Born in Bel­gium, Marc Vanop­pen, known as Mar­vano, start­ed out as an inte­ri­or design­er. Years lat­er, he began an alter­nate career as an illus­tra­tor, even­tu­al­ly becom­ing edi­tor-in-chief of the mag­a­zine Kuif­je, then man­ag­ing the comics depart­ment of Flem­ish pub­lish­er Den Gulden Engel. All the while he pub­lished his own comics and went on to write and illus­trate dozens of graph­ic nov­els over decades, most notably adapt­ing Joe Hal­der­man’s famous nov­el The For­ev­er War.