(singular ; literally 'drawn strips'), abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics (), are
comics
a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
that are usually originally in
French and created for readership in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
. These countries have a long tradition in comics, separate from that of English-language comics. Belgium is a mostly bilingual country, and comics originally in
Dutch (, literally "strip stories", or simply "strips") are culturally a part of the world of ''bandes dessinées'', even if the translation from French to Dutch far outweighs the other direction.
Among the most popular ''bandes dessinées'' are ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
'' (by
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 comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...
), ''
Spirou and Fantasio'' (
Franquin et al.), ''
Gaston'' (
Franquin), ''
Asterix
''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...
'' (
Goscinny &
Uderzo
Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (; 25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020), better known as Albert Uderzo (), was a French comic book artist and scriptwriter. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the '' Astérix'' series in collaboration wit ...
), ''
Lucky Luke
''Lucky Luke'' is a Western (genre), Western bande dessinée, comic album series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris (cartoonist), Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborati ...
'' (
Morris &
Goscinny), ''
The Smurfs'' (
Peyo) and ''
Spike and Suzy'' (
Willy Vandersteen
Willebrord Jan Frans Maria "Willy" Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, sel ...
). Some highly-regarded realistically drawn and plotted ''bandes dessinées'' include ''
Blueberry
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...
'' (
Charlier &
Giraud, a.k.a. "Moebius"), ''
Thorgal'' (
van Hamme &
Rosiński), ''
XIII'' (van Hamme &
Vance), and the creations of
Hermann.
Reach
In Europe,
French is spoken natively not only in France and the
city state
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...
of
Monaco
Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
, but also by significant portions of the population of
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
,
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
and
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. The shared language creates an artistic and commercial market where national identity is often blurred, and one of the main rationales for the conception of the (English) "Franco-Belgian comics" expression itself. The potential appeal of the French-language BDs extends beyond Francophone Europe, as France in particular has strong historical and cultural ties with several Francophone overseas territories. Of these territories it is
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, where Franco-Belgian BDs are doing best, due – aside from the fact that it has the largest BD reading Francophone population outside Europe – to that province's close historical and cultural ties with France from
colonization
475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence.
Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...
, in the process heavily influencing its own native
Quebec comics scene. This is in stark contrast to the English-speaking part of the country, which is culturally
American comics American comics may refer to:
* History of American comics
*American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form ori ...
oriented.
While the originally in Dutch written
Flemish Belgian comic books, or rather comic/BD albums (see: ''
below'') are influenced by Francophone BDs, especially in the early years, they evolved into a distinctly different style, both in art and in spirit, which is why they are nowadays sub-categorized as
Flemish comics, as their evolution started to take a different path from the late 1940s onward, due to cultural differences stemming from the increasing cultural self-awareness of the Flemish people. And while French-language publications are habitually translated into Dutch, Flemish publications are less commonly translated into French, for cultural reasons. Likewise, despite the shared language, Flemish BDs do not do that well in the Netherlands and vice versa, save for some notable exceptions, such as the
Willy Vandersteen
Willebrord Jan Frans Maria "Willy" Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, sel ...
creation ''Suske en Wiske'' (''
Spike and Suzy'') which is popular across the border. Concurrently, the socio-cultural
idiosyncrasies
An idiosyncrasy is a unique feature of something. The term is often used to express peculiarity.
Etymology
The term "idiosyncrasy" originates from Greek ', "a peculiar temperament, habit of body" (from ', "one's own", ', "with" and ', "blend ...
contained within many Flemish BDs also means that these comics have seen far less translations into other languages than their French-language counterparts have due to their more universal appeal, and the French language's cultural status.
Belgium is officially a trilingual country as there is a
German-speaking Community of Belgium
The German-speaking Community (, , DG), also known as East Belgium ( ), is one of the three Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, federal communities of Belgium. The community is composed of nine municipalities in Liège Province, ...
. Belgian BD home market first print releases, be it in Dutch or in French, are rarely translated into that language with German-speaking Belgians having to wait for internationally released editions for reading in their native tongue, typically those from licensed publishers stemming from neighboring
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Though Dutch and German both are Germanic languages, the
German-speaking Community of Belgium
The German-speaking Community (, , DG), also known as East Belgium ( ), is one of the three Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, federal communities of Belgium. The community is composed of nine municipalities in Liège Province, ...
lies within the territory of the
Walloon Region, so that French is the most utilized (second) language in that area and has caused the handful of BD artists originating from there, such as Hermann and
Didier Comès, to create their BDs in French. Born Dieter Hermann Comès, Comès actually "Frenchified" his given name to this end, whereas Hermann has dispensed with his (Germanic) family name "Huppen" for his BD credits, though he maintained the Germanic spelling for his first name. Due to its relative modesty, both in size and in scope, and despite the close historical and cultural ties, no German-Belgian artists are as of 2018 known to have created BDs specifically for the
German comics world, when discounting commercial translations of their original Francophone creations.
A similar situation exists in France, which has
several regional languages, of which
Breton and
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
are two of the more substantial ones. But while these languages are culturally recognized as regional languages, they are not official national languages, contrary to Belgium in regard to German, with similar consequences as in Belgium for BDs and their artists. Native BDs are rarely, if at all, released in these languages by the main BD publishers, whereas artists stemming from these regions, invariably create their BDs in French – like their German-Belgian counterparts forced to do so in order to gain commercial access to the main market. The situation for
France's German-speaking minority is therefore identical to its more sizable counterpart in northern neighbor Belgium in regard to BD-related matters.
Vocabulary
The term ''bandes dessinées'' is derived from the original description of the art form as "drawn strips". It was first introduced in the 1930s, but only became popular in the 1960s, by which time the "BD" abbreviation was also in use for its book, or album, publications (see ''
below'').
''Bandes dessinées'' were described as the "ninth art" in Francophone scholarship on the medium (''le neuvième art''). The "ninth art" designation stems from a 1964 article by in the magazine ''Lettres et Médecins'', and was subsequently popularized in an article series about the history of comics, which appeared in weekly installments in ''
Spirou'' magazine from 1964 to 1967. Written by Belgian
Morris with editorial input from the
below-mentioned Frenchman , the article series was in itself an example of a Franco-Belgian BD project. The publication of
Francis Lacassin's book ''Pour un neuvième art : la bande dessinée'' in 1971 further established the term.
In
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, Franco-Belgian BDs are often seen as equivalent to what are known as
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
s — most likely a result of their deviating from the American
32-page comic book standard. In recent decades the English "graphic novel" expression has increasingly been adopted in Europe as well in the wake of the works of
Will Eisner and
Art Spiegelman
Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...
, but with the specific intent to discriminate between comics intended for a younger and/or general readership, and publications which are more likely to feature mature content, literary subject matter or experimental styles.
As a result, European BD scholars have retroactively identified the 1962 ''
Barbarella'' comic by
Jean-Claude Forest (for its theme) and the first 1967 ''
Corto Maltese'' adventure ''Una ballata del mare salato'' (''
A Ballad of the Salt Sea'') by
Hugo Pratt (for both art, and story style) in particular, as the comics up for consideration as the first European "graphic novels".
History

During the 19th century, there were many artists in Europe drawing cartoons, occasionally even utilizing sequential multi-panel narration, albeit mostly with clarifying captions and dialogue placed under the panels rather than the
speech balloons commonly used today. These were humorous short works rarely longer than a single page. In the
Francophonie
The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...
, artists such as
Gustave Doré
Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6January 1832 – 23January 1883) was a French printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engravings illustrati ...
,
Nadar
Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (; 5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar () or Félix Nadar'','' was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of History of avi ...
,
Christophe and
Caran d'Ache began to be involved with the medium.
Early 1900s – 1929: Precursors
In the early decades of the 20th century, comics were not stand-alone publications, but were published in
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
s and weekly or monthly
magazine
A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
s as episodes or gags. Aside from these magazines, the Catholic Church, in the form of its then powerful and influential , was creating and distributing "healthy and correct" magazines for children. In the early 1900s, the first popular French comics appeared. Two of the most prominent comics include ''
Bécassine'' and ''
Les Pieds Nickelés''.
In the 1920s, after the end of the first world war, the French artist
Alain Saint-Ogan started out as a professional cartoonist, creating the successful series ''
Zig et Puce'' in 1925. Saint-Ogan was one of the first French-speaking artists to fully utilize techniques popularized and formularized in the United States, such as
Speech balloons, even though the
text comic format would remain the predominant native format for the next two to three decades in France, propagated as such by France's educators. In 1920, the Abbot of
Averbode in Belgium started publishing ''
Zonneland'', a magazine consisting largely of text with few illustrations, which started printing comics more often in the following years.
Even though ''Les Pieds Nickelés'', ''Bécassine'' and ''Zig et Puce'' managed to survive the war for a little while longer, modernized in all three cases and all of them continued by artists (the most notable one being ''Belgian''
Greg for the latter in the 1960s) other than the original creators, none of them succeeded to find a readership outside France itself and are consequently remembered in their native country only.
1929–1940: Birth of the modern Franco-Belgian comic
One of the earliest proper Belgian comics was
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 comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...
's ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
'', with the story ''
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
''Tintin in the Land of the Soviets'' () is the first volume of ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper as anti-communism, anti-communist satire for its ...
'', which was published in ''
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 ap ...
'' in 1929. It was quite different from future versions of Tintin, the style being very naïve and simple, even childish, compared to the later stories. The early ''Tintin'' stories often featured
racist and political stereotypes, which caused
controversies
Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opp ...
after the war, and which Hergé later regretted. After ''Tintin''
's early massive success, the magazine decided to release the stories in hardcover book format as well, directly after they had run their respective courses in the magazine — in the process introducing something new in the Belgian comic world: the ''
comic album
a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...
