'Les Innomables', artwork by Yann. Dutch-language version.
Yannick Le Pennetier, better known as Yann, began his career as an artist, but soon became one of France's most popular scriptwriters. After spending several years in Brittany (Bretagne), he moved to Brussels. After working in the advertising and architecture fields, his earliest comic stories appeared in the "Carte Blance" section of Spirou in 1974. He then went to work for Curiositiy magazine for a while, but returned in Spirou to begin a fruitful collaboration with Didier Conrad. They became infamous for their satirical illustrations on the tops of the pages, and most notably, their 'Les Innomables' series in 1980. While Yann drew and Conrad wrote the first story of this series, the duo switched duties from the second series. This adult series didn't fit in the juvenile atmosphere of the magazine, which led to the comic's disappearance in 1983.
'Les Innomables', artwork by Conrad.
Yann and Conrad then transferred to Glénat publishers, where they began 'Bob Marone' in Circus, a parody of the famous 'Bob Morane' character by Henri Vernes. Around this time, Yann began focusing more and more on the scriptwriting, leaving the artwork to others. After breaking up with Conrad, Yann began several new collaborations from 1985, such as with Frank Le Gall ('Yoyo' and an episode of 'Théodore Poussin'), Marc Hardy ('La Patrouille des Libellules' and the hooker gag series 'Lolo et Sucette'), Yslaire ('Sambre' under the pseudonym Balac), Philippe Bercovici ('Leonid et Spoutnika'), François Avril ('François Boyard et Dominique Coudecoeur') and Yves Chaland (several episodes of 'Freddy Lombard'). He took over the scriptwriting of the revived 'Marsupilami' strip from Greg (art by André Franquin and Batem). He also relaunched Raymond Macherot's 'Chaminou' character with Denis Bodart in 1989.
'Lolo et Sucette', artwork by Marc Hardy.
Other collaborations include Olivier Neuray ('Nuit Blanche' in Circus), Bercovici ('Leonid et Spoutnika' in L'Instant), Riff Reb's ('Les Pouâcres' in Mikado), Marc Michetz ('Tako' at Glénat), Édith ('Basil et Victoria'), Luis Joos ('O.A.S. - Aïscha'), Laurent Verron ('Odilon Verjus'), Fabrice Lamy ('Colt Walker'), Philippe Berthet ('Pin-Up' and later 'Yoni'), Fabrice Tarrin, Simon Léturgie ('Spoon & White'), Eduardo Garzon ('Riouac'h'), Olivier Wozniak ('Les Chasseurs d'Étoiles'), Eric Lenaerts ('Soizic') and Félix Meynet ('Les Éternels'). With René Hausmann, he created the poetic comics 'Les Trois Cheveux Blancs' and 'Le Prince des Écureuils' in the Aire Libre collection of Dupuis. He teamed up with Conrad again 1994 to revive 'Les Innomables', this time at Dargaud. Together, they also created the 'Lucky Luke' spin-off 'Kid Lucky' under the collective pseudonym Pearce and in cooperation with writer Jean Léturgie. Later on, Pearce and Léturgie also began the juvenile western comic 'Cotton Kid'.
Yann was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to 'Baston Labaffe no. 5: La Ballade des Baffes’ (Goupil, 1983), an official collective parody comic of André Franquin’s 'Gaston Lagaffe’. In 1990 he and Didier Conrad, as well as Yann and Marc Hardy paid graphic tribute to François Walthéry in the collective homage book 'Natacha. Special 20 Ans' (Marsu Productions, 1990), which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Walthéry's series 'Natacha'. Yann scripted a short comic for the collective comic book 'Allez Coucher, Sales Bêtes' (Dupuis, 1991), illustrated by René Hausman.
On 16 June 2004, a comic mural depicting 'Odilon Verjus' was inaugurated in the Rue des Capucins / Kapucijnerstraat 13 in Brussels, as part of the Brussels' Comic Book Route.
Yann & Conrad were a strong influence on Remco Polman and Zep. They also received strong admiration from veteran artist Daniel Kox.
'Les Innomables'.