Midam

Midam
Born	Michel Ledent 16 May 1963 (1963-05-16) (age 48) Etterbeek, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Area(s)	artist, writer
Notable works	Kid Paddle
Awards	see awards section

Midam (born 16 May 1963) is the pseudonym of Michel Ledent, the Belgian comics author best known for Kid Paddle.

Biography

Michel Ledent was born in Etterbeek near Brussels in 1963. He studied illustration and interior decoration at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels, and started creating comics in 1989 for the computer magazine Micro-Systèmes. Under the pseudonym Midam, he joined the comics magazine Spirou in 1992 as an illustrator for the videogames section.

The character he created there, Kid Paddle, soon got its own series, which became very popular, with over 4 million copies sold in French. New albums sell some 400,000 copies in French alone, making it one of the top ten best-selling French language comics series.^[1] In 2002, a separate Kid Paddle magazine was launched, and an animated TV series was created as well, with so far 104 episodes. The spin-off series Game Over was created in 2004, presenting the misadventures of the main character of the video games Kid Paddle is fond of playing in his own albums. The comic is wordless and is according to Midam inspired by the everfailing quests of Wile E. Coyote. The first album sold 60,000 copies.^[2]

Other series by Midam were Le Gowap, which was continued by Curd Ridel, and Durant les Travaux, l'Exposition Continue with Clarke.

Midam is married to Chilean Araceli Cancino, who translates his works into Spanish.^[3]

Bibliography

• Kid Paddle: Dupuis, 1996 - , 12 volumes
• Durant les Travaux, l'Exposition Continue:Dupuis, 1998 - 2000 with Clarke: 3 volumes
• Game Over: Dupuis, 2004 - , 7 volumes, with Adam and others
• Le Miracle de la vie: Dupuis, 2004, artwork by Clarke, 1 volume
• Harding was Here: Quadrants, 2008, with Adam, 1 volume

Awards

• 2002: Nominated for the Youth Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival for Kid Paddle
• 2005: Youth Prize at the Prix Saint-Michel for Game Over
• 2006: Prix Canal J for the best youth comic for Kid Paddle^[4]

Nominated for the Youth Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival for Kid Paddle

Nominated for the Youth Prize at the Prix Saint-Michel for Kid Paddle

• 2009: Nominated for the Prix Canal J for Kid Paddle^[4]

Notes

1. ^ Perrin, Raymond (2008) (in French). Littérature de jeunesse et presse des jeunes au début du XXIe siècle. L'Harmattan. p. 528. ISBN 9782296052574. http://books.google.com/books?id=l01Ns5qliD4C&pg=PA505&dq=%22midam%22+%22kid+paddle%22&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=yiQESv6VLKTGzQT4vNj2Aw#PPA528,M1. Retrieved 8 May 2009. 
2. ^ Guilbert, Manon (27 December 2006). "MIDAM, KID PADDLE. Motus et bouche cousue" (in French). Le Journal de Montréal. http://www.canoe.com/divertissement/livres/entrevues/2006/12/27/3022092-jdm.html. Retrieved 8 May 2009. 
3. ^ "Hacen cómic de aventuras virtuales" (in Spanish). Mexico: El Universal. 12 November 2007. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/54598.html. Retrieved 8 May 2009. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Titeuf - "Le Sens de la vie", Prix CANAL J 2009 du Meilleur Album Jeunesse" (in French). BDZoom. 27 April 2009. http://www.bdzoom.com/spip.php?article3844. Retrieved 8 May 2009. 

External links

• Midam homepage
• Biography at Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Biography at publisher Dupuis

Persondata
Name	Midam
Alternative names	Ledent, Michel
Short description	comic author
Date of birth	16 May 1963
Place of birth	Etterbeek, Belgium
Date of death
Place of death