''. The 1930 ''Tintin au pays des Soviets'' title is generally considered the first of its kind – even though there are three similar ''Zig et Puce'' titles from French publisher
Hachette, known to predate the ''Tintin'' title by one to two years, but which failed to find an audience outside France however. The magazine continued to do so for the subsequent three stories until 1934 when the magazine, as such not particularly well-suited as book publisher, turned album publication over to Belgian specialized book publisher
Casterman
Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, 90 kilometres southwest of the centre of Brussels, Belgium.
History
The company was founded in 1780 by Don ...
, who has been the ''Tintin'' album publisher ever since.
The criticisms regarding the early stories notwithstanding and even though the format still had a long way to go, ''Tintin'' is widely considered the starting point and
archetype
The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...
of the modern Franco-Belgian comic as currently understood, and as amply demonstrated in the vast majority of treatises and reference works written on the subject since the 1960s, and the first to find a readership outside its originating country. As such the ''Tintin'' series went on to become one of the greatest post-war successes of the Franco-Belgian comic world, having seen translations in dozens of languages, including English, as well as becoming one of the relatively few European comics to have seen a major, successful, Hollywood
movie adaptation as late as 2011, nearly thirty years after the death of its creator.
A further step towards modern comic books happened in 1934 when Hungarian
Paul Winkler, who had previously been distributing comics to the monthly magazines via his
Opera Mundi bureau, made a deal with
King Features Syndicate to create the ''
Journal de Mickey'', a weekly 8-page early "comic-book". The success was immediate, and soon other publishers started publishing periodicals with American series, which enjoyed considerable popularity in both France and Belgium. This continued during the remainder of the decade, with hundreds of magazines publishing mostly imported material. The most important ones in France were ''Robinson'' (with ''
Flash Gordon'' and ''
Mandrake''), ''Hurrah'' (with ''
Brick Bradford'', ''
Ace Drummond'' and ''
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
''), and the (on behalf of the a.k.a. Cœurs Vaillants et Âmes Vaillantes de France) publications ''
Cœurs Vaillants'' ("Valiant Hearts", 1929, for adolescent boys), ' ("Valiant Souls", 1937, for adolescent girls) and ' (1945, for pre-adolescents), while Belgian examples included ''Wrill'' and ''
Bravo''.
''Coeurs Vaillants'' started to publish ''The Adventures of Tintin'' in syndication from 1930 onward, constituting one of the earliest known French-Belgian comic world cross-fertilizations, only reinforced when Abbot Courtois, editor-in-chief of ''Coeurs Vaillants'', asked Hergé to create a series about real children with a real family as opposed to ''Tintin''s ambiguous age and family (and thus more in line with the Catholic norms and values on which the magazine was founded), which resulted in the 1936 comic ''
The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko''. Incidentally, as Hergé created his comics in the increasingly popular speech balloon format, it initially led to
a conflict with ''Cœurs Vaillants'', which utilized the text comic format its editors considered more appropriate from an educational point-of-view. Hergé won the argument, and speech balloon comics were henceforth featured ''alongside'' text comics in the magazine (and that of its spin-offs) until the mid-1960s, when speech balloon comics were all but abandoned by the magazine(s), the general trend notwithstanding.
In 1938, the Belgian ''
Spirou'' magazine was launched. Conceived in response to the immense popularity of ''Journal de Mickey'' and the success of ''Tintin'' in ''Le Petit Vingtième'', the black and white/color hybrid magazine featured predominantly comics from an American origin (''
Red Ryder'', ''
Dick Tracy'', ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
'') at the time of its launch until the war years, but there were also native comics included. These concerned ''
Spirou'', created by the Frenchman
Rob-Vel
François Robert Velter (; 9 February 1909 – 27 April 1991), known by his pen-name Rob-Vel (), was a French cartoonist. He is best known for creating the character ''Spirou et Fantasio, Spirou'' in 1938.
Biography
Like ''Spirou'', Velter b ...
(and thus another early cross-fertilization example) and who served as the mascot and namesake for the new magazine,
and ''
Tif et Tondu
''Tif et Tondu'' (''Tif and Tondu'') is a Belgian comic strip about a duo of private investigators, originally created, written and drawn by Fernand Dineur. Several artists and writers have worked on the series but the most popular version is ...
'' created by Belgian artist
Fernand Dineur.
Both series would survive the war and achieve considerable popularity after the war, albeit under the aegis of other artists (see below). Published in a bi-lingual country, ''Spirou'' simultaneously appeared in a Dutch-language version as well under the name ''Robbedoes'' for the
Flemish market. Export to the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
followed a few years later shortly after the war. The magazine was conceived and published by publisher
Éditions Dupuis S.A. (as of 1989, simply:
Dupuis
Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.
Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now ...
), which was established by its founding namesake as a printing business in 1898, but changed to being a publishing house in 1922, publishing non-comic books and magazines. Since the launch of ''Spirou'' however, Dupuis has increasingly focused on comic productions and is currently, as of 2017, a comics publisher exclusively and one of the two great Belgian Franco-Belgian comic publishing houses still in existence.
As post-war exports to France (like in the Netherlands, the magazine was not available in France until 1945-46), ''Spirou'' – featuring the (early) creations of Belgian greats like
Morris,
Franquin and
Jijé – became a significant inspiration for future French ''bande dessinée'' greats such as
Jean "Mœbius" Giraud and
Jean-Claude Mézières, eventually setting them off on their comic careers, but who were schoolboys at the time they became acquainted with the magazine.
1940–1944: War and occupation
When Germany invaded France and Belgium, it became close to impossible to import
American comics American comics may refer to:
* History of American comics
*American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form ori ...
. The occupying
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
banned American animated movies and comics they deemed to be of a
questionable character. Both were, however, already very popular before the war and the hardships of the war period only seemed to increase the demand.
This created an opportunity for many young artists to start working in the comics and animation business. At first, authors like Jijé in ''Spirou'' and
Edgar P. Jacobs in ''Bravo'' continued unfinished American stories of ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
'' and ''
Flash Gordon''. Thus, by imitating the style and flow of those comics, they improved their knowledge of how to make efficient comics. Soon even those homemade versions of American comics had to stop, and the authors had to create their own heroes and stories, giving the new talents a chance to be published. Many of the most famous artists of the Franco-Belgian comics started in this period, including the Belgians
André Franquin
André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are ''Gaston (comics), Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to ...
,
Peyo (who started together at the small Belgian animation studio Compagnie Belge d'Animation – CBA),
Willy Vandersteen
Willebrord Jan Frans Maria "Willy" Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, sel ...
, and the Frenchmen
Jacques Martin and
Albert Uderzo, who worked for ''Bravo''.
1944–1959: Post-war era Belgian supremacy

A lot of the publishers and artists who had managed to continue working during the occupation were accused of being collaborators and were imprisoned after the liberation by the reinstated national authorities on the insistence of the former French resistance, although most were released soon afterwards without charges being pressed. For example, this happened to one of the famous magazines, ''Coeurs Vaillants''. It was founded by Abbot Courtois (under the alias Jacques Coeur) in 1929. As he had the backing of the church, he managed to publish the magazine throughout the war, and was charged with being a collaborator. After he was forced out, his successor
Pihan (as Jean Vaillant) took up the publishing, moving the magazine in a more humorous direction. Likewise, Hergé was another artist who also found himself on the receiving end of similar accusations of the former Belgian resistance. He managed to clear his name and went on to create
Studio Hergé in 1950, where he acted as a sort of mentor for the assistants that it attracted. Among the people who worked there were
Bob de Moor
Robert Frans Marie De Moor (20 December 1925 – 26 August 1992), better known under his pen name Bob de Moor, was a Belgian comics creator. Chiefly noted as an artist, he is considered an early master of the Ligne claire style. He wrote and ...
,
Jacques Martin and
Roger Leloup, all of whom exhibit the easily recognizable Belgian ''
ligne claire'' (clean line style), often opposed to the "
Marcinelle school"-style (named for the seat of ''Spirou'' publisher Dupuis), mostly proposed by authors from ''Spirou'' magazine such as Franquin,
Peyo and Morris. In 1946, Hergé also founded the weekly ''
Tintin
Tintin usually refers to:
* ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé
** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series
Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to:
Material related to ''The A ...
'' magazine, which quickly gained enormous popularity, like the weekly ''Spirou'' appearing in a Dutch version under the name ''Kuifje'' for the Flemish and Dutch markets. Notable Belgian comic artists who at a later point in time achieved fame while working for ''Tintin'' magazine included among others
William Vance, the aforementioned Greg,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
and
Hermann Huppen
Hermann Huppen (born 17 July 1938) is a Belgian comic book creator. He is better known under his pen-name Hermann. He is most famous for his post-apocalyptic comic ''Jeremiah'' which was made into a television series.
Biography
Hermann was bor ...
.
''Tintin'' magazine publisher Les Éditions du Lombard (as of 1989 simply:
Le Lombard
Le Lombard (), known as Les Éditions du Lombard () until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when '' Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard became part of Média-Participations since 1986, alongside publishers Darg ...
) was especially founded by
Raymond Leblanc
Raymond Leblanc (; 22 May 1915 – 21 March 2008) was a Belgium, Belgian comic book publisher, film director and film producer, best known for publishing works such as ''The Adventures of Tintin'' by Hergé and ''Blake and Mortimer'' by Edgar P. ...
for the magazine's launch in conjuncture with Hergé as the latter could not find a publisher due to the fact that he was at that time still under investigation for alleged collaboration. Remarkably, album publications of the creations from the early group of artists centered around Hergé was, then and now, outsourced to longstanding ''Tintin'' book publisher Casterman, while Lombard itself only started album publications for those artist who joined the magazine at a later point in time. Nonetheless, with Lombard Francophone Europe had received its first specialized comics publisher actually conceived as such. Le Lombard went on to become one of the three great Belgian publishing houses to produce comics in French (and in Dutch as well for that matter due to the bi-lingual nature of the country), alongside Dupuis and Casterman, and like them as of 2017 still in existence.
