Benoît Sokal (28 June 1954 – 28 May 2021) was a Belgian

comic artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

and

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

, best known for his comics series '' Inspector Canardo'', and the ''

Syberia ''Syberia'' is a franchise of graphic adventure games created by Belgian comic artist and video game developer Benoît Sokal. Set within an alternate universe designed by Sokal and introduced in the 1999 video game ''Amerzone'', the series is ...

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

franchise.

Biography

Benoît Sokal was born in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in 1954.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Benoît Sokal". In België gestript, pp. 162. Tielt: Lannoo. According to him, his grandfather was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

General of the cavalry General of the Cavalry () was a General officer rank in the cavalry in various states of which the modern states of German and Austria are successors or in other armies which used the German model. Artillery officers of equivalent rank were called ...

Ukrainian Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the modern territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Important Jewish religious and cultural move ...

origin who had fled to Belgium in 1939 with the help of a German officer he knew since 1914, crossing all of Eastern Europe while surviving the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s.Annick RIVOIRE
Benoît Sokal, 45, comic book author, creator of Inspector Canardo, started designing video games. With success. Spite of bubbles
by

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

, May 18, 1999 (in French) Sokal studied at the École Supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc in Brussels, together with many contemporary Belgian comic artists like

François Schuiten François Schuiten (; born 26 April 1956) is a Franco-Belgian comics, Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series ''Les Cités Obscures''. Biography François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1956.De Weyer, Geert ...

. He began drawing for ''

À Suivre ''À Suivre'' or ''(A SUIVRE)'' (English translation: "To Be Continued") was a Belgian comics magazine published from February 1978 to December 1997 by the Casterman publishing house, and was preceded by a "0", or test, issue in October 1977. A ...

'' magazine in 1978. He created the '' Inspector Canardo'' series, featuring a depressed

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

detective with a penchant for cigarettes, alcohol and ''

femmes fatales A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...

'', before working on other titles. In 1983 he moved to

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Later he joined the software developer

Microïds Microids (formerly Microïds) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners (including Activisio ...

and designed the

s ''

Amerzone ''Amerzone'' (also known as ''Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy'', ) is a first-person fantasy graphic adventure game published by Microïds and designed by Benoît Sokal, who based it on his 1986 '' Inspector Canardo'' comic strip ''L'Amerzone'' ...

'', ''

'' and ''

Syberia II ''Syberia II'' is a 2004 graphic adventure game developed and published by MC2-Microïds. As the direct sequel to 2002's ''Syberia'', it is a third-person puzzle-solving game. Although it is stylistically identical, ''Syberia II'' improves upon ...

'' (published by Microïds, the adventure game label of

Anuman Interactive Microids (formerly Microïds) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners (including Activisio ...

). He then founded his own game company,

White Birds Productions White Birds Productions was a French video game developer. White Birds was founded by Benoît Sokal, Olivier Fontenay, Jean-Philippe Messian and Michel Bams in August 2003. White Birds specialised in adventure games but also handled other work, ...

, where he created the adventure game ''

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

'' published through

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

. He died on 28 May 2021 after a battle with long-term illness.

Bibliography

* '' Inspector Canardo'', 23 albums, 1981- ;

Casterman Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, 90 kilometres southwest of the centre of Brussels, Belgium. History The company was founded in 1780 by Don ...

* ''Sanguine'', with Alain Populaire; 1988, Casterman * ''Silence, on tue!'', with ; 1990, Nathan * ''Le Vieil Homme qui n'Écrivait Plus'', 1996; Casterman * ''Syberia'', 1 album, 2002; Casterman (sketches and drawings for the game ''

'') * ''Paradise'', 2 albums, 2005-, artist Brice Bingono; Casterman

Video games

* ''

'' (1999) * ''

'' (2002) * ''

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2006) ** '' Last King of Africa'' (2008) (Nintendo DS version of Paradise) * '' Sinking Island'' (2007) * ''Aquarica'' (2008) (canceled) * '' Syberia 3'' (2017) * '' Syberia: The World Before'' (2022, posthumous)

Awards

* 1999: Prix Pixel-INA (category "Games") at the Imagina 99 festival,

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

* 2002:

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

PC Adventure Game of the YearGameSpy site
* 2003: nominated for the Award for Best Dialogue at the

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF; ) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lucca Comics & Games and the Comiket of Japan. It has occur ...

References

External links

Sokal publications in ''(A SUIVRE)''
BDoubliées

Bedetheque

on Lambiek Comiclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Sokal, Benoit 1954 births 2021 deaths Artists from Brussels Belgian comics writers Belgian comics artists Belgian humorists Belgian animal artists Belgian bird artists Belgian satirical comics writers Belgian satirical comics artists Belgian video game designers Syberia