The Keeper

Yves Sente

The Keeper Vol 2 · Europe Comics

About this ebook

Following his exemplary execution of his latest mission, Vince, a new recruit to the Vatican's protection and intelligence service, is invited to join the top secret and highly selective division, the "Keepers." There are only twelve agents throughout the whole world at any one time. They don't know each other. They can never meet. Trias, the third Keeper, has just been killed. Vince is to take his place. His first mission is to accompany two prelates to the World Economic Forum in Davos, that brings together the world's most influential stock market players. Right in the middle of dinner on the opening night, they get the news: An Iranian factory powered by nuclear energy has been bombed. Iran retaliated immediately, targeting the United States and Great Britain. The world is fast on its way to a third World War. All the main news channels are broadcasting images of absolute carnage. Vince looks on as things go from bad to worse. He can't help feeling that there's more to it than first meets the eye... but what?

About the author

Yves Sente was born in Brussels in 1964. When he was little, he read La Marque Jaune, Jacobs' masterpiece, over and over again. Little did he know at that age that The Adventures of Blake and Mortimer would determine his destiny...! In 1998, while he was working for Le Lombard, he worked with the cartoonist André Juillard on the script of "Machination Voronov", a new episode of the Adventures of Blake and Mortimer, a Cold War story acclaimed by critics and the public. Yves Sente then went on to write "Les Sarcophages du 6e continent", where he reveals the young life of Professor Mortimer. He confirmed his writing talents with "La Vengeance du Comte Skarbek," and then "Thorgal," alongside Rosinski. He then began the series "Janitor" (2007 Dargaud Benelux, "The Keeper" 2016 Europe Comics) with François Boucq, before going back once again to Blake and Mortimer in the "Le Sanctuaire du Gondwana," in the heart of Africa. In 2011, he started on yet another project: the adventures of XIII with Iouri Jigounov. In 2012, Yves Sente brought Blake and Mortimer to England for "Le Serment des cinq Lords" and later "Le Baton de Plutarque."

S'il a commencé dans l'illustration de presse avec des caricatures pour des magazines aussi renommés que Le Point, L'Expansion ou Playboy, c'est dans la bande dessinée que François Boucq explose véritablement. De son expérience passée, il retire un goût prononcé pour les visages expressifs et le dessin fouillé, magnifié par un sens peu commun du cadrage et de la mise en scène. Il se fait connaître pour ses récits humoristiques, où l'absurde le dispute souvent à la parodie. Mais, doué d'une capacité de travail peu commune (il lui est arrivé de dessiner jusqu'à deux planches par jour, sans jamais renoncer à la qualité qui a fait sa réputation), il délaisse volontiers l'humour pour se consacrer à des récits plus réalistes. Il adapte ainsi des romans de l'auteur américain Charyn (La femme du magicien, Bouche-du-diable), explore le western avec Jodorowsky, dans les pages de Bouncer, ou les services secrets du Vatican avec Sente (Le Janitor). Héritier direct d'un Giraud, Boucq a ouvert de nouvelles perspectives au dessin réaliste. Ce grand nom de la BD (Grand Prix du Festival d'Angoulême en 1998) est, en outre, l'illustrateur officiel des couvertures des Nouvelles Aventures de San Antonio au Fleuve Noir. Au fil des années, cette synthèse entre caricature et rigueur, lisibilité et précision du dessin a donné naissance à un style unique, qui lui permet de faire vivre tous les genres de récits avec le même brio.