Born in 1954 in Brussels, Thierry Smolderen is a comic book scholar and writer, including the science fiction series Gipsy. He spent the 1970s studying film animation at La Cambre in Brussels, as well as dabbling in theatre and music. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that he launched his career writing comic books, alongside his work as a comic book critic, and essayist. He is a teacher at École des Beaux-Arts of Angoulême, and devotes his time to creating Coconino World, a webzine he animates with friends and former students. As a comic books historian, he wrote Naissances de la bande dessinée (2009), about the "platinum age" of comics.