Marc Michetz

Born in 1951 in Ixelles, Michetz made his debut in comic art in the mid-1970s at Jean Graton’s studio. He published his first comic strips in 1977 in Le Journal de Tintin, after helping to create the Michel Vaillant stories, and produced his first solo comics, Mutsuro, and Hito le banni, which already reflected his love of Asian culture. Passionate about martial arts and a practitioner of judo, kendo, and iaido, Michetz created, in collaboration with Bosse, the character of Kogaratsu—a young samurai in love with the Shogun’s niece—who eventually leaves his homeland to become a rōnin, a wandering warrior stripped of his samurai title. Over the course of its publication, the series established a lasting presence in the Franco-Belgian comic scene. In the early 1990s, immersed in the country that inspired his work, Michetz published a portfolio titled Japon and, in collaboration with Yann, created an intimate historical series titled Tako (Glénat). Starting in the 2000s, Michetz’s publications became less frequent as he traveled extensively in Japan and refined his meticulous and inspired art style. In 2014, 30 years after their debut, Bosse and Michetz published the 13^th volume of Kogaratsu, which had become a classic historical adventure comic. Passionate about Japanese history and culture, Mitchez, the co-creator of Kogaratsu, is undoubtedly a master of illustration and one of the most renowned figures in the genre.