The Belgian comic book editor Yves Schlirf, a key figure in the explosion of Japanese mango in French-speaking countries with best-sellers such as “Naruto”, died on Saturday, according to publishers Dargaud and Kana, to which he was linked.
© Lusa
13/09/2026
by
Lusa
Yves Schlirf
Yves Schlirf, who devoted about 50 years of work to publishing comic books, was currently director-general of Dargaud in Belgium, editorial director of Dargaud Benelux and Blake & Mortimer editions.
In 1996, after several trips to Japan, he founded Kana, a manga publisher created within Dargaud, which launched many of the great names of the genre in the French-speaking countries, including “Naruto”, “Saint Seiya”, “Detective Conan”, “Slam Dunk”, “Hunter x Hunter” and “Yu-Gi-Oh!”.
In a statement, publishers Dargaud and Kana praised the talent of the former bookseller in Brussels, “in addition to an insatiable curiosity” that made him an editor “in tune with the main popular series”.
In the Franco-Belgian comic book world, Yves Schlirf was the editor of the successful series “XIII”, created in the 1980s and written by his friend Jean Van Hamme.
He also supervised the series "Blake & Mortimer", relaunched after the death of Edgar P. Jacobs in 1987, who had created it in 1946.
“Yves Schlirf was still preparing an album commemorating the 80th anniversary of ‘Blake & Mortimer’, focusing on the secondary characters of the series,” according to publishers Dargaud and Kana.
As editorial director of Dargaud Benelux, he supervised the release of the titles “Pin-Up”, by Yann and Berthet, “Murena”, by Dufaux and Delaby, “Le Scorpion”, by Desberg and Marini, “La Complainte des lands perdues”, by Dufaux and Rosinski, and others, according to the press release.