William van Cutsem (8 September 1935 – 14 May 2018), better known by his pen name William Vance, was a Belgian comics artist known for his distinctive realistic style and work in Franco-Belgian comics.
William van Cutsem (8 September 1935 – 14 May 2018), better known by his pen name William Vance, was a Belgian comics artist known for his distinctive realistic style and work in Franco-Belgian comics.
Bandes dessinées (singular bande dessinée; literally 'drawn strips'), abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics (BD franco-belge), are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition in comics, separate from that of English-language comics. Belgium is a mostly bilingual country, and comics originally in Dutch (stripverhalen, literally "strip stories", or simply "strips") are culturally a part of the world of bandes dessinées, even if the translation from French to Dutch far outweighs the other direction.
Among the most popular bandes dessinées are The Adventures of Tintin (by Hergé), Spirou and Fantasio (Franquin et al.), Gaston (Franquin), Asterix (Goscinny & Uderzo), Lucky Luke (Morris & Goscinny), The Smurfs (Peyo) and Spike and Suzy (Willy Vandersteen). Some highly-regarded realistically drawn and plotted bandes dessinées include Blueberry (Charlier & Giraud, a.k.a. "Moebius"), Thorgal (van Hamme & Rosiński), XIII (van Hamme & Vance), and the creations of Hermann.
XIII ("Thirteen") is a Belgian graphic novel series about an amnesiac who seeks to discover his past. It was created by writer Jean Van Hamme and artist William Vance. It is currently being written by Yves Sente and Youri Jigounov. The storyline of the first five volumes was adapted into a video game in 2003, also titled XIII, with a remake being released in 2020. A Canadian television film based on the series, XIII: The Conspiracy, was released in 2008. It was followed in 2011 by two seasons of a TV series, each 13 episodes, called XIII: The Series.