Enki Bilal was born October 7, 1951 in Belgrade in what was then Yugoslavia, but moved to Paris, France when he was 9. He was fascinated with comics from an early age, and it is said he made his first comic when he was 14.
His first comic, "Le Bol Maudit" (The Cursed Bowl), was published in Pilote no. 645 in 1972, and he quickly became known for his very distinctive gritty realistic style. In 1975, with "La Croisière des Oubliés" (The Crusade of the Forgotten), he started his successful collaboration with Pierre Christin. The series of loosely related comics carry the title "Légendes d'aujourd'hui" (Legends of Today).
In 1980, Bilal began working on The Nikopol Trilogy (it is actually 4 albums now). Starting with "La Foire aux Immortels" (Gods in Chaos), he tells the story of Alcide Nikopol, an astronaut in a futurist-fascist Paris, who meets strange paranoid egyptian gods. The first album was followed by "La Femme Piège" (The Female Trap) in 1986, telling the story of Nikopol's love Jill Bioskop who somehow contacts a newspaper in the past. 1992's "Froid Èquateur" (The Coldness of Equator), telling the story of Alcide's son (who's the same age as Alcide and has the same name) in a cold Africa, was followed by "Le Sommeil du Monstre" (The Monster's Sleep) in 1999.
Enki typically illustrates Pierre Christins very politically laden comics, especially against dictatorial/totalitarian regimes, and many of his comics treat subjects with relation to communism. This is especially evident in "Partie de Chasse" (The Hunting Party). "Les Phalanges de l'Ordre Noir" (The Black Order Brigade) and in his untitled contribution to Carlsen Verlag's "Once upon a time, there was a Wall".
Bilal has, alongside with his comic production, made sets and posters for several French movies.
See also other Comics creators. Also thanks to Cyan de Funk.