Michel Durand

Michel Durand was born in 1957. A comic artist and illustrator, he began his career at Fluide Glacial in 1979 before making his mark with distinctive artworks such as Opération Chistera (Glénat, 1985), written by René Durand; Cliff Burton (Dargaud), with writer Rodolphe; Polar Extrême, written by Alejandro Jodorowsky for Les Humanoïdes Associés; and the Cuervos series by Richard Marazano, published by Glénat. From 2005 to 2007, he worked under the pseudonym Durandur, publishing the three-volume eponymous series with Carabas. In 2009, he illustrated Michelle Génial for 12bis, based on a script by Jean-Paul Krassinsky. The following year, he joined Frank Giroud on the collective series Destins, before returning to Glénat for the two-volume Ambre Gris, a captivating nineteenth-century whaling adventure. In 2016, he released a graphic novel dedicated to Vincent van Gogh, followed in 2019 by Espèce(s), a powerful reflection on animal welfare, speciesism, and the role and limits of art in raising public awareness. After Franklin: Les Prisonniers de l'Arctique, Durand undertook his most ambitious project yet: an adaptation of Victor Hugo's The Toilers of the Sea. Executed with an intricate cross-hatching technique reminiscent of nineteenth-century engraving, this feat required years of painstaking effort and stands as an extraordinary graphic achievement.