Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira

Luiz Eduardo De Oliveira (born on January 1, 1944 in Brazil), more famous under his artist name T.Léo is a Brazilian comics creator.

Biography

After having graduated as an engineer in mechanics, De Oliveira left Brazil because of the military dictatorship that was in power at the time. He went first to Chile, but the following year saw the Chilean coup of 1973. This led De Oliveira to leave, moving to Argentina, from where he finally returned to Brazil in 1974.

He found work as an illustrator in the advertising industry of São Paulo, before once more leaving Brazil, in 1981, this time moving to France, hoping to illustrate comics. However as the Franco-Belgian comics industry was in recession at the time, he was forced to work in advertising once again, although he managed to get the occasional piece published in L'écho des savanes and Pilote.

In 1986, with the assistance of Jean-Claude Forest, De Oliveira began contributing to the youth dedicated magazines of Bayard Presse. He illustrated true stories for Okapi magazine. He then recounted Mahatma Gandhi's life in the album Gandhi, le pèlerin de la paix, for Astrapi.

In 1988, the comics writer Rodolphe asked him to provide the artwork for his stories. Their collaboration proved fruitful, producing 8 albums of material for their Trent series and 3 for their Kenya one.

In 1993, De Oleveira finally achieved an old dream when Dargaud agreed to publish his first solo series: Aldébaran. In 2000, after 5 volumes of Aldébaran, he launched Bételgeuse, which was nominated for the Prize for a Series at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2004.

Bibliography

Le Pèlerin de la Paix

scenario by Benoît Marchon, artwork by Léo

1. Gandhi, le Pèlerin de la Paix - (Gandhi, the Pilgrim of Peace) (1989, éditions Du Centurion)

Trent

scenario by Rodolphe, artwork by Léo, Dargaud

1. L'Homme Mort - (The Dead Man) (1991, republished in 2000)
2. Le Kid - (The Kid) (1992)
3. Quand s'Allument les Lampes... - (When the Lamps Ignite) (1993, republished in 2000)
4. La Vallée de la Peur - (The Valley of Fear) (1995)
5. Wild Bill (1996)
6. Le Pays sans Soleil - (The Country without Sun) (1998)
7. Miss (1999)
8. Petit Trent - (Little Trent) (2000)

Les Mondes d'Aldébaran

scenario and artwork by Léo, series in progress, Dargaud

Aldébaran - (Aldebaran)

1. La Catastrophe - (The Catastrophe) (1994, republished in 2001)
2. La Blonde - (The Blond Woman) (1995, republished in 2001)
3. La Photo - (The Photograph) (1996, republished in 2001)
4. Le Groupe - (The Group) (1997, republished in 2001)
5. La Créature - (The Creature) (1998, republished in 2001)

Bételgeuse - (Betelgeuze)

1. La Planète - (The Planet) (2000)
2. Les Survivants - (The Survivors) (2001)
3. L'expédition - (The Expedition) (2002)
4. Les Cavernes - (The Caves) (2003)
5. L'autre - (The Other) (2005)

Antarès - (Antares)

1. Episode 1 (2007)

Kenya

scenario by Rodolphe, artwork by Léo, colour by Scarlett Smulkowski, series in progress, Dargaud

1. Apparitions (2001)
2. Rencontres (2003)
3. Aberrations (2004)
4. Interventions (2006)

Dexter London

scenario by Léo, artwork by Frédérik Garcia, Dargaud

1. Aventurier Professionnel (2002)
2. La Traversée du Désert (2003)

Awards

• 2004: nominated for Best International Series at the Prix Saint-Michel, Belgium

- nominated for the Youth Award (9-12 years) and the Series Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France