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 ...
. It was founded in May 1990 by
Jean-Christophe Menu
Jean-Christophe Menu (; born August 23, 1964) is a French underground cartoonist, graphic designer, comics scholar and publisher, son of the Egyptologist Bernadette Menu. He is best known for being one of the founders of L'Association, an infl ...
The forerunner of the association was founded in 1984 as "Aanal", or Association pour l’Apologie du 9e Art Libre. Various other structures were set up by the founding members, and in 1990 they decided to return to an independent organisational structure, based on Aanal. At the time, the comics industry dominated by a number of large publishers who did not publish comic books exclusively. Similar to alternative comics in North America at the time, L’Association focused published works based on reality-based, and exclusively in
black and white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
.
L’Association (à la Pulpe) was founded in May 1990 by seven young cartoonists struggling to find an outlet for their work:
Jean-Christophe Menu
Jean-Christophe Menu (; born August 23, 1964) is a French underground cartoonist, graphic designer, comics scholar and publisher, son of the Egyptologist Bernadette Menu. He is best known for being one of the founders of L'Association, an infl ...
R. Sikoryak
Robert Sikoryak (born 1964) is an American artist whose work is usually signed R. Sikoryak. He specializes in making comic adaptations of literature classics. Under the series title ''Masterpiece Comics'', these include ''Crime and Punishment'' re ...
diatribe
A diatribe (from the Greek ''διατριβή''), also known less formally as rant, is a lengthy oration, though often reduced to writing, made in criticism of someone or something, often employing humor, sarcasm, and appeals to emotion.
Hi ...
against what he perceived as the co-opting and wholesale copycatting of the alternative comics aesthetic by France's mainstream comic book publishers looking to corner what had suddenly become a lucrative market. Literally meaning "flowerbeds", the title is a pun involving part of the word for comics ("bande dessinée," or "drawn strip"), a concern that independent comics are headed for blandness and platitude ("plat," literally flat or insipid), and a gauntlet thrown down to mainstream publishers for encroaching on indie territory (the colloquial expression "trampling someone’s flowerbeds" means to step on someone's toes).
The book coincided with three of the original founders and a few authors leaving L'Association:"Conversations: Jean-Christophe Menu & Sammy Harkham," ''The Comics Journal'' #300 (Dec. 2009). David B. left the group in spring 2005; Lewis Trondheim left in autumn 2006, followed shortly after by Stanislas and Killoffer. (At that point, L'Association's "editorial board" was dissolved, since it was originally composed of the company's founders.) This left Menu as sole director of L’Association. Although he had been the driving force, there had been dissatisfaction with his lack of collaborative approach. Konture remained loyal and stayed on, but was not involved in operations. It was managed by Menu and a board of directors who had been in place since 1993: Patricia Perdrizet as president, Isabelle “Zab” Chipot as secretary, and Laetitia Zuccarelli as treasurer.
In May 2011, after nearly six months of debate Menu announced his official departure from L'Association,Spurgeon, Tom "Jean-Christophe Menu Resigns From L'Association," ''Comics Reporter'' (May 23, 2011). and Stanislas also left, leaving only Mattt Konture from the original group. Shortly afterwards, co-founders David B., Killoffer, and Trondheim returned to the publishing house, as president, secretary, and treasurer respectively. A new editorial committee was created, comprising Konture, David B., Killoffer, François Ayroles, Jochen Gerner, Étienne Lécroart, Lisa Mandel et Jérome Mulot, with
Céline Merrien
Céline, sometimes spelled Celine, is a French female first name of Latin origin, coming from ''Caelīna'', the feminine form of the Roman cognomen ''Caelīnus'', meaning "heavenly".
as president.
''Lapin''
In 1992 L'Association launched a magazine/anthology called ''Lapin'' (referencing Menu's ''Lapot''), initially a bulletin reporting on internal information about the organisation. It appeared quarterly from issue 9 in October 1995, and then continued to appear erratically over the years, publishing a variety of experimental graphic works. It was resurrected from a period of dormancy in 2007 as a platform for emerging authors, which gave exposure to people such as Lisa Mandel, Nine Antico, and Matthias Picard.
