The Belgian Comic Strip Center - Museum Brussels

A successful scenario is rather like our grandmothers managing to pass a sewing thread through the eye of a needle. Tugging gently on the thread held by the needle, the whole story ensues from the strength of the starting point, which can be summarized thus…

In Rome, lifting a rock is sufficient reason to begin a story; in the Near East, sweeping the sand is sufficient reason to talk of the faith.

From this starting point, author François Maingoval has patiently constructed a powerful tale well complemented by the style of the artist Eric Albert. But Le Secret des Papes (Corpus Christi, volume 1) is more than a fast-paced adventure story. It is a human adventure of dilemmas and torments that leads into the shadow of the Vatican.

Jean Auquier, Belgian Comic Strip Center.

An archaeologist discovers a mummified body in Petra. According to a tablet found next to it this is the body of Christ, hidden by his disciples over two thousand years ago! The find exposes a trickery which has been concealed from Christians for all time so as not to shake the very foundation of their faith: Christ’s resurrection. And yet there is another tablet testifying to this deed... in a chest in the Vatican. Thus each new Pope coming into power learns this painful secret – which he cannot divulge for fear of shattering the church of which he is the supreme head. But news of this incredible find is already travelling. The hunt for the mummy is about to begin!

Determined to become a comic strip artist from a very early age, Éric Albert attended evening classes at the Duperré School of Applied Arts and then at the Atelier Baudy before illustrating his first book, published by Hachette. He then collaborated on animated films alongside his job as an illustrator before his first ventures into the world of the comic strip with the publishers Delcourt and Sandawe. He also teaches at the Atelier BD and at CESAN. His work Nostradamus, the third volume of L’Ordre du Chaos, was published by Delcourt in 2013.

Maingoval had his first work published in the Tintin magazine at the age of 16. His first published album, Ada Enigma, was followed by Barbara Wolf, Lovely Trouble and Les Allumeuses among others. He worked with Jacques Martin on the scenarios of two Alix stories and wrote the first Alix spin-off, Alix raconte : Cléopâtre along with biographical novels about Alexander the Great and Nero. He has some twenty albums to his credit.

Patrick Pinchart, Sandawe publishers.