Jacques Tardi was born in 1946. The son of a professional soldier, he spent his early years in occupied Germany's French sector. He later suggested that this experience, together with his Grandfather's harrowing stories of WWI, profoundly influenced his worldview. He studied at the école des beaux-arts de Lyon, then at Arts décoratifs de Paris.

Tardi's artistic début was in the French comics weekly Pilote. His first series appeared in 1972; "Rumeurs sur le Rouergue" was written by Pierre Christin, and published as a collection by Futuropolis in 1976. That same year Tardi's popular series "Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec" began. Adèle is a heroic journalist whose gritty adventures in the late 19th century combine elements of Dashiell Hammett and H.P. Lovecraft. The latest installment of her adventures, "Le mystère des profondeurs", appeared in 1998.

A fan of hard-boiled detective fiction, Tardi began a new series in 1996, adapting Léo Malet's 1943 'Nestor Burma' stories for comics . "Brouillard au pont de Tolbiac" was followed by "120 rue de la Gare", and "Casse-pipe à la Nation". He has also adapted a novel by Didier Daeninckx for the comics; "Le der des ders", a new chapter in Tardi's 'Série Noire'.

written by Andy Etris