Many other magazines did not survive the war: ''Le Petit Vingtième'' had disappeared, ''Le Journal de Mickey'' only returned in 1952. In the second half of the 1940s many new magazines appeared, although in most cases they only survived for a few weeks or months. The situation stabilized around 1950 with ''Spirou'' and the new ''
Tintin
Tintin usually refers to:
* ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé
** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series
Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to:
Material related to ''The A ...
'' magazine (with the team focused around Hergé) as the most influential and successful magazines for the next decade.
Yet, 1944 (both
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
were liberated before war's end) had already seen the start of the industry career of the French-Belgian
Jean-Michel Charlier
Jean-Michel Charlier (; 30 October 1924 – 10 July 1989) was a Belgian comics writer. He was a co-founder of the famed Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Pilote''.
Life
Charlier was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1924.De Weyer, Geert (2005) ...
, in the process becoming one of its most towering figures. That year and a lawyer by trade, Charlier joined the newly formed comic syndication agency of
Georges Troisfontaines, Belgium's answer to King Features Syndicate. Originally hired as an editorial draughtsman, Troisfontaines recognized Charlier's talent for writing and persuaded him to switch from drawing to scripting comics, something Charlier did with great success for the remainder of his life, creating close to three dozen series, several of them becoming classics of the Franco-Belgian ''bande dessinée''. ''Spirou'' magazine became the agency's first and foremost client, and the first post-war decade saw the infusion into the magazine with many new series from young, predominantly Belgian talents like
Eddy Paape,
Victor Hubinon,
Mitacq, , instituting an era in which Jijé's career truly took off with his best-known creation, the
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
comic series ''
Jerry Spring'', that started its run in ''Spirou'' in March 1954. Jijé incidentally, had magazine tenure, but closely cooperated with the World Press artists before embarking on his own creation. Successful series Charlier himself created in this period were the educational short series ''
Les Belles Histoires de l'oncle Paul'' (serving as proving ground in order to develop the talents and skills of young aspiring artists like Belgians Mitacq, , Hermann,
Dino Attanasio and the Frenchman
Jean Graton among others, several of whom switching over to industry competitor Lombard at a later point in their careers, most notably Hermann), ''
Buck Danny'' (with Hubinon), ''
La Patrouille des Castors'' (with Mitacq after his apprenticeship on ''L'oncle Paul'') and ''Jean Valhardi'' (with Paape and Jijé). Aside from being a very prolific comic script writer, becoming his trademark henceforth, Charlier also became an editorial driving force and spokesperson for the agency, because of his background in law and his assertive personality. As such, he was responsible for introducing the two Frenchmen
René Goscinny
René Goscinny (; ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Asterix, Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Born in France to a Jewish family from Poland, he spent his chil ...
(who also starting out ''his'' comics career at the agency) and former ''Bravo'' artist
Albert Uderzo to each other in 1951 at the in that year opened Paris, France, office of World Press, in the process creating one of Franco-Belgium's most successful ''bande dessinée'' partnerships. One of the first comics both men created together in the employ of the agency was the in colonial French-Canada era set Western series ''
Oumpah-pah'', which was already conceived as loose gags in 1951, but failed to find a magazine publisher. Reworked into complete stories, the comic became successful in ''Tintin'' magazine in the period 1958–1962 (and thus, alongside Martin's ''
The Adventures of Alix'', one of the first purely French comics to appear in the Belgian magazine), effectively becoming the "spiritual father" of their later ''Asterix'' creation.
But it were not just the artists contracted by World Press who infused ''Spirou'' with its new elan, Dupuis itself had contracted a group of artists who were as much responsible for its success and then some as it was this group that defined the rejuvenated magazine in the post-war era. Upon war's end three artists from the defunct animation studio CBA were hired by Dupuis as staff artists for ''Spirou'', Eddy Paape (before he switched over to World Press), André Franquin and
Maurice "Morris" De Bevere, and it was Morris who created in 1946 the second one of the great Franco-Belgian comic classics, ''Lucky Luke'', which made it first appearance in the ''Almanach'' appendix issue of 7 December 1946. Franquin was passed the comic ''Spirou et Fantasio'' by his mentor Jijé, who himself had taken over the series from original creator Rob-Vel in the war years, and it was Franquin who provided the series with its popularity, before he embarked for the magazine on his most popular creation ''
Gaston'' in 1957. With the addition of artist
Willy "Will" Maltaite, who took over the series ''Tif et Tondu'' from original creator Fernand Dineur, the group that became known as "''La bande des quatre''" (Gang of 4), consisting of Jijé, Franquin, Morris and Will, was complete and constituted the foundation of what was coined the "Marcinelle school"-style. However, such was the success of these artists, that the work of pre-war artists Rob-Vel and Dineur, was eclipsed by that of the younger generation, causing them to slide into oblivion.
In 1952, another future great working in the Marcinelle school tradition was added to ''Spirou'', artist Pierre "Peyo" Culliford upon introduction by Franquin. Peyo was actually a former colleague of Franquin at CBA, but was at the time of the demise of the animation studio not considered by Dupuis because of his young age. For ''Spirou'' Peyo continued with the series ''
Johan et Pirlouit'', which he had already started in 1947 for the Belgian newspapers ''
La Dernière Heure
''La Dernière Heure'' () and ''Les Sports'' (), currently sold under the name ''La DH Les Sports+'', is a French-language daily newspaper published in Brussels, Belgium. The paper is known for news and sports.
History and profile
''La Derni� ...
'' and ''
Le Soir
''Le Soir'' (, ) is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Émile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. Together with '' La Libre Belgique'', it is one of the most popular Francophone newsp ...
''. It was this series that in 1957 spawned another of the great Franco-Belgian comic classics, ''Les Schtroumpfs'' (''
The Smurfs''). With both magazines firmly in place, it was the success of ''Spirou'' and ''Tintin'' that initiated what many fans ''and'' scholars consider the golden age of the (Franco-)Belgian comic.
As a result, the American comics didn't come back in as great a volume as before in both Belgium and France after the war, but in the case of France not for want of popularity, quite the contrary actually.
The ''bande dessinée'' under siege in post-war France
In France, a 1949 law about publications intended for the youth market was partly written by the
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...
, a major political force in France directly after the war (because of their highly successful and effective
resistance in the war years), to actually exclude most of the American publications.
The law, called "" ("Law of July 16th 1949 on Publications Aimed at the Youth") and passed in response to the post-liberation influx of American comics, was invoked as late as 1969 to prohibit the comic magazine ' —which featured translated versions of
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
stories — after seven issues. The formal and official justification for the law was the legislative desire to protect the youth of France from the perfidious and corruptive influence perceived to permeate foreign comics, especially in regard to violence and sexuality, the American ones in particular (even though they were not mentioned by name in the law), and in this the French law actually foreshadowed the 1954 publication of the comic condemning treatise ''
Seduction of the Innocent
''Seduction of the Innocent'' is a book by German-born American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a harmful form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was tak ...
'' by
Fredric Wertham
Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German–American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafa ...
in the United States itself. But there was an equally important, but unofficial, reason for the law as well; American comics were doing so well in post-liberation France, that native comic magazines, particularly the Catholic ones, became threatened in their very existence, and the law therefore became concurrently a veiled
market protection mechanism. An added sense of urgency was, besides the huge popularity the American magazines enjoyed among France's youth, that the native publications had at that time a distinct disadvantage over their American counterparts as the country still experienced a serious post-war paper shortage (reflected as such in the poor paper quality, relatively low page count ''and'' lower circulation numbers of the native magazines of that era), something the higher quality American ones did not suffer from, they receiving preferential treatment under the
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in economic recovery pr ...
. The first targeted American comic for example, ''
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Creat ...
'', enjoyed a weekly circulation of 300,000 copies, twice the one ''Coeurs Vaillants'' had and dwarfing the 76,000 copy circulation of ''Tintin'', and it was but one of the many American comics published in France in the immediate post-war era. It was the very reason for the unlikely French Catholic-Communist alliance in this regard, and a very effective one at that as American comics all but disappeared from the French comic scene for the time being, the ''
Le Journal de Mickey'' excepted, which only reappeared three years later in former occupied western Europe.
It was not just American productions which were prohibited under the law, several Belgian French-language comic creations of the era also fell victim to the scrutiny of the oversight committee charged with upholding the law for varying reasons, as stipulated in its rather sweeping article 2 (presently article 3), which allowed for almost at will prohibition of comics for reasons that suited the policies of any French government in power at any given time. A famous example concerned the two
Korean War
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
volumes of the popular aviation comic series ''Buck Danny'', created by Belgians Charlier (who as spokesperson for World Press/''Spirou'' was actually summoned to appear in person for a board of inquiry at the French
Ministry of Information to account for himself) and Hubinon, which were prohibited in 1954 as article 2 expressly forbade any mentioning of an actual, current armed conflict in a children's publication – but also because communist members of the commission had issues with the strong anticommunist sentiment expressed in the comic according to writer Charlier. Both volumes remained prohibited in France until 1969, though French fans on holiday in Belgium, Switzerland or Luxembourg could pick up the albums unhindered over there.