In September 2013, ''Lapin'' was relaunched as ''Mon Lapin'', and was published under this name until November 2014. In 2017, it was relaunched as ''Mon Lapin quotidien'' (MLQ) as a large format ( by ) magazine, in its sixth series, starting with issue 1. Its appearance follows that of an ordinary mainstream newspaper, but its title is misleading: it is not published daily (''quotidien''), but quarterly.
L'Association is one of the most important publishers to come out of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics in the 1990s, and remains highly regarded.Nevins, Mark D. "L'Association: The Future of Comics?" ''Expo 2000'' (Bethesda, Maryland: The Expo, 2000), pp. 264-266.
L'ascension du haut mal
''L'Ascension du haut mal'' ("The Rise of the High Evil"), published in English as ''Epileptic'', is an autobiographical graphic novel by David Beauchard (more commonly known as David B.).
Publication history
It was originally published in French ...
Jean-Christophe Menu
Jean-Christophe Menu (; born August 23, 1964) is a French underground cartoonist, graphic designer, comics scholar and publisher, son of the Egyptologist Bernadette Menu. He is best known for being one of the founders of L'Association, an infl ...
) (1998)
* ''Maman a des problèmes'' (with Anne Baraou) (1999)
* ''les Incidents de la nuit''
** ''Tome 1'' (1999)
** ''les Traces du dieu Enn'' (2000)
** ''l'Embuscade'' (2002)
* ''Killoffer en la matière'' (1992)
* ''Billet SVP'' (1995)
* ''La Clef des champs'' (1997)
* ''Six cent soixante-seize apparitions de Killoffer'' (2002)
* ''Le Rock et si je ne m'abuse le roll'' (2006)
* ''Quand faut y aller'' (2006)
* ''Pervenche et Victor'' (1994)
* ''Cercle vicieux'' (2000)
* ''Le Cycle'' (2003)
* ''Scroubabble'' (2005)
* ''L'élite à la portée de tous'' (2005)
Jean-Christophe Menu
Jean-Christophe Menu (; born August 23, 1964) is a French underground cartoonist, graphic designer, comics scholar and publisher, son of the Egyptologist Bernadette Menu. He is best known for being one of the founders of L'Association, an infl ...
* ''Moins d'un quart de seconde pour vivre'' (with Lewis Trondheim) (1991)
* ''Dinozor Apokalips'' (1991)
* ''Omelette'' (1995)
* ''Livret de Phamille'' (1995)
* ''Gnognottes'' (1999.
* ''Le Livre du Mont-Vérité'' (2002)
* ''Mini Mune Comix'' (2003)
* ''Meder'' (2005; originally published by Futuropolis in 1988)
* ''Plates-Bandes'' (2005; writings)
* ''La Marraine des Moines'' (2008)
* ''Lock Groove Comix''
** ''Lock Groove Comix N°1'' (2008)
** ''Lock Groove Comix N°2'' (2009)
* ''Lourdes coquilles'' (2009)
* ''Corr&spondance'' (with Christian Rosset) (2009; writings)
* ''La Présidente'' with Blutch (2010; originally published by Autrement in 1995)
* ''La bande dessinée et son double'' (2011; writings)
La vie secrète des jeunes
''La Vie secrète des jeunes'' is a cartoon series by French cartoonist Riad Sattouf that appeared weekly in French satirical weekly ''Charlie Hebdo'' from 2004 to summer 2014. In the series, the artist portrays real life anecdotes.Marjane Satrapi
* '' Persepolis''
**
**
**
**
*''Broderies'' (2003, )
*
* '' Frank''
** ''Frank'' (1998, )
** ''Frank, Tome 1'' (2001, )
** ''Frank, Tome 2'' (2006, )
** ''Frank's Real Pa: Suivi de Frank et la corde de luth'' (2007, )
** '' Weathercraft'' (2010, )
** '' Frank et le congrès des bêtes'' (2011, )
** ''
Fran Fran may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Fran (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Fran (footballer, born 1969) or Francisco Javier González Pérez
* Fran (footballer, born 1972), Spanish retired football ...