Hans

Hans is a science fiction Franco-Belgian comic with the story written by the Belgian writer André-Paul Duchâteau and drawn by Polish artists Grzegorz Rosiński and later by (Kas). It was published from 1980 to 2000 and has been collected in twelve volumes published in France by Le Lombard. It has also been translated into Polish, German, Italian, and Greek (the first six issues). The primary motif of the series is the desire for freedom. The first books have an oppressive post-apocalyptic setting, while the later books move into a space opera setting; the shift in the tone is relevant to the end of the Cold War. Plot summary The series tells the story of special agent Hans, caught up in a struggle for power in a totalitarian city, the only one left on Earth after a nuclear war. During his adventures, which include both space and time travel, Hans falls in love with Orchid, one of the outlaws who live in the ravaged areas around his home city. Eventually, Orchid gives birth to their daughter, Mahonia. With time, Hans becomes the ruler of the city and has to face numerous threats both within the city and outside it. Development In 1976 young Polish comic book artist Grzegorz Rosiński met Belgian comic book writers Jean Van Hamme and André-Paul Duchâtea during an exhibition in Germany. The Belgians were impressed by Rosiński's art style and decided to work with him on some unspecified future project, tentatively "about Vikings", since Rosiński, because of the ongoing Cold War, did not want to work on any story set in the modern world. The Viking project would eventually materialize in the form of the Thorgal series, which debuted in 1977. In 1978, Duchâteau drafted a new, science-fiction themed story, and again asked Rosiński to work in it. The series debuted with La Tour du désespoir, a short story, in early August 1980 in the Franco-Belgian magazine Tintin. At first, Duchâteau was unsure if he wanted to develop Hans into a full-fledged series, and so in the internal chronology of the series, that first story is set an unspecified time after the events of Volume 1 (La Dernière Île, 1983); it is also often omitted from smaller reprint runs.