Marvano

Mark van Oppen, alias Marvano, studied interior architecture before choosing a career as illustrator. His first drawings appear in the Dutch science-fiction magazine Orbit. He continued illustrating in the science-fiction genre for the German publisher Heyne and the Dutch publisher Meulenhoff. In 1982, Mark van Oppen became the chief editor of Kuifje, the Dutch version of Tintin. At the same time, his first comics appear in special editions of Tintin and Robbedoes + (the Dutch version of Spirou Album +). Van Oppen continued his work in the publishing scene as the chief of the comics section of the Flemish publisher Den Gulden Engel.

In 1989 Marvano created the trilogy 'La Guerre Éternelle' for Dupuis's Aire Libre collection. These albums were adaptations of the novel by the American writer Joe Haldeman, who became a friend of Marvano when he was working on the comic. After making some albums for Lombard and Standaard ('Le Solitaire' and 'Red Knight'), Marvano returned to Dupuis to work on the Sullitzer project. In this collection, the work of the French author Paul-Loup Sullitzer was adapted to comics. Marvano took on the series 'Rourke', along with Marcel Rouffa.

Afterwards, Marvano made an Aire Libre album again, 'Les 7 Nains', which was followed by another cooperation with Joe Haldeman: the series 'Dallas Barr', in 1996. This series, about eternal life, was a big hit, but was cancelled after 5 volumes due to an argument between the authors and Dupuis. Marvano turned to Dargaud and started the 'Libre à Jamais' in January 2002, yet another collaboration with Joe Haldeman. In addition, Marvano had worked with Rouffa again on 'Ver van Ieper', a historical album about the town of Ypres during World War I in 2000.