The Artists

Enrico Marini, an Italian national, was born in Switzerland, where he studied illustration at the Basel Academy of Fine Arts. His style is influenced by American comics, Italian fumetti, French bande dessinée and Japanese manga, and he is an admirer of authors such as Milton Caniff, Alex Toth, John Romita Sr., Mike Mignola, Hermann, Jordi Bernet, Hergé, Giraud and Otomo. His career was launched at the 1987 Festival de la Bande Dessinée in Sierre, where he would compete with the most promising emerging talents. His own talent was recognized immediately, and he was entrusted with his first series, Olivier Varèse, based on a script by Thierry Smolderen, produced by Alpen Publishing. In 1992, Marini and Smolderen tried their hand at something