The law also came in handy to somewhat regulate – though not prohibiting – the availability in France of Belgian magazines like ''Spirou'' (which actually came close to prohibition however, as the Korean War stories were serialized in the magazine, but which was narrowly averted at the eleventh hour by Charlier) and ''Tintin'' in favor of the native Catholic magazines, after the conservatives had reasserted their political predominance in the country during the 1950s.
Rigorously enforced by the government oversight committee (Committee in Charge of Surveillance and Control over Publications Aimed at Children and Adolescents), particularly in the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s, the law turned out to be a stifling influence on the post-war development of the French comic world until the advent of ''
Pilote
''Pilote'' (), for a while subtitled ''the magazine of Asterix and Obelix'' (French: ''Le Journal D’Astérix et D’Obélix'' ) was a French comics magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major Franco-Belgian comics, French ...
'' magazine and more specifically the
May 1968 social upheaval. Legally, the Commission had no punitive powers, only advisory ones, but in practice Charlier begged to differ. The all powerful Commission, shielded by the Justice Ministry (which ''was'' the punitive authority, but who took any and all Commission recommendations at face value, no questions asked),
convened on a weekly basis, sifting through publications and weeding out those they felt subject to prohibition under the law, every decision they took being final, under no obligation to ever provide any formal justification whatsoever and without any possibility for appeal, which amounted to ''de facto'' state
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...
according to Charlier.
Yet, it were also the communists who provided the comic scene in France with a single bright-spot; Having its origins in the communist wartime underground resistance publications, the comic magazine ''
Vaillant'' (not to be confused with the two near-similarly named Fleurus publications) was launched in 1945 upon war's end. The
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
magazine provided a platform for predominantly native comic talent born between the 1920s and the 1940s, not able or willing to work for the Catholic magazines, to showcase their work. French names of note who started out their career in the magazine were among others
Nikita Mandryka,
Paul Gillon,
Jean-Claude Forest and
Marcel Gotlib, and were less beholden to what was then still the
Belgian ''bande dessinée'' tradition, other native contemporaries were – in essence ranking among the first native French artists to provide the "Franco" element in what later would become the "Franco-Belgian comics" expression, with comic artist
Marijac having been a trailblazer. Marijac actually started out for ''Coeurs Vaillants'' in the 1930s, but distanced himself from the magazine directly after the liberation, when he started the secular comics magazine ' (1944–1963), France's first recognizable modern ''bande dessinée'' magazine. Marijac himself became a prolific figure of note in the French comic scene of the 1950s as co-editor and contributor for a series of native comic magazines other than his own ''Coq Hardi'', and conceived in the era under the shadow of the all-present Catholic publications to fill the void left by the banned American comics such as ''Les Grandes Séries Internationales'', ''Cricri Journal'', ''Mireille'', ''Ouest-Magazine'', ''Nano et Nanette'', ''Héros du Far West'', ''Frimousse'', ''Cocorico'' and ''Allez-France'', all of which filled with work from French artists, now forgotten save Marijac himself (who was honored for his efforts at the 1979 Angoulême comics festival with its most prestigious award), along with the magazines they created their work for.
It has been observed that, unlike the Belgian publications, these mostly secular native magazines were largely left alone by the Commission de Surveillance,
[ de Weyer, 2015, pp. 89–90] save for one notable exception; Pierre Mouchot, creator and editor of American inspired comic magazines in the immediate post-war era, was on recommendation of the Commission persecuted for his likewise American (and Italian) inspired comic series ''Big Bill le Casseur'' and ''P’tit Gars'', having to appear in court no less than eight times in the period 1950 - 1954, actually winning most of his cases in the lower courts. And even though he and his creations are both in equal measure forgotten, Mouchot became the only French comics artist ever to be legally persecuted, ''and'' ultimately convicted by the highest court of appeal (though only receiving symbolic punishment) under article 2 of the 1949 law for real. However, the conviction ''did'' serve as an effective deterrent for other native artists – and thus firmly establishing the Commission as a force to be reckoned with, even though they had a tough time becoming so as Mouchot kept winning his lower court cases – who continued to create their comics while erring on the side of caution for the next decade.
It is in this light that some of the other early French contemporary greats, such as Martin, Graton, Uderzo and his writing partner Goscinny opted to start out their careers for Belgian comic publications, neither wanting to submit themselves to the scrutiny of the Commission de Surveillance directly, nor wanting to work for either the Catholic or communist magazines for personal reasons.
The situation in Belgium was nowhere near as restrictive as it was in France. Catholics, who were the dominant factor in politics in the country as well at the time, did not have to contend with the negligible influence of the communists, contrary to their French counterparts. There was actually no need perceived for regulating measures in Belgium as American productions, contrary to France, were already supplanted in popularity by the native comics (aided by the fact that Belgium had not seen the massive influx of American comics in the same measure France had, as Belgium had been predominantly liberated by British and Canadian forces, whose soldiers did not bring along their comics in the same volume the Americans did), whereas the majority of Belgian comics artists were either Catholics themselves (or at least sympathetic to the faith) such as Jijé (whose early realistic works were deeply steeped in the faith), or had, like Hergé did, strong ties with the as "healthy" considered
scouting movement
Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, includin ...
– a significant presence in Belgian society at the time, which also explains the contemporary popularity of Charlier's ''La patrouille des Castor'' series in Belgium, which was centered around a scouting chapter – and were thus, to use the modern expression, already "
politically correct
"Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...
" in the first place, that is from the Belgian perspective at least.
However, the incident Charlier had experienced with the Commission shook up the editors of ''Spirou'' and ''Tintin'', and as France was a too important market to lose, they too henceforth chose to err on the side of caution by screening the creations of their artists before magazine publication, essentially being forced by the French to exercise self-censorship. Having already embarked on their divergent evolutionary path, Flemish comics escaped this kind of scrutiny, as they were at the time rarely, if at all, translated into French.
1959–1974: Scale tips to France
In 1959, the influential French weekly ''
Pilote
''Pilote'' (), for a while subtitled ''the magazine of Asterix and Obelix'' (French: ''Le Journal D’Astérix et D’Obélix'' ) was a French comics magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major Franco-Belgian comics, French ...
'' launched, already from the start an attempt to be a more mature alternative to ''Spirou'' and ''Pilote'', aimed at a teenage audience, with the "
Asterix
''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...
" series as an almost instantaneous success. The audience radicalized at a faster pace than the editors, however, which had trouble keeping up. The French satire magazine ''
Hara-Kiri'' was launched, also aimed at an adult audience.
In the 1960s, most of the French Catholic magazines, such as the Fleurus publications, waned in popularity, as they were "re-christianized" and went to a more traditional style with more text and fewer drawings. This meant that in France, magazines like ''
Pilote
''Pilote'' (), for a while subtitled ''the magazine of Asterix and Obelix'' (French: ''Le Journal D’Astérix et D’Obélix'' ) was a French comics magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major Franco-Belgian comics, French ...
'' and ''Vaillant'' (relaunched as ''Pif gadget'' in 1969), and ''Spirou'' and ''Tintin'' for French-speaking Belgium, gained almost the entire market and became the obvious goal for new artists from their respective countries, who took up the styles prevalent in those magazines to break into the business.
With a number of publishers in place, including
Dargaud
Société Dargaud (), doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud, publishing its first comics in 1943.
...
(''
Pilote
''Pilote'' (), for a while subtitled ''the magazine of Asterix and Obelix'' (French: ''Le Journal D’Astérix et D’Obélix'' ) was a French comics magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major Franco-Belgian comics, French ...
''),
Le Lombard
Le Lombard (), known as Les Éditions du Lombard () until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when '' Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard became part of Média-Participations since 1986, alongside publishers Darg ...
(''
Tintin
Tintin usually refers to:
* ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé
** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series
Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to:
Material related to ''The A ...
''), and
Dupuis
Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.
Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now ...
(''
Spirou''), three of the biggest influences for over 50 years, the market for domestic comics had reached (commercial) maturity. In the following decades, magazines like ''Spirou'', ''Tintin'', ''Vaillant'' (relaunched as ''Pif Gadget'' in 1969), ''Pilote'', and (the first to feature completed stories in each issue, as opposed to the episodic approach of other magazines) would dominate the market. At this time, the French creations had already gained fame throughout Europe, and many countries had started importing the comics in addition to—or as substitute for—their own productions.
1974–1990: France becomes preeminent

The aftermath of the May 1968 social upheaval brought many mature – as in aimed at an adult readership – BD magazines, something that had not been seen previously and virtually all of them of purely French origin, which was also indicative of France rapidly becoming the preeminent force in the (continental) European BD world, eventually usurping the position the Belgians held until then. ''
L'Écho des Savanes'' (from new publisher , founded by ''Pilote'' defectors Nikita Mandryka,
Claire Bretécher and Marcel Gotlib), with Gotlib's
pornography
Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...
watching deities and Bretécher's ''
Les Frustrés'' ("The Frustrated Ones"), and ''
Le Canard Sauvage'' ("The Wild Duck/ Mag"), an art-zine featuring music reviews and BDs, were among the earliest. Following suit was ''
Métal Hurlant'' (vol. 1: December 1974 – July 1987 from also new French publisher
Les Humanoïdes Associés, founded by likewise ''Pilote'' defectors,
Druillet,
Jean-Pierre Dionnet and
Mœbius) with the far-reaching science fiction and fantasy of Mœbius, Druillet, and
Bilal. Its translated counterpart made an impact in America as ''
Heavy Metal''. This trend continued during the seventies, until the original ''Métal Hurlant'' folded in the early eighties, living on only in the American edition, which soon had an independent development from its French-language parent. Nonetheless, it were these publications and their artists which are generally credited with the revolutionizing and emancipation of the Franco-Belgian BD world. As indicated, most of these early adult magazines were established by former ''Pilote'' BD artists, who had left the magazine to break out on their own, after they had staged a revolt in the editorial offices of Dargaud, the publisher of ''Pilote'', during the 1968 upheaval, demanding and ultimately receiving more creative freedom from then editor-in-chief René Goscinny (see also: "''
Jean "Mœbius" Giraud on his part in the uprising at Pilote''").
