Olivier Schwartz

Olivier Schwartz was born in 1963 in Nogent-sur-Marne. A self-taught artist, his style is inspired by the “Néo-Ligne Claire" (New Clear Line) movement, led by Yves Chaland. He made his debut in 1983 in the fanzine Plein la gueule pour pas un rond (A Faceful of Hits for Nothing), then created his first children’s comics for Milan, in collaboration with scriptwriters Claude Ecken and Christian Goux. At the same time, commissioned by Astrapi magazine, he began illustrating the Inspector Bayard mysteries in 1988—primarily written by Jean-Louis Fonteneau—a series he continued until 2010. Eighteen volumes were published. He also drew games and quizzes, created historical comic strips for most children’s magazines, and illustrated novels or encyclopedias. Spotted by writer Yann, he fulfilled a dream by drawing a Spirou and Fantasio adventure in the series An Adventure of Spirou and Fantasio by… Released in 2009, Le Groom vert-de-gris (The Green-Grey Bellboy) became one of the biggest hits of this spin-off series published by Dupuis. This was followed by the first volume of Gringos Locos (Dupuis) in 2012, recounting the great and true adventure of Jijé, Franquin and Morris in the United States and Mexico. Then, in 2014, La Femme-léopard (The Leopard Woman, volume 7), and in 2017, Le Maître des hosties noires (The Master of the Black Wafers, volume 11)—the second and third adventures of Spirou and Fantasio by… created by Yann and Schwartz. Today Olivier Schwartz is one of the mainstays of Le Journal de Spirou. In 2016, he created a short story for the 60th volume of Les Tuniques bleues (The Bluecoats, published by Dupuis). Most recently, he took on the character of Gaston Lagaffe to create one of the 60 stories in the album La Galerie des Gaffes (The Gallery of Goofs, published by Dupuis, 2017), a special edition released to mark the character’s 60th anniversary. He has created a total of five Spirou and Fantasio albums, including the last two in the main series, La Mort de Spirou (Spirou's Death, 2022) and La Mémoire du Futur (2024).