation by Faraos Cigarer |
| Le diable des sept mers | 2008–2009 | 2 | Yves H. | Dupuis | |
| Une nuit de pleine lune | 2011 | 1 | Yves H. | Glénat | - |
Awards
- 1973: Prix Saint-Michel, Belgium
- 1980: Prix Saint-Michel
- 1992: Best Long Comic Strip at the Haxtur Awards, Spain
- 1999: nominated for Best Drawing and Best Cover at the Haxtur Awards
- 2001: Best Drawing at the Haxtur Awards
- 2002: Grand Prix Saint-Michel
- 2003: nominated for the Audience Award and the Artwork Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France
- 2005: nominated for the Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
- 2006: nominated for Best Comic (French language) at the Prix Saint-Michel
- 2010: nominated for Best Artwork at the Prix Saint-Michel