Essentially, these new magazines along with other contemporaries of their kind, were the French counterparts of the slightly earlier American
underground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...
, also conceived and popularized as a result of the
counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It began in the early 1960s, and continued through the early 1970s. It is ofte ...
, of which the French May 1968 events were only a part. But unlike their American counterparts, the French magazines were mainstream from the start when they eventually burst onto the scene in the early 1970s, as publications of this kind could not escape the scrutiny of the Commission de Surveillance prior to 1968, as editor
François Cavanna of the satirical magazine ''
Hara-Kiri'' (launched in 1960) had experienced several times to his detriment, having had to reinvent his magazine on several occasions. Aside from the creative aspects, the 1960s brought in effect another kind of freedom for French BD artists as well - commercial and financial freedom. Until the revolt in the offices of ''Pilote'', artists worked in a studio system, namely a tenured exclusive working relationship at the magazine or publisher, with artists having little to no control over both commercial and creative aspects of their creations – except for a few artists who also held editorial offices at publishing houses such as Goscinny, Charlier and Greg, the former of which incidentally, having also been a major element for the revolt at ''Pilote''. That changed as well after 1968, when more and more artists decided to ply their trade as
free-lancers, the ''L'Écho des Savanes'' founders having been early pioneers in that respect, and has as of 2017 become the predominant artist-publisher relationship. While contracts tend to be long-term for specific series at a particular publisher, they no longer prevent artists, like the below-mentioned
François Bourgeon and Hermann Huppen, to create other BDs for other publishers, sometimes even suspending a series for the one in favor of a series for the other.
The advent of the new adult magazines had a profound effect on France's hitherto most influential BD magazine ''Pilote''. Editor-in-chief Goscinny had at first refused to implement the changes demanded by its artists during the 1968 revolt in the editorial offices, but he now found himself suddenly confronted with the magazine hemorrhaging its most promising BD talents and diminishing sales. The magazine was eventually turned into a monthly magazine, its artists who had not yet left given more creative freedoms and the Belgian influence terminated definitively with the departure of co-editor Charlier in 1972 and the last Belgian artists Hubinon and Jijé following suit a short time thereafter, transforming the magazine into a purely French one. However, while the magazine was now targeted at an older adolescent readership with stories featuring more mature themes, Goscinny stopped short of letting the magazine become a truly adult magazine. Yet, the magazine was unable to regain the dominant position it had held in the previous one-and-a-half decade, due to the flooding of the market with alternatives.
[ Ratier, 2013, pp. 225–227]
Lagging behind the French for the first time in regard to the more mature BDs, the Belgians made good on their arrear when publisher Casterman launched the magazine ''(
À Suivre)'' (''Wordt Vervolgd'' for its Dutch-language counterpart, both of which translating into English as "To Be Continued") in October 1977. Until then the old venerable publisher (est. in 1780 as a printing and publishing company) had somewhat limited itself as the album publisher of Hergé's ''Tintin'' since 1934, slightly expanded upon after the war with a couple of Hergé inspired creations by closely affiliated artists such as Jacques Martin,
François Craenhals and the Danish
C. & V. Hansen couple. It was with the specific intent to expand beyond the somewhat limited Hergé boundaries with other, more diverse high quality work, that the publisher launched ''(À Suivre)'', which printed BD creations by
Ted Benoît,
Jacques Tardi,
Hugo Pratt,
François Schuiten,
Paul Teng and many others from French, Italian and/or Dutch origins, but relatively few from Belgian artist as there were not that many active in the adult field at that time, with Schuiten, Didier Comès – as already stated, one of the very few ''BD'' artists of German-Belgian descent, alongside Hermann Huppen – and being three of the few exceptions. It was ''(À Suivre)'' that popularized the concept of the graphic novel – in French abbreviated as "Roman BD", "roman" being the translation for "novel" – as a longer, more adult, more literate and artistic BD in Europe. Unlike its Dupuis counterpart, and while their BD catalog has expanded considerably since then, Casterman has never evolved into a purely BD publisher by completely abandoning its book publishing roots, as it is currently also a prolific publisher of children's books.
Yet, it remained French publications and French artists who would continue to dominate the field from the late-1970s onward to this day, with such (sometimes short-lived) magazines as ''Bananas'', ''Virus'', ''Mormoil'', the feminist ', ''Casablanca'' and ''
Fluide Glacial''. It were in these such magazines that a younger, post-war generation of French BD artists like
Yves Chaland
Yves Chaland (; 3 April 1957 – 18 July 1990) was a French cartoonist.
During the 1980s, together with Luc Cornillon, Serge Clerc and Floc'h, he launched the ''Atomic style'', a stylish remake of the Marcinelle School in Franco-Belgian comics.
...
,
Édika and debuted, whereas veterans like Gotlib and Franquin found a home for their later, darker and more cynical work.
A major player in the field became French publisher and newcomer
Glénat Éditions (founded in 1972, and who actually started out publishing graphic novels directly as albums before the launch of ''Circus'') with their two main magazine publications ' (1975–1989) and ' (1985–1994, with emphasis on mature stories of an accurate historical nature), featuring predominantly the work of French BD talents, but who did so with a twist; Glénat targeted their magazines at a readership positioned between the adolescent readership of ''Pilote'', ''Tintin'' and ''Spirou'' and the mature readership of such magazines as ''(À Suivre)'', ''Métal Hurlant'' and others. French BD artists of note who were nurtured into greatness in the Glénat publications were among others
Mayko and
Patrick Cothias, but most conspicuously François Bourgeon and
André Juillard. Exemplary of the different, older target audience Glénat was aiming at, became the two finite, historical series Bourgeon created; ''Les Passagers du vent'' (1979–2009, ''The Passengers of the Wind'', seven volumes, set in 18th-century seafaring and
slave trading Europe, becoming one of the first BD series to deal realistically in considerable detail with the dark slavery chapter in human history) and ''Les Compagnons du crépuscule'' (1983–1989, ''Companions of the Dusk'', three volumes, set in 13th-century Europe and published by Casterman incidentally). Both series made short work of any romantic notion about the two historic eras still lingering in anyone's subconscious because of imagery imbued upon them by 1940s–1960s Hollywood movie productions or Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' as published in ''Coeurs Vaillants'', ''Tintin'' or ''Spirou'' in the same era for that matter. Renowned for his meticulous research into the subject matter of the BD series he was creating, not seldom taking as long as it took him to create the series in question, Bourgeon depicted an historical reality devoid of any so-called "heroes", only featuring common people who were as often victimized as they were heroic, living in a world which was brutally hard while living a live which was therefore all too often very short for the common man, being habitually subjugated to the will of the powerful without any recourse whatsoever to objective justice, especially the women. Bourgeon however, made his harsh message to his readership palatable by his relatively soft art style and his optimistic view regarding human resilience. No such respite was afforded the reader however with Hermann's 11th-century epos ''Les Tours de Bois-Maury'' (1984–1994, ''
The Towers of Bois-Maury''), whose original ten-volume series was serialized in ''Vécu'' in the same era Bourgeon's ''Passagers'' was in ''Circus''; Not only did Hermann's stark and uncompromising art style served to reinforce the grim atmosphere of his medieval settings, any and all redeeming optimistic commentary on human nature was also lacking in his narrative, quite the contrary actually, making his
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
truly the Dark Ages where the vast majority of humanity was living short, violent lives in abject squalor, with not a single so-called "hero" in sight anywhere in his series. To hammer home the point, both artists had their medieval
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
s, around whom both narratives were centered, die violent deaths nowhere near the fulfillment of their respective quests, thereby reinforcing the futility of such endeavors. With such series driving home the point that real history is made by mere humans and not "super-humans", the Franco-Belgian historical BD had come a long way since their first romanticized and/or idealized appearances in the 1940s–1970s, particularly in ''Tintin'' and ''Pilote'' as portrayed by such artists as the (''Le Chevalier blanc'', ''Harald le Viking'', ''Lieutenant Burton''), William Vance (''Howard Flynn'', ''Rodric'', ''Ramiro''), François Craenhals (''Chevalier Ardent'') or Victor Hubinon (''Barbe Rouge''), to name but a few.
The ''bande dessinée'' becomes cultural heritage
It was not just the BD scene these new publications and their artists changed, the perception of the medium in French society also changed radically in the 1970s–1980s, in stark contrast to the one it held in the 1940s–1950s. Recognizing that the medium-advanced France's cultural status in the world, the cultural authorities of the nation started to aid the advancement of the medium as a bonafide art form, especially under the patronage of
Minister of Culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...
Jack Lang, who had formulated his long-term ''Quinze mesures nouvelles en faveur de la Bande dessinée'' (''15 new measures in favor of the BD'') ministry policy plan in 1982, which was updated and reaffirmed by a latter-day successor of Lang in 1997. It was consequently in the 1980s–1990s era that the medium achieved its formal status in France's ''Classification des arts'' (''
Classifications of the arts'') as "Le Neuvième Art" ("the 9th art"), aside from becoming accepted as a mature part of French culture by Francophone society at large (in France and French-speaking Belgium it is as common to encounter grownup people reading BDs in public places, such as cafe terraces or public transportation, as it is people reading books, newspapers or magazines). Since then more than one BD artist have received "
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...
