BILAL, Enki 1951-

PERSONAL:

Born 1951, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia; immigrated to France, 1960. Education: Attended Academie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Humanoids Publishing, P.O. Box 901658, Los Angeles, CA 90093.

CAREER:

Writer, illustrator, set designer, and film director. Designed scenery for films La Vie est un roman and The Keep, both 1983.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Book of the Year, Lire magazine, 1992, for Cold Equator; special mention for film's artistic quality and visual concept, Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film, 1997, for Tykho Moon.

WRITINGS:

GRAPHIC NOVELS

L'Appel des étoiles, Minoustchine (New York, NY), 1975, expanded version published as Le Bol maudit, Futuropolis (Paris, France), 1982.

Mémoires d'outre-espace, Dargaud (Paris, France), 1978, translation published as Outer States, Catalan Communications (New York, NY), 1990, published as Memories of Outer Space, Humanoids Publishing (Los Angeles, CA), 2002.

(Illustrator) Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Exterminateur 17, Les Humanoïdes Associés (Geneva, Switzerland), 1979, translation published as Exterminator 17, Catalan Communications (New York, NY), 1986.

(With others) Paris sera toujours Paris (collective work), Futuropolis (Paris, France), 1981.

Crux universalis, Les Humanoïdes Associés (Geneva, Switzerland), 1982.

Die Mauer, Futuropolis (Paris, France), 1982.

(With Jean-Pierre Thévenet) Images pour un film ("La Vie est un roman," by Alain Resnais), Dargaud (Paris, France), 1983.

(Illustrator, with Jacques Tardi and Georges Pichard) Dominique Grange, Grange bleue, Futuropolis (Paris, France), 1985.

(With Jacques Tardi and Georges Pichard) L'Etat des stocks, Futuropolis (Paris, France), 1986.

(With Patrick Cauvin) Hors jeu, Autrement (Paris, France), 1987.

Bleu sang, Christian Desbois (Paris, France), 1994.

Mémoires d'autres temps, Les Humanoïdes Associés (Geneva, Switzerland), 1996.

(With Dan Franck, Fabienne Renault, and Isi Véléris) Tykho Moon: Livre d'un film, Christian Desbois (Paris, France), 1996.

Le Sommeil du monstre, Les Humanoïdes Associés (Geneva, Switzerland), 1999, translation published as The Dormant Beast, Humanoids Publishing (Los Angeles, CA), 2002.

(With Dan Franck) Un Siècle d'amour, Fayard (Paris, France), 2000.

Trente-deux Décembre, Les Humanoïdes Associés (Geneva, Switzerland), 2002, translation published as December 32nd, Humanoids Publishing (Los Angeles, CA), 2003.

GRAPHIC NOVELS; "NIKOPOL" TRILOGY

La Foire aux immortels, Dargaud (Paris, France), 1980, translation published as Gods in Chaos, Catalan Communications (New York, NY), 1988.

La Femme piège, Dargaud (Paris, France), 1986, translation published as The Woman Trap, Catalan Communications (New York, NY), 1988.

Froid équateur (title means "Cold Equator"), Les Humanoïdes Associés (Geneva, Switzerland), 1992.

La Trilogie Nikopole (contains La Foire aux immortels, La Femme piège, and Froid équateur), Les Humanoïdes Associés (Geneva, Switzerland), 1995, translation by Taras Otus and Justin Kelly published as The Nikopol Trilogy (contains The Carnival of Immortals [alternate title of Gods in Chaos], The Woman Trap, and Cold Equator), Humanoids Publishing (Los Angeles, CA), 2001.

ILLUSTRATOR; GRAPHIC NOVELS; TEXT BY PIERRE CHRISTIN

La Croisière des oubliés, Dargaud (Paris, France), 1975.

Le Vaisseau de Pierre, Dargaud (Paris, France), 1976.

La Ville qui n'existait pas, Dargaud (Paris, France), 1977, translation published as The Town That Didn't Exist, Catalan Communications (New York, NY), 1988.

Les Phalanges de l'Ordre Noir, Dargaud (Paris, France), 1979, translation published as The Black Order Brigade, Humanoids Publishing (Los Angeles, CA), 1989.

Partie de chasse, Dargaud (Paris, France), 1983, translation published as The Hunting Party, Humanoids Publishing (Los Angeles, CA), 1990.

Los Angeles: L'Étoile oubliée de Laurie Blum, Autrement (Paris, France), 1984.

Coeurs sanglants et autres fairs divers, Autrement (Paris, France), 1988.

Après le mur (collective work), Les Humanoïdes Associés (Geneva, Switzerland), 1990.

Le Sarcophage, Dargaud (Paris, France), 2001.

SCREENPLAYS, AND DIRECTOR

(With Pierre Christin) Bunker Palace Hôtel, AFC, 1989.

(With Dan Franck) Tykho Moon, Nova Films, 1996.

