[For some time, I’ve wanted to feature more comics artists from non-English speaking countries — particularly Belgian and French comics (bandes-dessinées) — but I’ve been put off by the challenges of providing links to images and information across language barriers. With this article, I’m going to try a method of providing both original language and Google Translate links to relevant sites and pages.]
Li-An (Jean-Michel Meyer) is a French comics artist perhaps best known for his work on The Tschai Cycle (Le Cycle de Tschaï) (Google Translate link), a multi-volume graphic album adaptation of four novels by Jack Vance (Planet of Adventure) in cooperation with writer Jean-David Morvan.
Li-An was influenced early on by French comics artists like André Franquin and Jean Giraud (Moebius – link to my articles), and his style has developed in a manner in keeping with the aesthetics of Franco-Belgian comics, a clear fresh alternative to the sometimes overworked styles in many mainstream American comics.
Li-An has also worked on numerous other comics projects, from science fiction to documentary to adaptations of classic literature, like Guy de Maupassant’s Famous short story, Boule de Suif (Translate), also with Jean-David Morvan.
Among his other documentary style graphic stories are a fictionalized account of Gauguin’s time in Tahiti (Translate), and a biography of Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain (Translate), part of a series on the history of the Guerlain perfume house.
You will find pages and images from these and other projects on Li-An’s Blog (Translate) under the heading of “Mon Travail” (My Work).
His blog in general covers other topics, including articles on other comics and comics creators, under the topic BD (bandes-dessinées) – (Translate). You can also filter the blog posts to show blog posts about Li-An’s own work (Translate), as well as some of his online comics (Translate).
Li-An’s blog is extensive, and worth exploring. Once you enter by way of a Google translate link, the system should continue to provide paths to translated pages.