" civilian knighthoods, and these were not restricted to French nationals alone, as Japanese artist
Jiro Taniguchi has also received one in 2011 for his efforts to merge the Franco-Belgian BD with the Japanese
manga
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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
format (see ''
below'').
But it is however Jean "Mœbius" Giraud, coined "the most influential ''bandes dessinées'' artist after Hergé" by several
academic BD scholars,
who is considered the premier French standard bearer of "Le Neuvième Art", as he has received
two different civilian knighthoods with a posthumous rank elevation of his Arts and Letters knighthood to boot, an unicum for a BD artist and something the ''de facto'' inventor of the Franco-Belgian BD, Hergé, has never achieved even once, not even from his own native country Belgium (presumably because of the lingering impressions left by either the criticisms regarding his early ''Tintin'' stories, the post-war collaboration allegations, or both and neither of which he had ever managed to fully free himself from in his lifetime). Exemplary of Mœbius' standing in French culture, was the high-status, high-profile «Mœbius transe forme» exposition the prestigious
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
ian
Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain art museum organized from 2 October 2010 – 13 March 2011. As of 2017, it stands out as one of the largest exhibitions ever dedicated to the work of an individual BD artist by an official, state-sanctioned art museum – art as in art with a capital "A" – alongside the 20 December 2006 - 19 February 2007
Hergé exposition in the even more prestigious
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
modern art museum (likewise located in Paris and incidentally one of President Mitterrand's below-mentioned "Great Works") on the occasion of the centenary of that artist's birth. Giraud's funeral services in March 2012 was attended by a representative of the French nation in the person of Minister of Culture
Frédéric Mitterrand, who also
spoke on behalf of the nation at the services, and who was incidentally also the nephew of former
President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...
, who had personally awarded Giraud with his first civilian knighthood in 1985, thereby becoming one of the first BD artists to be bestowed the honor. Giraud's death was a considerable media event in France, but ample attention was also given to his demise in press releases all around the world in even as faraway places like Indonesia (''
Jakarta Globe'', 11 March 2012), a country not particularly known for a thriving comic culture. Yet, and despite the nation having embraced the ''bande dessinée'', it should also be noted that both the law of 1949 and its oversight committee are as of 2025 still in existence, their legitimacy remaining as intact as it was in 1949. And while their impact and influence have significantly diminished in the wake of the events of 1968, their continued legal existence in the fringes does constitute the proverbial "
Sword of Damocles" for the French BD world, despite artists, publishers, politicians and academics having questioned the relevance of both manifestations in a modern world in a public debate during a 1999 national conference organized on the subject by the (CNBDI), France's largest and most important BD organization.
Belgium, where the modern Franco-Belgian BD format was conceived after all, was somewhat slower in advancing the format as a bonafide art form, but has strongly followed suit in considering the Franco-Belgian BD as a "key aspect of Belgium's cultural heritage". While the expression "the 9th art" has been popularized in other countries as well, Belgium and France remain as of 2025, the only two countries worldwide where the medium has been accorded the formal status (when discounting the manga, which has achieved a near-similar, yet not quite identical status in native Japan), with its resultant strong backing from cultural authorities.
A visible manifestation of the latter has become the prestigious "
Centre belge de la Bande dessinée" (Dutch: "Belgisch Centrum voor het Beeldverhaal", English: "Belgian Comic Strip Center") established in 1989 in the Belgian capital
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, and which, as one of the largest BD museum in Europe, draws in 200,000 visitors annually. The museum is housed in a state-owned 1905 building designed by architect
Victor Horta in the
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
style, the same style French female artist
Annie Goetzinger has employed for her BDs. Belgium possesses two other, smaller, museums dedicated to individual BD artists, the
Marc Sleen Museum (est. 2009), located across the street of the Comic Center and dedicated to the work of the namesake Flemish BD creator, and, unsurprisingly, the especially built
Musée Hergé
The ''Musée Hergé'', or Hergé Museum, is a museum in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, dedicated to the life and work of the Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name Hergé, creator of the series of comic albums, ' ...
(est. 2009) located in
Louvain-la-Neuve
Louvain-la-Neuve (; French for "New Leuven"; ) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was built to house th ...
, its interiors designed by Dutch BD artist
Joost Swarte, who had worked in the Hergé tradition.
In France, Minister Jack Lang – who hit upon the idea after he had visited the permanent ''bande dessinée'' exhibition in the town's art museum in 1982, incidentally inspiring his long-term fifteen points policy plan for the medium that year, which included the establishment of a national BD museum – announced in 1984 the advent of a major national ''bande dessinée'' museum as part of President Mitterrand's grand scheme of providing the nation with major public works of a cultural nature (in France coined as ''
Grandes Operations d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme''), to be housed in the historical town of
Angoulême
Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture.
Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...
, already the locus of France's biggest annual BD festival since 1974. A major project in the making, involving the renovation of several ancient buildings and the designing of a new one spread over the grounds of the town's former brewery by renowned architect
Roland Castro
Roland Castro (16 October 1940 – 9 March 2023) was a French architect and political activist.
Biography
Roland Castro was born in Limoges on 16 October 1940.
By the end of 1966 he was a member of the editorial committee of ''Melp!'', the Éc ...
, the museum, , only opened its doors in June 2009 (though two smaller sub-museums, eventually incorporated in the larger final one, were already open to the public as early as 1991) in the process becoming the largest BD museum in Europe. The museum is administered by the CNBDI, established in 1985 for upcoming museum, but which has since then expanded its work on behalf of the ''bande dessinée'' beyond the confines of the museum alone, as already indicated above. On 11 December 2012, one of the buildings on the museum grounds, the futuristic building finished at the end of the 1980s housing the museum and CNBDI administrations, cinema, conference rooms, library and the other facilities for
comics studies
Comics studies (also comic art studies, sequential art studies or graphic narrative studies) is an academic field that focuses on comics and sequential art. Although comics and graphic novels have been generally dismissed as less relevant popular ...
, was rechristened "Le Vaisseau Mœbius" (English: "The Vessel Mœbius"), in honor of the in that year deceased BD artist. When Lang had presented his plans, he was faced with opposition from some politicians who had rather seen such a museum in the capital of France, Paris. These politicians did have a point however, as Angoulême is somewhat located off the beaten tourist track, resulting in that the museum only draws in about roughly half the visitor numbers its smaller Belgian counterpart does annually, and most of them visiting the museum during the festival season, whereas the Belgian museum draws in a steady stream of visitors all year round.
1990–present
A further revival and expansion came in the 1990s with several small independent publishers emerging, such as
L'Association
L'Association is a French publishing house located in Paris which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït.
L'Associatio ...
(established in 1990),
Le Dernier Cri,
Amok,
Fréon (the latter two later merging into
Frémok), and
Ego comme X. Known as "la nouvelle bande dessinée" (similar to the North American
alternative comics
Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comic book, American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alterna ...
),
these books are often more artistic, graphically and narratively, than the usual products of the big companies.
Dupuy and Berberian,
Lewis Trondheim,
Joann Sfar,
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi (; ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis (comics), Persepolis'' and Persepo ...
(''
Persepolis
Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...
''),
Christophe Blain,
Stéphane Blanquet,
Edmond Baudoin
Edmond Baudoin (; born 23 April 1942) is a French artist, illustrator, and writer of sequential art and graphic novels.
Biography
Baudoin left school at the age of 16 and went into military service.
He later worked as an accountant at the Pal ...
,
David B
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
, and
Emmanuel Larcenet all started their careers with these publishers, and would later gain fame with comics such as ''
Donjon'' (Trondheim & Sfar), ''
Isaac the Pirate'' (Blain), ''Professeur Bell'' (Sfar).
Léo Quievreux, a key artist in the 1990s scene, founded and ran his own publication house, Gotoproduction, which he ran along with Jean Kristau and Anne-Fred Maurer from 1991 to 2000
[ or 2001, and which published over 60 books.]
Formats
Before the Second World War, comics were almost exclusively published in tabloid newspaper
A tabloid is a newspaper format characterized by its compact size, smaller than a broadsheet. The term originates from the 19th century, when the London-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. used the term to de ...
s. Since 1945, the "comic album" (or "comics album", in French "album BD" for short) format gained popularity, a book-like format about half the former size. The albums, usually colored all the way through, are almost always hardcover
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...
for the French editions and softcover for the Dutch editions—though the hardcover format has steadily gained ground from the late-1980s onward as customer option alongside the softcover format, contrary to Francophone Europe, where the hardcover format is the norm. When compared to American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...
s and trade paperbacks (such as the later American graphic novel format), the European albums are rather large (roughly A4 standard). Comic albums started to receive their own individual ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase or receive ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
A different ISBN is assigned to e ...
s from the mid-1970s onward all over Europe solidifying their status as books.
Conceived as a format as currently understood in Belgium with the first ''Tintin'' albums in the early 1930s—incidentally the second reason for considering ''Tintin'' the starting point of the modern Franco-Belgian comic, besides the art style and format—albums were usually published as a collected book ''after'' a story or a convenient number of short stories had finished their run in serialized magazine (pre-)publication, usually with a one to two year lag. Since the inception of the format, it has been common for these albums to contain either 46 (for decades ''the'' standard) or, to a lesser degree, 62 pages (discounting the two disclaimer, and title pages) for print and binding technical reasons as printers traditionally printed eight double-sided pages on one sheet of print paper, though albums with a larger page count—provided the total page count is a multiple of eight—are not that uncommon, the graphic novel album publications of '' À Suivre'' publisher Casterman
Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, 90 kilometres southwest of the centre of Brussels, Belgium.
History
The company was founded in 1780 by Don ...
in particular.
It is in this field that Jean-Michel Charlier
Jean-Michel Charlier (; 30 October 1924 – 10 July 1989) was a Belgian comics writer. He was a co-founder of the famed Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Pilote''.
