Jean Van Hamme was born in 1939 in Belgium. His major breakthrough came in 1977, when he created the Viking hero ThorgalA" for Grzegorz Rosinski. The mix of medieval legends and heroic fantasy soon became a huge success, with major awards following. He is also the creator of the bestselling series Largo WinchA" and XIII.A" Grzegorz Rosinski is one of the most popular artists of comic books in Western Europe. Among his later works are the series ChninkelA" (with Van Hamme) and a series titled La complainte des landes perduesA" (with Jean Dufaux). In 2001, the Rosinski-Van Hamme duo published yet another comic book titled Western, based on a Western plot.