Immortel (based on La Femme piège), Téléma Productions, 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

Author and illustrator Enki Bilal creates graphic novels that often tell futuristic stories with strong political and psychological elements. Some reviewers have termed his work science fiction, with others allowing that while it contains aspects of science fiction, it cannot be so easily categorized. For his part, Bilal once told UNESCO Courier interviewer Jasmina Sopova, "I am against all kinds of labels, codifications, and classifications in literature.…I think the boundaries between genres are fading away." He frequently plays off news events and makes points with his characters' names, sometimes naming them after real people, sometimes making plays on words. He told Sopova, "To me, news is the raw material for any projection into the future.…If my readers don't follow current political events, they are sometimes likely to get lost."

A fascist politician is one of the political elements in Bilal's "Nikopol" trilogy, which contains The Carnival of Immortals, The Woman Trap, and Cold Equator. The tyrant, named Choublanc, is ruler of Paris in the twenty-first century and is trying to find a way to become immortal. In The Carnival of Immortals, some real immortals, Egyptian gods, descend on Paris, and one of them plots a coup against Choublanc while using the body of Alcide Nikopol, a former soldier who had been cryogenically frozen after deserting the army thirty years earlier. Other characters in the trilogy include Nikopol's grown son, who is unable to acknowledge him as a father but believes he must be a long-absent brother, and journalist Jill Biskiop, whose story dominates The Woman Trap. Jill has the ability to send stories into the past, but she wipes from her memory certain events in her own past—such as the fact that she has killed several men. Cold Equator finds Nikopol's son in an incomprehensibly frigid city in Africa, which becomes a fateful meeting-place for many of the characters in the trilogy.

The three stories are "all impressive works of imagination" featuring "intricate plot twists and stunning color artwork," remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Bilal provides his story with a "brilliant Blade Runner-meets-Star Wars backdrop," according to Booklist contributor Ray Olson. Peter Siegel, critiquing for the online publication Artbomb, pronounced the trilogy the "crowning achievement" of Bilal's career.

Another of Bilal's well-known works is The Dormant Beast, which bears some of the author's hallmarks, including a political sensibility and the projection of events into the future. Its protagonist, Nike Hatzfield, was born in Sarajevo when the city was under siege during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the late twentieth century. As an adult, he can still remember events from his infancy, and because of this he becomes caught in a struggle between a group called the Obscurantist Order, made up of religious zealots who want to destroy thought and memory, and the Federal Bureau of International Investigation, which is dedicated to combating the Obscurantists.

"The dormant beast … is War, and Bilal, a Yugoslavian, is well aware of the effects of war," commented Adi Tantimedh in Artbomb. A Publishers Weekly critic noted that "Bilal has used the grim events of contemporary life to create a gripping work of allegorical science fiction" set in "a beautiful, brooding retro-future world."

Bilal's collaborations include several with Pierre Christin, with Christin writing and Bilal illustrating the stories. The Hunting Party, set in Soviet Russia, deals with a group of political leaders whose adventure in the country finds them hunting one another. This work "illustrates like nothing else the possibilities of mature fiction in comics," observed Warren Ellis in Artbomb. He deemed it the two men's "best collaboration." Publishers Weekly reviewer Penny Kaganoff also praised The Hunting Party, describing it as "striking … with haunting, richly conceived illustrations and a timely text," as it was published in the United States around the time of the Soviet Union's collapse.

Another of Bilal and Christin's joint projects is The Black Order Brigade, about fascist veterans of the Spanish Civil War fighting far into the future. This, according to Ellis in a separate review, is a "richly-detailed action story" around a theme of futility.

Overall, Bilal is among the "most important creators" of graphic novels in contemporary Europe, in Ellis's view. This was unintentionally echoed by Siegel, who called Bilal "one of the most significant graphic storytellers working in comics today." While Bilal told Sopova that he perceives a lack of respect for comicbook artists in some arts circles, he added, "I think the people who think this way are, fortunately, doomed either to disappear or to change." As far as his own career is concerned, he voiced no complaint, saying, "I am in a very fortunate position."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2001, Ray Olson, review of The Nikopol Trilogy, p. 1440.

Publishers Weekly, January 5, 1990, Penny Kaganoff, review of The Hunting Party, p. 70; September 3, 2001, review of The Nikopol Trilogy, p. 68; December 9, 2002, review of The Dormant Beast, p. 64.

UNESCO Courier, April, 2000, Jasmina Sopova, "Enki Bilal: A Journey to the End of Time," p. 46.

ONLINE

Artbomb,http://www.artbomb.net/ (June 27, 2003), Adi Tantimedh, review of The Dormant Beast; Warren Ellis, review of The Hunting Party; Warren Ellis, review of The Black Order Brigade; Peter Siegel, review of The Nikopol Trilogy.

Enki Bilal Home Page,http://bilal.enki.free.fr/ (October 13, 2003).*