Life
Charlier was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1924.De Weyer, Geert (2005) ...
again turned out to be a seminal influence for the cultural phenomenon . As publishing co-editor of ''Pilote'', it was he who initiated a line of comic albums, for Dargaud
Société Dargaud (), doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud, publishing its first comics in 1943.
...
, collecting the stories as serialized in the magazine until then, becoming in effect Dargaud's first comic album releases. The first July 1961 title in the series, coined ''La Collection Pilote'', was the first adventure of ''Asterix'' from Uderzo and Goscinny, a runaway success right from the bat, followed by sixteen further titles from the magazine, with the first ''Blueberry'' adventure, "Fort Navajo", becoming the last to be released in July 1965. After that, the collection was suspended and each comic hero(s) hitherto featured therein, spun off in album series of their own. In order to give these releases a more "mature" book-like image, the albums were from the very start executed as hardcover editions for France, while being executed in softcover by licensee Le Lombard
Le Lombard (), known as Les Éditions du Lombard () until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when '' Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard became part of Média-Participations since 1986, alongside publishers Darg ...
for Charlier's own native Belgium, somewhat reflecting the status comic albums still had in that country, as it had in other European countries. Charlier's initiative was not entirely devoid of a healthy dose of self-interest, as over half the releases in the collection were titles form comic series he had (co-)created. While Charlier did not conceive the format as such—since Casterman already released such albums since the early 1930s (''Tintin''), as did Dupuis sometime thereafter with some of its releases, but certainly not all as most of its albums like the ''Buck Danny'' series were released in softcover at the time – "his" albums were more than favorably received however, and the collection has attained a mythical status in the world of Franco-Belgian comics, especially in France where such releases had until then been rarities at best – excepting the "recuil" magazine series releases, album-like hard/softcover editions, chronologically collecting several magazine issues into one volume like ''Coeurs Vaillants'', ''Spirou'' etc. and for decades a staple in Francophone Europe (and after the War, in Dutch-Europe as well).
It was only after the runaway success of the ''Collection'' that the hardcover became the norm for album releases in France. Even though the success of the collection prompted Le Lombard to speed up its hitherto lackluster album releases, they did so initially in the predominant soft cover format until the mid-1970s like Dupuis was already doing, while maintaining the softcover format as standard for the Dutch-language editions for decades thereafter, as did Dargaud. Being a relative newcomer in the field Dargaud entered into a joint venture for the album releases with Le Lombard for nearly two decades. This meant that Dargaud album titles were released by Lombard for French-speaking Belgium (initially as soft covers in the first decade) and with a couple of years lag, for Dutch-Belgium as well (for the Netherlands and likewise with a lag, Dargaud sought out cooperation with other, local publishers for their releases), whereas Lombard album titles were released in France by Dargaud, invariably as hardcovers for their own releases, but in softcover for the first five years or so for the Lombard releases before permanently switching to hardcover, even before Lombard did for its Belgian home market. By the late 1970s, Dargaud had its own international distribution system in place, and the cooperation with Le Lombard was dissolved, that is until both were merged into a single publisher in 1992 – though maintaining their respective imprints – after they were absorbed in 1988 and 1986 respectively into the French holding company Média-Participations. Incidentally, Dupuis was in June 2004 bought by Média-Participations as well, though it has retained its separate status within the holding group because of its traditional focus on a somewhat younger readership than Dargaud/Le Lombard.
Since the mid-1980s, many comics are published directly as albums and do not appear in the magazines at all, as many comic magazines have disappeared since then for socio-economic reasons, including greats like ''Tintin
Tintin usually refers to:
* ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé
** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series
Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to:
Material related to ''The A ...
'', ''À Suivre'', '' Métal Hurlant'', and ''Pilote
''Pilote'' (), for a while subtitled ''the magazine of Asterix and Obelix'' (French: ''Le Journal D’Astérix et D’Obélix'' ) was a French comics magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major Franco-Belgian comics, French ...
''. The album format has also been adopted for native comics in most other European countries (the United Kingdom having until recently been one of the most manifest exceptions), as well as being maintained in foreign translations, in the process becoming the preeminent publication format of comics on the European continent, including the former Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
after the fall of the wall in 1989. As with the Dutch-language editions, the soft cover format was initially the predominant format in which the foreign editions were released, but like the Dutch editions, the hard cover format has steadily gained ground in the other European countries as well, with Spain and Portugal having been early adopters as several volumes from ''La Collection Pilote'' were already released as such in the second half of the 1960s by local Dargaud/Lombard affiliated publishers, albeit as separate series contrary to the ''Collection'' source publication.
Intégrales
Since the mid-1980s, many of the popular, longer-lasting album series, and also several long out-of-print classic series, also get their own hardcover collected Omnibus edition, "omnibus" album editions, or ''intégrales'', with each intégrale book generally containing two to five (sequential) titles of the series' original individual album releases, and from the mid-1990s onward increasingly including several ''inédits'' habitually – material that hasn't been published in albums before, such as magazine covers not used for albums – as well, alongside detailed illustrated editorials providing background information on the series in question and its creator(s), predominantly written by native comics scholars of which , , and are the most prolific ones (see ''#Conventions and journalistic professionalism, below''). A practical reason for publishers to proceed in this manner, is the more recent fact that these older series have to some extent ran their courses in decades-long reprint runs of the individual volumes, and that it has commercially become more expedient to re-issue sold out volumes in this format, instead of continuing to reprint the individual volumes, aside from tapping into a new replacement market by targeting the nostalgia of now grown-up and more affluent readers who want to upgrade their worn-out individual copies they had bought and read as youths. Initially only released in French and, to a lesser degree, Dutch, these editions have after the late-1990s surged in popularity, becoming increasingly popular in other European countries as well in (hardcover) translation, where the ''intégrale'' format is in some cases also employed for native comics, particularly in Spain (by publishers such as , , and ), the Netherlands (notably by ) and Germany, a few of them reciprocally translated into French. All of the great Franco-Belgian comic publishing houses, still in existence, are as of 2017 engaged in releasing ''intégrales'', either by themselves, or by licensing them out to local publishers for other European countries – or both, as is the case for Dutch language editions.
Styles
While more recent comics can no longer be easily categorized into one art style anymore (due to the increasing blurring of the boundaries between the styles in more recent comic creations – aside from the introduction of new and/or other art styles), and the old artists who pioneered the market are retiring, there were initially three basic, distinct styles within the field prior to the mid-1970s, featured in those comics with Belgian pedigree in particular.
One of the early greats, Belgian Jijé, Joseph "Jijé" Gilian, was noted for creating comics in all three styles, the schematic style for his early work, "comic-dynamic" style for his later humoristic comics, as well as creating comics in the realistic style. The latter style he acquired during World War II when he had to complete realistic comics such as Fred Harman's '' Red Ryder'' after the occupying Germans prohibited the import of these American comics. At first influenced by the style of such American artists like Harman, Jijé developed a realistic style distinctively his own (and thus European), and which became a major source of inspiration for future French/Belgian talents aspiring a career in creating realistic comics, the first and foremost of them having been Jean Giraud. Another of these Jijé-inspired youngsters was Jean-Claude Mézières, who actually started out his famed science-fiction creation ''Valérian and Laureline'' in the "comic-dynamic" style, but which quickly gravitated towards the realistic style, though traces of the former remain discernible in the depictions of his aliens, which therefore constituted an early example of the mixing of the three basic art styles. Another ambiguous, even earlier, example concerned the creations of Victor Hubinon ('' Buck Danny'', ''Redbeard (comics), Redbeard''), who created comics in his own distinct style that had the characteristics of both the realistic and schematic styles, but which can not be unambiguously be categorized as either, or at the most be categorized as an "in between" style.
Realistic style
The realistic comics are often laboriously detailed. An effort is made to make the comics look as convincing, as natural as possible, while still being drawings. No speed lines or exaggerations are used. This effect is often reinforced by the coloring, which is less even, less primary than schematic or comic-dynamic comics.
Famous examples are '' Jerry Spring'' by Jijé, ''Blueberry
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...
'' by Giraud, and '' Thorgal'' by Rosiński.
Comic-dynamic style
This is the almost Carl Barks, Barksian line of Franquin and Uderzo. The humoristic comics in ''Pilote'' were almost exclusively comic-dynamic, and so were the ones in ''Spirou'' and ''l'Écho des savanes''. These comics have very agitated drawings, often using lines of varying thickness to accent the drawings. The artists working in this style for Spirou, including André Franquin, Franquin, Morris, Jean Roba and Peyo, are often grouped as the Marcinelle school.
Schematic style (''ligne claire'' style)
The major factor in schematic drawings is a reduction of reality to easy, clear lines. Typical is the lack of shadows, the geometrical features, and the realistic proportions. Another trait is the often "slow" drawings, with little to no speed-lines, and strokes that are almost completely even. It is also known as the Belgian clean line style or '' ligne claire''. ''The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
'' is not only a very good example of this, it is currently also considered as ''the'' original template for the style as used in modern European comics. Other works in this style are the early comics of Jijé, who not only worked in the style, but also expanded upon it by adding Art Déco elements resulting in what several scholars came to consider a separate spin-off style, coined the "Atom style".[#References, de Weyer, 2015, pp. 132–134] This Jijé specific comics style enjoyed a revival in later works from French, Flemish and Dutch artists like Yves Chaland
Yves Chaland (; 3 April 1957 – 18 July 1990) was a French cartoonist.
During the 1980s, together with Luc Cornillon, Serge Clerc and Floc'h, he launched the ''Atomic style'', a stylish remake of the Marcinelle School in Franco-Belgian comics.
