Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

and

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

. The company is based in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium.

History

The company was founded in 1780 by Donat-Joseph Casterman, an editor and bookseller originally from Tournai.Bocquet, José-Louis, and Fromental, Jean-Luc. ''The Adventures of Hergé'' (Drawn and Quarterly, 2011). Casterman was originally a printing company and

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. In 1934, Casterman took over the ''

Le Petit Vingtième ''Le Petit Vingtième'' (, ''The Little Twentieth'') was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgium, Belgian newspaper ''Le Vingtième Siècle'' ("The Twentieth Century") from 1928 to 1940. The comics series ''The Adventures of Tintin'' first app ...

'' editions for the publication of the albums of ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...

'', from the fourth album of the series, ''

Cigars of the Pharaoh ''Cigars of the Pharaoh'' (french: link=no, Les Cigares du pharaon) is the fourth volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the series of comic albums by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper '' Le Vingti� ...

''. From 1942, Casterman published reworked versions and colored versions of the previous Tintin albums. Strengthened by the success of

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...

's comics, shortly after, Casterman proposed new series with new authors such as Jacques Martin,

François Craenhals François Craenhals (15 November 1926 – 2 August 2004) was a Belgian comics artist best known for the comic series ''Chevalier Ardent'' and ''Les 4 As''. Biography François Craenhals was born in Evere in 1926.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Françoi ...

and C. & V. Hansen. From 1954 on, Casterman published children's books, as well, including the successful ''

Martine Martine is a feminine given name and a surname. Given name * Martine Aubry (born 1950), French politician * Martine Audet (born 1961), Canadian poet * Martine Aurillac (born 1939), French politician * Martine Baay-Timmerman (born 1958), Dutch po ...

'' books by Marcel Marlier and the Cadet- Rama books written by Alain Gree (units Achille et Bergamote and Petit Tom). Keen to appeal to a more mature market, Casterman decided in 1973 to publish the first albums of ''

Corto Maltese ''Corto Maltese'' is a series of adventure and fantasy comics named after the character Corto Maltese, an adventurous sailor. It was created by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967. The comics are highly praised as some of the most ...

'' by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

author

Hugo Pratt Ugo Eugenio Prat, better known as Hugo Pratt (15 June 1927 – 20 August 1995), was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as ''Corto Maltese''. He was indu ...

. Furthermore, in 1978, Casterman established its monthly magazine ''

A Suivre A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'', which was to influence the comics revival of the 1980s. Casterman ceased the publication of ''A Suivre'' in 1997. Casterman is now part of

Groupe Flammarion Groupe Flammarion () is a French publishing group, comprising many units, including its namesake, founded in 1876 by Ernest Flammarion, as well as units in distribution, sales, printing and bookshops (La Hune and Flammarion Center). Flammarion b ...

. Casterman's

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series are published under the imprint Sakka.

References

External links

* Book publishing companies of Belgium Comic book publishing companies of Belgium Tintin Belgian brands Companies established in 1780 Publishing companies established in the 1780s Tournai Companies based in Hainaut (province) {{comics-company-stub