Éditions Lug

Éditions Lug () was a French comic book publisher based in Lyon, operating from 1950 to 1989. Originally known for publishing digest-sized reprints of old French and Italian comics, it then created its own characters and titles, such as the Tarzanesque '' Zembla''. Later, Lug began licensing and publishing translated versions of Marvel Comics superhero comics with titles such as '' Fantask'', ''Marvel'', and most notably, ''Strange''.

In 1989, the company was acquired by the Semic Group, a Scandinavian comic book publisher, and later became a French company, Semic Comics.

History

Origins

Éditions Lug was created in 1950 by writer/editor Marcel Navarro and businessman Auguste Vistel. The name of the company came from Lugdunum, the Gallo-Roman name for the city of Lyon.

When it started, Éditions Lug only reprinted old French and Italian comics in digest-sized magazines.

Among its most popular Italian imports were:
* '' Tex Willer'' (which it began publishing in 1951, then moved to its eponymous magazine in 1952), from Sergio Bonelli Editore
* '' Il Grande Blek'' (which it began publishing in '' Kiwi'' in 1955)
* '' Capitan Miki'' (which it began publishing in ''Nevada'' in 1958)
* ''Alan Mistero'' (renamed ''Ombrax'') (which it began publishing in an eponymous magazine in 1967)
The latter three are from Studio EsseGesse.

Another notable non-French comic book series published by Éditions Lug at the time was ''Dan Dare'' (in 1962).

Original characters

Early on, however, Navarro decided that his company needed some original characters. He enlisted a number of French and Italian studios to script and draw original series and began experimenting with a wide variety of genres. The look of these series was often evocative of 1960s DC Comics.

Éditions Lug's first major original success was a Tarzanesque jungle lord named '' Zembla'' (1963); its eponymous title was an immediate hit. Among other notable characters created at the times were '' Rakar'', a masked Lakota chief; ''Tanka'', another jungle lord; '' Gun Gallon'', a ''John Carter of Mars''-type hero lost on a parallel world with three moons; World War II hero Rick Ross, aka '' Baroud''; kung-fu cowboy '' Jed Puma''; Barbary Coast corsair ''Dragut''; and superhero '' Pilote Noir''.

Marvel Comics / superheroes

In 1968, Claude Vistel, Auguste Vistel's daughter, returned from a trip to New York and convinced Navarro to publish the first translations of Marvel Comics in France, in a magazine titled '' Fantask'' (1969), which featured Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer.

Sensing that he was on to something, Navarro followed suit with his own creations. ''Wampus'' was launched the same year; it featured the eponymous alien monster sent by an evil cosmic intelligence to destroy the Earth, and the exploits of a '' S.H.I.E.L.D.''-like organization named ''C.L.A.S.H.''. Unfortunately, Éditions Lug had run-ins with French censorship, and both ''Fantask'' and ''Wampus'' were canceled after only six issues.

The following year, Navarro re-launched the Marvel characters, first in a magazine called ''Strange'', then in ''Marvel'' (which also fell victim to censorship a year later). At the same time, he continued to introduce more new French characters in magazines such as:
* ''Futura'' (1972), which published ''Jaleb'', ''Homicron'', ''Brigade Temporelle'', '' L'Autre'' (The Other, a toned-down version of ''Wampus''), '' Aster'', '' Jeff Sullivan'' and ''Sibilla''
* '' Waki'' (1974)
* ''Kabur'' which also published '' Le Gladiateur de Bronze'' (The Bronze Gladiator) (1975).

Throughout this period, Luciano Bernasconi became one of Éditions Lug's major artists, co-creating a number of major characters, such as Wampus, Kabur and Phenix.

1970s/1980s success

The late 1970s and early 1980s were arguably the best years of the company. Its line of French-language Marvel editions thrived with titles such as ''Titans'' (1976), ''Nova'' (1978), ''Spidey'' (1979), and graphic novels of ''The Fantastic Four'' (1973), ''Conan the Barbarian'' (1976), etc.

A number of original titles were added, including a revamped version of ''Mustang'' (1980), which published '' Photonik'', '' Mikros'' and '' Ozark''. Other characters introduced during this period included ''Phenix'' (1978) and ''Starlock'' (1980). It even licensed its own creations to Spanish and Italian companies, where they sold with great success.

Around this time, a shared universe began to emerge. It wasn't nearly as tightly integrated as the Marvel Universe. While the titles made references to each other, characters from different titles never interacted directly.

Acquisition by Semic Press

In the mid-80's, Auguste Vistel died. This was the beginning of the end for Éditions Lug. Eventually, Marcel Navarro chose to retire. In 1989, the company was sold to the Semic Group, a Scandinavian comic book publisher, which renamed it Semic France. It later became a French company, Semic Comics.

Hexagon Comics

In 2004, after Semic Comics decided to cancel the Éditions Lug lines of comic books, a syndicate of French, Italian, and Spanish former Lug writers and artists reclaimed the rights to their characters and reorganized under the banner of Hexagon Comics.

Selected titles

* '' Plutos'' (1950)
* ''Rodeo'' (1951)
* ''Tex'' (1952)
* '' Pipo'' (1952)
* ''Pampa'' (1954)
* '' Kiwi'' (1955)
* '' Pim Pam Poum'' (1955) (French edition of the ''Katzenjammer Kids

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