Montreal native Réal Godbout was at the forefront of the rebirth of the graphic novel in Quebec in the 1970s. He’s widely known as the illustrator and co-creator (with Pierre Fournier) of the cult series Michel Risque and Red Ketchup, originally published in the satirical magazine Croc (1979–95). Réal also works as an illustrator, and created a series of educational comic strips for Les Débrouillards magazine. Since 1999 he has taught comic art in the fine arts program at the Université du Québec en Outaouais.He was inducted to the Canadian Comics Hall of Fame in 2009. Amerika is his first work in English.