Eckart Breitschuh (born 16 August 1964 in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
) is a German comic-book artist and author.
Early life and education
Growing up in southern Hesse Darmstadt, Breitschuh was enthusiastic about comics from a young age. He was particularly impressed with comics from the French Caucasus Group, Manfred Schmidt, Nick Static in his early teens, along with some underground American comics, especially from
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...
and
S. Clay Wilson
Steve Clay Wilson (July 25, 1941 – February 7, 2021) was an American underground cartoonist and central figure in the underground comix movement. Wilson attracted attention from readers with aggressively violent and sexually explicit panoramas ...
.
After graduating from college and serving in the civil service, he worked at several jobs over the next few years, including illustration work for advertising agencies, comic art for magazines and was the lead singer in several local bands. He reportedly, in this time, was an avid drug user. In 1988, he started a relationship with the literary scholar Lorraine Flack, and in 1989 they moved in together in Hamburg.
From 1990 to 1994 he studied Visual Communication at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg.
Career
In 1991 his comic "The Interesting Case of Dierckhoff's Death" appeared in the Hamburg periodical ''SCENE''. Then the Carlsen publishing house took note of him and from 1992 to 1995 he produced five seasons for the TV series ''Linden road at Carlsen''. At the same time he worked in an animation studio, making storyboards, illustrations, and short commercials for film and advertising.
In 1997 he released his artwork done along with author
Irma Corridor, "Cannibals on the Reeperbahn" in his first experience with digital media. In 1998 the first episodes of "Wanda Caramba" were published, a four-volume Crime comic in U.S. comic form, along with "Conspiracy against Berti", and the "World Cup project" of
Egmont Ehapa
The Egmont Ehapa Publishing Company (officially named Egmont Ehapa Verlag GmbH) was created in 1951 as a subdivision of the Egmont media group.
The name "Ehapa" was taken from the initials of its founder: Egmont Harald Petersen. Ehapa is known ...
publishing.
In 1999 he worked on his first children's book, ''Lotta Schlotter'' along with the last two volumes of ''Wanda Caramba'' series. In 2000 he was again the chief animator for a number of series and worked as a freelance editor. He then worked on the subsequent ''Wanda Caramba'' series, ''Bear Cage'', for which he won the ICOM Independent prize. In 2002, the complete series of ''Wanda Carambra'' was published.
In 2003 he worked alongside the theologian Dr. Andreas Köhn on the concept of an apocalypse and made a comic version. It appeared in ''GRIMM'' along with various horror stories for Levin Novelty Tinplate comics. In 2004 he ran his one-page series ''Patty Party Girl'' nationwide in 36 magazines. In 2005 he published ''Wide Heavy Metal Shoe'' and the short story ''A Mother's Love'' (with author
Josef Rother) published in the Tinplate book ''Horrorschocker #6''.
After ''Heavy Metal'', in 2006 he published the first ''Argstein'' episode, "The Law of the Forest" (also with author Josef Rother), released in the spring of 2007 in German at Ehapa. Another Argstein series followed in October 2009 in the anthology series of ''Worlds of Terror'' in Tinplate comics.
Personal life and influences
Breitschuh major influences included
André Franquin
André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are '' Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to 1968, a period s ...
,
Will Eisner
William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series ''The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...
,
Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comics artist and writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', '' Abe Sapien'', '' Lobster Johnson'', '' Wit ...
, and
Régis Loisel
Régis Loisel (born 4 December 1951) is a French cartoonist, best known for the series '' La Quête de l'oiseau du temps'', written by Serge Le Tendre.
He worked with Walt Disney Studios on the animated films ''Atlantis'' and ''Mulan''.
Biblio ...
. He now lives in Hamburg-St. Pauli with Lorraine Flack and their three children.
References
Website of Eckart Breitschuhin the catalogue of the
Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breitschuh, Eckhart
German comics artists
German comics writers
1964 births
Artists from Karlsruhe
Living people
German male writers