Bertrand Escaich

Bertrand Escaich (born 3 July 1973, in Saint-Girons, Ariège) is a French comics writer. Together with Caroline Roque, he forms the duo Béka.

Biography Bertrand Escaich began making his first comics in primary school and became interested in the following authors: Hergé, Franquin, Goscinny and Peyo for humour, and Jean-Michel Charlier for adventure.

In 1998, while enrolled in a bachelor's degree in physical sciences at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, he sent a portfolio to a few publishers. Vents d'Ouest responded favourably, and his first pages were published in collective albums. In 2000, he met Alexandre Mermin (later known as Poupard, artist of Les Rugbymen) at the Le Livre sur la Place book fair, and they began collaborating. Their first album, Les Brumes du Miroboland, enabled them to join Bamboo Édition, founded by Olivier Sulpice.

Escaich met Caroline Roque in 2001, and they formed the duo Béka. At Olivier Sulpice's request, they both took over scripts for several Bamboo series before creating successful series including Les Rugbymen (art by Poupard) and Studio Danse (art by Crip), followed by Le Jour où... (art by Marko).

Escaich won the Prix des collégiens at the in 2009 for the series Chinn (two volumes drawn by Frédéric Vervisch).

At Dargaud, Escaich and Roque created the series Géo BD (art by Marko), then Filles Uniques (art by Camille Méhu). At Dupuis, he co-wrote with Roque the series Champignac and volume 65 of Les Tuniques Bleues. With the same publisher, they created the series Cœur Collège (art by Maya), A-lan (art by Thomas Labourot), and L'École des petits monstres (art by Bob). In 2022, Escaich created the series Les Cœurs de Ferraille on his own, drawn by José Luis Munuera.

Works Under the name Bertrand Escaich As writer Noémie - L'Héritage de la tante Adubon, written by Bertrand Escaich, art by Alexis Chabert, Pointe Noire, 2001 Les Contes de par-ci de par-là, written by Bertrand Escaich, art by Abel Chen, Pointe Noire, 2002 Les Brumes du Miroboland, Bamboo Édition L'Élixir de Silyconn, written by Bertrand Escaich, art by Alexandre Mermin, 2003 Le Secret de Fènwik, 2004 Chinn, written by Bertrand Escaich, art by Fred Vervisch, Bamboo Édition Les Bambous de la sagesse, 2008 Le Monastère de la vieille forêt, 2008 Ling Ling, written by Bertrand Escaich, art by Marc N'Guessan, Bamboo Édition Le Bureau des Rumeurs, 2012 Les Lanternes roses, 2012

As artist Mini-guide, Vents d'Ouest Le Mini-guide du Bélier, collective writing and art, 1999 Le Mini-guide du Taureau, collective writing and art, 1999 Le Mini-guide des Gémeaux, collective writing and art, 1999 Le Mini-guide de la Balance, collective writing and art, 1999 Le Mini-guide du Sagittaire, collective writing and art, 1999 Le Mini-guide du Capricorne, collective writing and art, 1999 Le Mini-guide du Verseau, collective writing and art, 1999 Le Mini-guide des Poissons, collective writing and art, 1999 Le Mini-guide des 12 signes astros, collective writing and art, 2002 Le Guide de la jeune mère, written by Jacky Goupil, art by Bertrand Escaich, Vents d'Ouest, 2000

Under the name Béka Les Fourmidables (vol. 2), art by Vincent Deporter, Bamboo, 2001 Les Rugbymen — 20 volumes, Bamboo Édition; art by Poupard Les Fées Valentines — 5 volumes, Dargaud, 2016; art by Crip Le jour où... — 5 volumes, Bamboo Édition, 2016; art by Marko L'Atelier Détectives — 2 volumes, Bamboo, 2017; art by Sandrine Goalec Le Blog de... — 4 volumes, Bamboo Édition, 2017; art by Grégoire Mabire Le Chemin des Fous — 1 volume, Bamboo, 2018; art by Poupard Mission Capitale — 2 youth novels, Rageot, 2018 Science Infuse — 1 volume, Bamboo, 2022; written by Béka and Chacma; art by J. Mariolle; colours by Laurence Croix Champignac — 3 volumes, Dupuis; art by David Etien Enigma, 2019 Le patient A, 2021 Quelques atomes de carbone, 2023 Les Tuniques Bleues (vol. 65), Dupuis, 2020 Cœurs Collège — 3 volumes, Dupuis; art and colours by Maya A-lan — 1 volume, Dupuis; art and colours by Thomas Labourot L'École des petits monstres — 1 volume, Dupuis; art by Bob; colours by Maëla Cosson Les Cœurs de Ferraille — 1 volume, Dupuis; art by José Luis Munuera; colours by Sedyas Filles Uniques — 3 volumes, Dargaud; art by Camille Méhu

Awards 2008: Grand Prix des lecteurs du Journal de Mickey Prix Conseil Général ( festival, Blois) 2009: Prix des collégiens, 2013: Best youth comics award, Puteaux festival (with Crip) for Studio Danse 2017: Audience award, Hérouville-Saint-Clair festival (with Marko) for Le Jour où le bus est reparti sans elle 2016–2017: Cité scolaire de Fumel award (image of women in comics), with Marko and Cosson, for Le Jour où le bus est reparti sans elle 2017: Grand Prix des lecteurs du Journal de Mickey (with Grégoire Mabire) for Le Blog de Nina 2018: Youth prize, (with Sandrine Goalec) for L'Atelier Détectives Audience award, BDécines festival, for Le Jour où le bus est reparti sans elle (with Marko and Cosson)