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, a relatively unknown Polish comic artist. 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 XIIIA" (inspired by Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity). Grzegorz Rosinski met Van Hamme in 1976 when he was in Belgium on a scholarship. Rosinski also drew for Spirou magazine under the pseudonym of Rosek. In 1980, he created Hans with Andre-Paul Duchateau, also published by Le Lombard in France.