As Armas Vivas | Os Círculos do Poder

Pierre Christin was born in 1938 on the outskirts of Paris. As a child, he fell in love with the issues of Détective and the illustrated covers of "Radar".
In the 1960s, between his activities as a jazz pianist and his early work in journalism, translation, and writing, he set off to explore the American West. There, he became enthusiastic about life on ranches and urban highways, as well as science fiction, crime novels, and Black music, which was then at its peak.
In 1967, he co-authored, with Jean-Claude Mézières, the first adventure of Valerian, without imagining the future longevity of their hero.
Translated into twenty languages, Valerian It was quickly considered a groundbreaking series and inspired numerous authors and directors, including George Lucas and, of course, Luc Besson, who directed a film adaptation in July 2017. Valérian et la Cité des mille planetes.
In 1968, he was appointed to the University of Bordeaux where he created the IUT Journalism Institute, of which he was always one of the driving forces.
In the 1970s and 1980s, in "Pilote," he wrote for Jacques Tardim, François Boucq, Jean Vern, and many others—sixty albums in which he experimented with all genres. He reserves his optimistic—read: utopian—side for his old friend Mézières, whose narrative clarity and joyful humor he appreciates. He tackles the more serious themes, fueled by investigations into what was then the communist bloc, with Enki Bilal, in albums that have become great classics of political comics, such as... Les Phalanges de l'ordre Noir (Dargaud, 1979) or Hunting party (Dargaud, 1983). With Annie Goetzinger, he expresses a completely different sensibility in portraits of women, intimate intrigues, in the image of La Demoiselle de la Légion d'honneur (Dargaud, 1980) or of Paquebot (Dargaud, 1999).
A seasoned traveler, he made his first trip through the Northern Hemisphere in 1992. A journey that he recounts in L'Homme qui fai le tour du Monde (Dargaud 1994), illustrated by Max Cabanes and Philippe Aymond. He renewed the experience in 1999, this time passing through the southern hemisphere. But, frequently, his walks do not take him further than Paris: the return to the city following the abandoned tracks of the small belt (La Voyageuse de petite ceinture, Dargaud, 1985, with Annie Goetzinger), or from the little crown, on a bicycle (La Bonne vueI take 5 of Correspondences, Dargaud, 1999, with Max Cabanes). Without ever forgetting comics, Christin experiments with other forms of writing. In his novels, he also evokes both urban adventure (ZAC and Rendez-vous en ville) such as dives into the depths of French territory (L'Or du zinco). With the collection Les Correspondances de Pierre Christin (Dargau, 1997-2002), explores other relationships between text and drawing. For these albums, he works with, among others, Patrick Lesueur, Jacques Ferrandez, Jean-Claude Denis, Alexis Lemoine and Enki Bilal.
In 2006, he co-authored the first volume of the saga with the talented André Juillard. Lena (Dargaud), whose third volume was published in 2020.
In 2019, the second volume was released. L'Avenir esta avance, in which Mézières and Christin revisit in the company of Valerian and Laureline Some legendary episodes from the most celebrated French science fiction series.
The circle has closed, Mézières and his usual accomplice are on their way to new adventures...
He won the 2019 Goscinny Prize awarded by the Angoulême International Comics Festival for his autobiographical album. East/West (Dupuis, 2018) designed by Philippe Aymond, and also by the body of his work.
Considering that to live happily, one must live a long, albeit hidden, life, I would have loved to live a hundred lives in a hundred cities and have just as many identities...