Norma Editorial is a Spanish comics

publisher 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 ...

, with its headquarters in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

.Home
Norma Editorial. Retrieved on 1 May 2011. "Passeig de Sant Joan 7. 08010 Barcelona. Spain" Founded in 1977 by Rafael Martínez, Norma Editorial publishes both original Spanish comics (such as '' Miguelanxo Prado''), Spanish translations of Japanese manga (such as work of

Kia Asamiya , best known by the pen name , is a Japanese manga artist whose work spans multiple genres and appeals to diverse audiences. He is well known for using influences from American comics, television, and films in his work, and describes himself as ...

, Clamp, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Katsuhiro Otomo, and

Masamune Shirow , better known by his pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. Shirow is best known for the manga '' Ghost in the Shell'', which has since been turned into three theatrical anime films, two anime television series, an anime television movie, an a ...

) as well as Spanish translations of American or European comics and

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

s (including works of

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...

Dave Gibbons David Chester Gibbons (born 14 April 1949) is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries ''Watchmen'' and the Superman story "For the Man ...

Enki Bilal Enki Bilal (born Enes Bilal; born 7 October 1951) is a French comic book creator, comics artist and film director. Biography Early life Bilal was born in Belgrade, PR Serbia, Yugoslavia, to a Czech mother, Ana, who came to Belgrade as child from ...

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 ind ...

, Manu Larcenet,

Joann Sfar Joann Sfar (; born 28 August 1971) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, novelist, and film director. Life and career Sfar was born in Nice, the son of Lilou, a pop singer, who died when he was three, and André Sfar, a lawyer well kn ...

Lewis Trondheim Lewis Trondheim (born Laurent Chabosy, , on 11 December 1964), is a French cartoonist and one of the founders (in 1990) of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic ''La Mouche'' and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animat ...

History

Origin

In 1981, Norma Editorial absorbed magazines from Riego Ediciones; '' Cimoc'' and '' Hunter'', and later on ''

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

'', '' Sargento Kirk'' and '' Humor a tope'', all directed at 1984 for Joan Navarro. With these brands, the company honed its focus on

Spanish comics Spanish comics are the comics of Spain. Comics in Spain are usually called ''historietas'' or ''cómics'', with ''tebeos'' primarily denoting the magazines containing the medium. ''Tebeo'' is a phonetic adaptation of ''TBO'', a long-running (1917 ...

and

European comics European comics are comics produced in Europe. The '' comic album'' is a very common printed medium. The typical ''album'' is printed in large format, generally with high quality paper and colouring, commonly 24x32 cm (9.4x12.6 in), has around 48 ...

. Among its first published works where those of Enrique S. Abulí, Alfonso Azpiri, Beroy,

Alfonso Font Alfonso Font (born 28 August 1946) is a Spanish comic book artist. Biography Alfonso Font was born in Barcelona, Spain. He began his comics career in the 1960s as apprentice in the local Editorial Bruguera studio, working mostly at western, war, ...

, Miguelanxo Prado, Segrelles, Daniel Torres or Sento; followed by the works of

, François Bourgeon,

Vittorio Giardino Vittorio Giardino (born December 24, 1946) is an Italian comic artist. Biography Giardino was born in Bologna, where he graduated in electrical engineering in 1969. At the age of 30, he decided to leave his job and devote himself to comics. Two ...

Jean Van Hamme Jean, knight Van Hamme (born 16 January 1939) is a Belgian novelist and comic book writer. He has written scripts for a number of Belgian/French comic series, including ''Histoire sans héros'', ''Thorgal'', '' XIII'' and '' Largo Winch''. Bi ...

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Milo Manara Maurilio Manara (; born 12 September 1945), known professionally as Milo Manara, is an Italian comic book writer and artist. Career After architecture and painting studies, he made his comics debut in 1969 drawing for ''Genius'', a Fumetti neri ...

, Moebius,

Grzegorz Rosinski Grzegorz (german: Falkenstein) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmża, within Toruń County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Chełmża and north of Toruń ...

Jacques Tardi Jacques Tardi (; born 30 August 1946) is a French comic artist. He is often credited solely as Tardi. Biography Tardi was born on 30 August 1946 in Valence, Drôme. After graduating from the École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon and the Éco ...

. Some sagas from these authors were published in collections such as ''Álbumes Cairo'', ''B/N'', ''Cimoc Extra Color'', ''El Muro'' and ''Pandora''. They edited the theoretical collection ''Un hombre, mil imágenes'' (1982–1985).

New paths

In the 1990s, Norma Editorial started to edit works from North American authors. Their most successful was the work of

, followed by John Byrne, Neil Gaiman,

Mike Mignola Mike Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comics artist and writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', '' Abe Sapien'', '' Lobster Johnson'', '' Wit ...

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...

in brands like ''Made in USA''. The company participated in the manga boom of the '90s, publishing the works of

, CLAMP, Kosuke Fujishima, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Katsuhiro Otomo,

Hiromu Arakawa is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for the manga series '' Fullmetal Alchemist'' (2001–2010), which became a hit both domestically and internationally, and was adapted into two anime television series. She is also known for '' Silv ...

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is a Japanese character designer, manga artist, and one of the founding members of the Gainax anime studio. Personal life Before Gainax was founded under the official name (it was originally called Daicon Film), Yoshiyuki served as animator o ...

and

. In the mid-1990s, Norma Editorial began a close collaboration with American independent Dark Horse, and later joined their catalog series superheroes of

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

and collection

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

Later years

After the loss of the rights of DC in 2005, they started a series of collections including ''Made in Hell'', a terror comic; ''Comic Noir'', a political comic; and a sci-fi comic; ''El día después''. In 2006, they announced the purchase of a new superheroes series, from the ASPEN editorial (''Soulfire'' and ''Fathom'') and

WildStorm Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wild ...

('' The Authority'' or '' Ex Machina'').

References

Sources

External links

Norma Editorial

Norma Editorial
{{Authority control Publishing companies established in 1977 Comic book publishing companies of Spain Manhwa distributors Economy of Barcelona Barcelona in popular culture Mass media in Barcelona