The Genevan designer Daniel Ceppi has died

Daniel Ceppi, the author of the series “Stéphane Clément, chronicles of a traveler” died this Monday, November 4 at the age of 73, the Lombard editions announced on Tuesday.

Born on April 3, 1951 in Carouge, in the canton of Geneva, Daniel Ceppi had a pronounced taste for art and travel from a very young age. In 1967, at the age of 16, he exhibited a stained glass window during the Christmas holidays. Entitled “The Virgin and Child”, the play is presented in the city where he was born, and for which his love and passion remained intact throughout his life and career. Subsequently, Daniel Ceppi attended the École des Beaux-Arts and the School of Decorative Arts in Geneva. He also creates technical drawings for an American company, without forgetting his dreams.

At the age of 23, he embarked on a journey that would mark his life forever. He travels to India by coach, passing through central and eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan. He returned several times to this country where he ended up settling more permanently, which had a profound impact on his career as an artist. On this side too, his dreams come true with “Le Guêpier”, the first adventure of a character who will never leave him: Stéphane Clément.

Originally, this story was a novel, with which the young author was not fully satisfied, to the point of completely reworking it to transform it into a comic strip. The publishers contacted at the time were very unreceptive, and Daniel Ceppi decided to try the adventure of self-publishing. The comic book version of The Bee-eater was finally released in 1977, by Éditions sans frontières.

Adopting a realistic style carried by his pen line, his black areas, and the use of the frame, the author lends his features to the main character, who also has many other points in common with his creator. Starting with his pronounced taste for travel, and more particularly in South and Central Asia. These escapes nourished his paper double, which joined Les Humanoids Associés and the magazine “Métal hurlant” in 1978.

Reinventing the adventure story in comics, Daniel Ceppi evolves on the borders of fiction, reporting and travel diaries. His hero is not a superman, and even less a righter of wrongs. In 1981, the singularity of his point of view made him join the prestigious magazine “(À Suivre)”, which then participated in the revival of Franco-Belgian comics.

It was at this time that the series switched to color. Four new episodes are released, while the first three albums are completely redesigned. After a ten-year hiatus, “Stéphane Clément, Chronicles of a Traveler” returns to Humanoids Associés, before the last two volumes, “L’Engrenage turkmène” and “Le Piège ouzbek”, appear this time at Éditions du Lombard in 2010 and 2012.

In total, the Swiss author is producing 14 episodes of his flagship series. Daniel Ceppi has also produced or participated in around fifteen other comic book albums, notably “L’Ombre de Jaïpur” (with screenwriter Juan Martinez, Dargaud, 1981), “Croco & Co” (alongside Vépy, L’Essai, 1986), “Diplomatic Corps” (co-written with his wife Paûle, Les Humanoïds associés, 1991), or even La Nuit des clandestines (with Pierre Christin, Les Humanoïds associés, 1992).

In 2006, he joined the “Third Wave” collection of Éditions du Lombard, launching as complete author the first part of the “CH Confidentiel” triptych. The series follows the wanderings of members of the Reserved Investigation Brigade, a sort of Swiss FBI, who track down white-collar criminals.

Later, in 2017, Daniel Ceppi published what will remain his last album, “Lady of Shalott”, with Éditions du Lombard. In this one-shot published in the “Signé” collection, the author brings together the police officers of “CH Confidentiel” and the protagonist of “Stéphane Clément, chronicles of a traveler”, for a dirty affair in the art world , linked to acts committed in the early 1970s. A book which today resembles a literary testament.

Throughout his career as a comic book author, Daniel Ceppi has received several awards, including the Best Screenwriter Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, in 1979, for “À l’est de Karakulak”, the second part of the adventures of Stéphane Clément. His stories illustrate the evolution of comics of his time, which moved slowly but surely from pure genre stories to more intimate adventures, strongly rooted in reality, while benefiting from the tools of fiction.

When he paused his work for the 9th art – and he was not dragging his backpack to Uzbekistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, or elsewhere – Daniel Ceppi also devoted himself to painting and illustrating covers for different publishers. Carried away by illness, Daniel Ceppi left for one last journey.