Éditions Dupuis

Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.

Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic albums and magazines. It is originally a French language publisher, but publishes many editions both in French and Dutch. Other language editions are mostly licensed to other publishers. Dupuis was for a long time a family business but was sold in the early 1980s and has since changed ownership a few times.

Origin

The growth of Dupuis towards becoming the leading comic book editor of Belgium started in 1938, when Dupuis added to its portfolio a men's magazine (''Le moustique'' he mosquitoin French, '' Humoradio'' in Dutch), a women's magazine (''Bonnes Soirées'' ood eveningsin French, ''De Haardvriend'' he hearth's friendin Dutch) and the children's comics magazine '' Spirou''. The latter was originally only in French, and contained a mixture of American comics (e.g. '' Superman'', ''Brick Bradford'', and ''Red Ryder'') and new creations (''Spirou et Fantasio'' and ''Tif et Tondu''). A few months later, a Dutch edition called ''Robbedoes'' followed.

Growth after WWII

After some difficulties during the war (mainly because of the scarcity of paper towards the end of it, but also because American comics weren't allowed to be published anymore), Dupuis started to grow quickly. ''Le moustique'' became one of the leading magazines with information on radio and (later) television programs in Belgium, and ''Spirou'' was one of the two leading Franco-Belgian comics magazines (together with ''Tintin'' magazine).

Dupuis started publishing some books as well, but had real success by republishing the comics that had appeared as serials in the magazine, collected as albums afterwards. Sometimes these were one shots, but mainly they came in series. Dupuis has some of the best-selling European comic series, including ''Lucky Luke'', ''The Smurfs'', ''Gaston Lagaffe'' and ''Largo Winch''. Many of these comic albums have been reprinted constantly for thirty or forty years, thereby generating constant revenue for the editor.

Stabilization and diversification

In the early sixties, Dupuis started with other activities, including the merchandising of its comic series (puppets, posters, etc.), and the making of animated movies. Most of these weren't very successful but further raised the visibility of their comics. Still, towards the end of the 1960s, the golden age of Dupuis seemed to be over. Some of the magazines were struggling, the merchandising activities were vastly reduced, and the movie studio didn't seem to be producing any successful movies.
But the core business, the comics and the main magazines, continued to be hugely successful, with a comics catalogue of more than 2000 titles available in French. Many of the series were turned into animated movies in the 1990s, including ''Papyrus'' and ''Spirou et Fantasio'', and are being sold as movies and comics throughout Europe. Dupuis has also started producing computer games.

In June 2004, Dupuis was bought by Média-Participations, which now owns almost all major European comic book publishers, including Dargaud and Le Lombard, More recently, in 2015, Dupuis joined with twelve other European comics publishing actors to create Europe Comics, a digital initiative co-funded by the European Commission's Creative Europe program.

Main publications

This is a selection of magazines and comics series originally or mainly published by Dupuis. Some titles later changed to a different publisher.

Magazines

*Moustique (created as "Moustique" in 1924, named "Télémoustique" between the 1960s and 2011) and its Flemish counterpart HUMO (since 1936, originally called "Humoradio")
* Spirou, since 1938: between 1938 and 2005 also a Flemish version, "Robbedoes".

Comics series

Listed by year of first publication by Dupuis, with main authors given. Many series were also continued or temporarily taken over by other artists and writers.

*1938: ''Spirou & Fantasio'' by Robert Velter, Jijé, André Franquin, ...
*1938: ''Tif et Tondu'' by Fernand Dineur, Will, ...
*1941: '' Jean Valhardi'' by Jijé
*1946: ''Lucky Luke'' by Morris and René Goscinny
*1947: '' Blondin et Cirage'' by Jijé
*1947: ''Buck Danny'' by Victor Hubinon and Jean-Michel Charlier
*1952: '' Johan and Peewit'' by Peyo
*1954: ''Jerry Spring'' by Jijé
*1954: ''La Patrouille des Castors'' by Mitacq and Charlier
*1956: ''Gil Jourdan'' by Maurice Tillieux
*1957: '' Gaston'' by André Franquin and Yvan Delporte
*1958: ''The Smurfs'' by Peyo
*1958: ''Le Vieux Nick et Barbe-Noire'' by Marcel Remacle
*1959: ''Boule et Bill'' by Jean Roba
*1960: ''Benoît Brisefer'' by Peyo
*1961: ''Bobo'' by Paul Deliège and Maurice Rosy
*1963: '' Génial Olivier'' by Jacques Devos
*1965: '' Sibylline'' by Raymond Macherot
*1965: '' Sophie'' by Jidéhem
*1967: '' Les Petits Hommes'' by Pierre Seron
*1968: ''Les Tuniques Bleues'' by Louis Salvérius, Lambil, and Raoul Cauvin
*1969: '' Isabelle'' by Will, Franquin, Delporte and Macherot
*1970: '' Natacha'' by François Walthéry and Gos
*1970: ''Sammy'' by Berck and Cauvin
*1970: ''Yoko Tsuno'' by Roger Leloup
*1972: ''Scrameustache'' by Gos
*1974: ''Papyrus (comics)'' by Lucien De Gieter
*1975: ''Agent 212'' by Daniel Kox and Cauvin
*1981: '' Billy the Cat'' by Stéphane Colman and Stephen Desberg
*1981: ''Les Femmes en Blanc'' by Philippe Bercovici and Cauvin
*1982: ''Jeannette Pointu'' by Marc Wasterlain
*1982: ''Kogaratsu'' by Michetz and Bosse
*1982: '' Jérôme K. Jérôme Bloche'' by Alain Dodier
*1983: '' Pierre Tombal'' by Marc Hardy and Cauvin
*1983: '' Jojo'' by André Geerts
*1986: '' Soda (comics)'' by Bruno Gazzotti and Tome
*1987: ''Le Petit Spirou'' by Tome and Janry
*1988: '' Cupidon'' by Malik and Cauvin
*1989: '' Cédric'' by Laudec and Cauvin
*1990: ''Largo Winch'' by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme
*1992: '' Mélusine'' by Clarke and François Gilson
*1993: ''Kid Paddle'' by Midam
*2003: '' Parker and Badger'' by Marc Cuadrado
*2004; ''Lady S'' by Philippe Aymond and Van Hamme
*2005: ''The Bellybuttons'' by Maryse Dubuc and Delaf

References

External links

Homepage of Dupuis (in French)
{{Authority control

Publishing companies established in 1922
Comic book publishing companies of Belgium
Belgian companies established in 1922