Sussi Bech

Sussi Bech blev født i 1958 i Birkerød. I 1983 blev hun færdiguddannet på Skolen for Brugskunst i København, men allerede i 1980 var hun som medlem af tegnestuen Gimle i København godt i gang med sit første tegneseriealbum, Zainab.
Baggrunden for historien var "1001 nats eventyr", men Sussi Bech gik bag om eventyrene, opsporede de historiske facts og krydrede dem med egne ideer. Samtidig udmundede hendes store interesse for den historiske periode sig i en grundig research. Resultatet blev en sikker og underholdende debut i "ligne claire" tradition.
Efter publicering som søndagsføljeton i Berlingske Tidende udkom Zainab som album i 1985.
Derefter kastede Sussi Bech sig over det gamle Ægypten i den ligeså sikkert tilrettelagte og fortalte albumserie Nofret, som er udkommet siden 1986. Serien, som også på en personlig måde bærer præg af "ligne claire", bringer med udspring i Ægypten læseren rundt i oldtidens Middelhavslande som vidne til dybt menneskelige, politiske og religiøse intriger.
Nofret er ikke kun blevet en succes i Danmark. Den er desuden udgivet i Frankrig, Belgien, Holland og Indonesien.
Sussi Bechs nyeste albumserie, Aida Nur, udspilles i 1920rnes Ægypten med udgangspunkt i de arkæologiske udgravninger, hvor vestlige historikere "stjal" ægyptisk kulturgods til europæsike og amerikanske museer. Serien blev lanceret i det københavnske dagblad B.T. i 1991 og udkom samme år som album. 2. og sidste album blev udgivet i efteråret 1992.
Desuden har Sussi Bech illustreret børnebøger og hun har tegnet til Frank Madsen's hæfte Stegte Striber 1984-85 samt 1981-84 leveret korte, humoristiske tegneserier til det satiriske magasin Kystbane Komix.
I 1993 udgav det danske forlag Ultima Sussi Bechs ungdomsarbejde Dalila den Drevne i 2 album - en underholdende forhistorie til Zainab i en talentfuld, men endnu meget usikker streg.
I 1998 udgav Bogfabrikken Sussi Bechs tegneseriegendigtning af eventyret De vilde svaner.
Sussi Bech modtog i 1990 de danske børnebibliotekarers kulturpris. Samme år blev Nofret-albummet Den sidste Minos kåret som årets bedste tegneserie og Nofret som årets tegneseriefigur på Danske Tegneserieskaberes konvent. På de efterfølgende konventer er kollegerne fortsat med at give Sussi Bechs tegneserier topplaceringer i de forskellige kategorier. Og i 1994 blev det Sussi Bechs tur til at modtage den danske tegneseriepris Ping.
Siden 1999 har Sussi Bech desuden stået som tegner af en lang række billedbøger med de to populære børne-TV-figurer Kaj og Andrea - udgivet af DR Multimedie.

Sussi Bech was born in 1958. In 1983 she graduated from the School of Applied Art in Copenhagen, but by 1980 she was already a member of Gimle Studio in Copenhagen and well into her first comic book album, Zainab, inspired by a story from "Tales of 1001 Nights". It appeared in 1985, and was sold out in a few weeks.
In 1986 Sussi Bech threw herself into ancient Egypt in another carefully prepared and well-told album series, Nofret, published by Carlsen. This series about a young girl, which is characterized in a personal way by"ligne claire", takes the reader back to ancient Egypt in the year 1360 b.C. The epic takes its offspring in historical facts, mixed with Sussi Bech’s own fiction. Real historical figures like queen Nefertiti, pharaoh Akhenaten and Tutankhamun are characters in the story, while the main character Nofret is a product of Sussi’s imagination. We follow her adventures as a witness to deep human, political and religious intriques not only in Egypt, but also on Minoan Crete, in ancient Babylonia, the Hittite empire and Syria. So far, Sussi has completed eight volumes, and the ninth will see light in 1997. All the Nofret stories have been serialized in various newspapers like Berlingske Tidende and B.T.
Sussi Bech’s deep interest in that historical period has also brought her in contact with the Danish Egyptological Society, where she is elected board member for life. She has illustrated its magazine Papyrus since 1988, and a book about egyptian women’s dresses written by dr. Gillian Eastwood-Vogelsang of the Textile Research Centre at Leiden, Holland.
Nofret has not only been a success in Denmark, but has also been published in France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden and Indonesia. And although more than 3000 years old, Nofret is still able to follow a trend, when she sees one: A comprehensive introduction to her work is available on the world wide web (http://www2.dk-online.dk/users/nofret).
In 1991, Sussi made a two volume series, the crime story Aida Nur, which takes place in 1920‘s Egypt. It was inspired by her fancy for belly dancing and the archeological excavations of Lord Canarvon and mr. Howard Carter, that led to the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. The series was introduced in the Copenhagen daily newspaper B.T. in 1991 and appeared as an album the same year. The second and last album was published in the fall of 1992.
In 1993, the small Danish publisher Ultima released Sussi Bech’s student work from 1978, The Cunning Dalila (Dalila den Drevne) in two albums - an entertaining precursor to Zainab, that went through three print runs.
In 1998 Sussi Bech's comicsversion of the old tale De vilde svaner (the wild swans) was published.
Sussi Bech received the Danish Children’s Librarians’ Culture Award in 1990. That same year the Nofret album The Last Minos (Den sidste Minos) was chosen as Best Comic Book Album of the Year and Nofret as Best Comic Book Character at the Danish Comic Book Artists’ Convention. In succeeding conventions Sussi Bech’s colleagues have continued to give her comics top placement in the various categories, and in 1994 it became her turn to receive the Danish comics award, "Ping".