| Lewis Trondheim | |
|---|---|
 Lewis Trondheim in 2015 | |
| Born | Laurent Chabosy (1964-12-11)December 11, 1964 (age 60) Fontainebleau, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Area(s) | Writer, Artist |
| Pseudonym(s) | Frantico |
Notable works | Les formidables aventures de Lapinot Donjon |
| Awards | full list |
Laurent Chabosy (French:[ʃabɔzi]; born 11 December 1964),[1] better known asLewis Trondheim (French pronunciation:[lewistʁɔ̃dɛm]), is a Frenchcartoonist and one of the founders (in 1990) of the independent publisherL'Association. Both his silent comicLa Mouche andKaput and Zösky have been made into animated cartoons.
A figure inFranco-Belgian comics whose career began in the early 1990s, Trondheim is mostly known as the author ofLes formidables aventures de Lapinot (translated to English asThe Spiffy Adventures of McConey) and the co-creator ofcomic fantasy seriesDungeon withJoann Sfar, as well as his autobiographical seriesLes petits riens (translated to English asLittle Nothings).
As an artist, Trondheim is known for his "potato-shaped" characters andanthropomorphic animals, in aminimalistic style reminiscent ofligne claire.[2][3] His works often feature witty dialogue and characters in surreal ordarkly humorous situations, where comedy mayintertwine with tragedy. Working with several genres such as fantasy, the supernatural, experimental, autobiographical, or children's stories, Trondheim has contributed to than 150 books, both as an artist and a writer.[3][4]
Lewis Trondheim was first known as the author ofLes formidables aventures de Lapinot. He invented the character in the late 1980s as a way to learn cartooning. The result was an initial 500 page graphic novel,Lapinot et les carottes de Patagonie. All the while, he was publishing short stories for the satirical French magazinePsikopat.
After his bookSlaloms was awarded what was then called theAlph'Art Coup de coeur (First comic book prize) in 1993, Trondheim was offered to bring his burgeoning series to a major publisher,Dargaud, while he continued churning out more personal books forL'Association and other independent French publishers such as Cornélius. From there onwards, Trondheim began to enjoy a steady rise in popularity.
The following years represented a period of increasing activity, as Trondheim began to work on many different projects. He first createdLa Mouche ("The Fly") for the Japanese market, and then redrew a French version from scratch, after which the character was adapted as ananimated cartoon.
Trondheim's greatest breakthrough afterLapinot is arguablyDungeon (in French,Donjon), an ambitious series which he created withJoann Sfar, and which has enjoyed a fair amount of popular success.
In 2004, after a long and intensive period during which he steadily released new books at a frantic pace, Lewis Trondheim announced he was more or less retiring from the world of comic strips, stating he did not want his passion to become a "job". He did draw and write a few stories within the following year, including a book reflecting on his decision to slow down, though the releases occurred at a much slower pace.[citation needed]
At that time, in 2005, Trondheim beganLe blog de Frantico, which was ablog BD (Frenchwebcomic inblog format) published daily on the web for a whole year under the pseudonym Frantico. The webcomic was presented as an autobiographical work, chronicling the daily life of a single 30-year-old graphic designer and aspiring cartoonist, living in Paris. In interviews and on his web sites, Trondheim alternately admitted and denied having writtenLe blog de Frantico, while graphic designerSébastien Lesage stepped up and claimed to be the real author, saying he had asked Trondheim to help him maintain the mystery. Trondheim went on and authored other webcomics under the alias Frantico, such asNico Shark andMega Krav Maga. The true identity of Frantico remained a subject of speculation until a retrospectiveexhibition in 2020 confirmed Trondheim as the author ofLe blog de Frantico.[5][6]
Another recent Trondheim occupation[when?] is that of editorial director atDelcourt, where he manages Shampooing, acollection of comic books for young readers.
In 2006, Trondheim was awarded theGrand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême at theAngoulême International Comics Festival, one of the most prestigious awards in the field. That same year, Trondheim began the autobiographical webcomicLes Petits Riens (Little Nothings), published on his personal website, in line with his earlier worksApproximativement andCarnets de bord.[7]Les Petits Riens was eventually published as books by Delcourt, in Trondheim's own collection Shampooing; as of 2024, the series counts nine volumes.
Beginning in the late 2000s, Trondheim worked as a writer for several graphic novels and comics, such asCélébritiz with artistVille Ranta,Omni-visibilis andWichitas with artistMatthieu Bonhomme. He also stepped down from his role as artist on the seriesDonjon Zénith, to work as a writer along with Joann Sfar, whileBoulet took over as artist.
In 2011, Trondheim began a new fantasy seriesRalph Azham, which as of 2024, counts ten volumes.
In 2016, he began the science fiction comics seriesInfinity 8, initially published in a format inspired byAmerican comic books, with Trondheim working as a writer in collaboration with other writers and artists.
Trondheim explained his choice ofpseudonym after the Norwegian city ofTrondheim as follows: "As a last name I wanted to use a city's name, but LewisBordeaux or LewisToulouse didn't sound so good. Then I thought about this city, Trondheim… Maybe someday I will publish a book under my real name, in order to remain anonymous."[8]
In 1993, he married Brigitte Findakly, a comics colorist and writer.[9]
Trondheim has written or drawn more than a hundred titles, spanning a large spectrum of genres; some of the most notable are:
Two volumes ofMcConey have been published in English byFantagraphics in editions close to the original. In 2018,Dargaud also began releasing English translations with the titleThe Marvelous Adventures of McConey under theEurope Comics label. As of April 2018, three volumes have been published.
Fantagraphics has additionally published a range of shorter pieces by Trondheim in the comicThe Nimrod.NBM has publishedDungeon, both in comic book and graphic novel formats, as well asLittle Nothings, a collection of autobiographical one-page vignettes. English versions ofA.L.I.E.E.N. (retitledA.L.I.E.E.E.N.) andLe Roi Catastrophe (retitledTiny Tyrant) have been published byFirst Second.
The complete Ralph Azham series has been published in four volumes by Super Genius, an imprint ofPapercutz.
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