...
, Ever Meulen and Joost Swarte respectively, the latter of whom incidentally, having actually coined the alternative "''ligne clair''" designation in 1977.
Even though Jijé has somewhat receded in oblivion outside his own native Belgium, he is held in high esteem by many of his peers, both those he tutored like Franquin and Moebius, and others, and his versatility was such that it solicited an accolade of high praise from fellow artist Tibet, author of ''Ric Hochet'' and ''Chick Bill'', who has stated that "If Hergé is considered as God the Father, then Jijé undoubtedly is the Godfather".[ After Jijé, it were predominantly French (Philippe Druillet, Jean Giraud as "MÅ“bius", Jacques Tardi, Annie Goetzinger, Fred (cartoonist), Fred) and Italian (Guido Crepax, Hugo Pratt, Lorenzo Mattotti, Attilio Micheluzzi) comics artists who increasingly introduced alternative art styles – sometimes extensive innovations/modernizations/expansions of the three existing basic styles, sometimes entirely new – in the medium from the mid-1970s onward, either by creating them directly for native publications, or by becoming major influences through translations which in Francophone Europe was especially the case for the Italians.
]
Foreign comics
Comics from other European countries
Despite the large number of local publications, the French and Belgian editors release numerous adaptations of comics from all over the world. In particular these include other European publications, from countries such as, most conspicuously, Italy with Guido Crepax, Hugo Pratt and Milo Manara among many others, and to a somewhat lesser degree Spain, with Daniel Torres (comics), Daniel Torres, and Argentina, with Alberto Breccia, Héctor Germán Oesterheld and José Antonio Muñoz. Some well-known German (Andreas (comics), Andreas, Matthias Schultheiss), Swiss (Derib, Job (comics), Job, , Zep (cartoonist), Zep, Enrico Marini) and Polish (Grzegorz Rosinski) authors work almost exclusively for the Franco-Belgian market and their publishers such as Glénat and, most conspicuously, Le Lombard. Likewise, the French naturalized Yugoslav Enki Bilal worked exclusively for French publishers Dargaud and subsequently Les Humanoïdes Associés, whereas Dutch graphic novelist Paul Teng has, after his career failed to take off in his native country, first worked for Casterman before switching to Le Lombard and subsequently to Dargaud.
Comics from the United States and United Kingdom
Classic American and British comic books, those of the traditional superhero genres in particular, are not as well represented in the French and Belgian comics market, for the reasons as explored above. However, the graphic novel work of Will Eisner and Art Spiegelman
Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...
(first published in French in ''À Suivre'') is respected to such a high extent that it has actually led to the adoption of the English expression in mainland Europe as well, particularly for such mature works as published by Casterman or Les Humanoïdes Associés. Nonetheless, a few comic strips like ''Peanuts'' and ''Calvin and Hobbes'' have had considerable success in France and Belgium. Yet, it was in the field of the graphic novels that American and British creations ''did'' attract attention from the Franco-Belgian comic world, the early ones having been Richard Corben and Bernie Wrightson, the former of which having started out in the American underground comix scene, where artists created comics with the express intent to distance themselves from the classic American comics as produced by the big studios. Both men were published in the ''Métal Hurlant'' American spin-off ''Heavy Metal'' and reciprocally translated for the French mother magazine. As mentioned, ''Heavy Metal'' made a Jean Giraud#Influence and legacy, deep artistic impact on an entire young generation of English-speaking comic creators, such as Neil Gaiman and Mike Mignola, who started to create more modern, more mature comics henceforth. It were these comics that were given attention by publisher Glénat, when they established the subsidiary Comics USA in 1988. Actually starting out with (hardcover!) comic book sized publications in the classic superhero genre, but created by a young generation of artists, the classic American comic failed to make a convincing come-back and the subsidiary folded in 1991 after 48 issues. Subsequently, Glénat focused solely on its concurrent Glénat Comics imprint which concentrated on album releases of modern American graphic novels from such publishers as Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Dark Horse, and Oni Press, and as such still in existence as of 2017. Glénat was actually preceded in 1986 by Delcourt (publisher), Delcourt, a newcomer presently specialized in American/British graphic novels (and Japanese manga
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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
). Of the post-classic superhero era, Mike Mignola has become one of the most in French translated American comic artists. Recently, Eaglemoss Collections and DC Comics have embarked on yet another attempt to re-introduce Francophone readership to the classic American superhero genre with their DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection, DC Comics: Le Meilleur des Super-Héros collection, launched in French in 2015, following in the wake of publisher Hachette who launched their The Official Marvel Graphic Novel Collection, Marvel Comics: La collection the year previously in an attempt to capitalize on the break-out success of the 21st-century Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Comics film adaptions.
Comics from Japan
Japanese manga started to receive more attention from the early to mid-1990s onward. Recently, more manga has been translated and published, with a particular emphasis on independent authors like Jiro Taniguchi. Manga now represents more than one fourth of comics sales in France. French comics that draw inspiration from Japanese manga are called ''manfra'' (or also ''franga'', ''manga français'' or ''global manga''). In addition, in an attempt to unify the Franco-Belgian and Japanese schools, cartoonist Frédéric Boilet started the movement ''La nouvelle manga''. Illustrative of the market share the manga has conquered is that Dargaud has in 1996 spun off their manga French-language publications into a specialized publisher of it own, Kana (publisher), Kana, currently co-existing alongside the already established specialist Delcourt, and since 2000 joined by specialists Pika Édition, , Kazé and Ki-oon. In 2014, Delcourt acquired the earliest known such specialist Tonkam, which had already been established in 1993.
Conventions and journalistic professionalism
There are many comics conventions in Belgium and France. The most famous, prestigious and largest one is the "Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême" (English: "Angoulême International Comics Festival"), an annual festival begun in 1974, in Angoulême
Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture.
Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...
, France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, and the format has been adopted in other European countries as well, unsurprisingly perhaps considering the popularity the Franco-Belgian comics enjoy in these countries, though they are typically of a more modest size, the Italian "Lucca Comics & Games" festival (est. 1965 and the only European comics festival to actually surpass the Angoulême one in size, but not prestige) excepted – though, as the name already suggest, that festival extents beyond comics alone, whereas the Angoulême festival is comics specific. During his tenure as culture minister, Jack Lang was a frequent guest of honor of the festival as part of his endeavors to advance the cultural status of the ''bande dessinée'', and personally awarded the festival's awards to comic artists, which included Jean Giraud in 1985 when he received the festival's Former prizes of the Angoulême International Comics Festival#Grand Prix for the graphic arts, most prestigious award, the year after Lang had announced the advent of the national comics museum on the previous edition of the festival.
Typical for conventions are the expositions of original art, the signing sessions with authors, sale of small press and fanzines, an awards ceremony, and other comics related activities. Also, some artists from other counties travel to Angoulême and other festivals to show their work and meet their fans and editors. The Angoulême festival draws in over 200,000 visitors annually, including between 6,000 and 7,000 professionals and 800 journalists. Contrary to their US Comic book convention, Comic Con counterparts, where other pop-culture media manifestations are increasingly taking precedence, movie and television productions in particular, continental European comics conventions remain to this day largely and firmly grounded in its source medium, the printed comics. US-style comic conventions are becoming popular as well though, but are invariably organized separately from the traditional ''bande dessinée'' festivals under the English denomination, and where the print materials are concerned focused on the US comic book, and Japanese manga publications.
One of the oldest Franco-Belgian comics conventions was the "Convention de la B.D. de Paris" (1969–2003), which was co-founded by the #Vocabulary, aforementioned Claude Moliterni. Though Moliterni was a ''bande dessinée'' writer (usually for artist Robert Gigi), he became primarily renowned as a tireless champion for the medium, in the process becoming one of France's first serious comics scholars by launching one of the first professional and serious Trade journal, comics journals worldwide, ' (1966–1977), and writing numerous articles, reference books and, later on, (co-)launching specialized websites as well, on the subject matter. In doing so Moliterni became the European counterpart of equally renowned American – but French-born – comics scholar Maurice Horn, a contemporary with whom Moliterni had actually cooperated in the early years of their careers. Aside from this, Moliterni also became a prolific founder of comics conventions. The first one he co-founded was actually the Lucca one, experience gained on that experience put to good use for the Parisian one. Moliterni went on to co-found seven more conventions and permanent exhibitions in France and Italy, including Angoulême for which he is most renowned. His efforts for the medium gained Moliterni no less than three French civilian knighthoods.
The trailblazing journalistic – and subsequent scholastic – approach pioneered by Moliterni, which greatly aided in the acceptance of the medium as a mature part of Francophone culture, served as an inspiration for his successors, such as , Thierry Groensteen, , Numa Sadoul, as well as the already mentioned Bocque, Gaumer and Ratier, who have followed in his footsteps. With Gaumer incidentally, Moliterni revisited his 1964-1967 ''Spirou'' article series he had co-edited with Morris, which resulted in the edited and greatly enhanced 1994 reference work ''Dictionnaire mondial de la bande dessinée'', published by Éditions Larousse (a renowned French encyclopedia publisher),[#References, Gaumer/Moliterni, 1994] and a work very similar to Horn's 1976 ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'' () which in turn greatly resembled the older ''Spirou'' article series.
Likewise, his ''Phénix'' trade journal has seen a plethora of successors following suit all over western Europe as well. Actually, the second oldest known professional European comics trade journal was the Dutch ', launched in 1968 and coinciding with the definitive breakthrough of the ''bande dessinée'' in the Netherlands, before a second Francophone comics journal (', launched in 1969 as ''Schtroumpf'' by and in effect the founding block of his namesake publishing house) had even entered the fray. During its first couple of years of publication, ''Stripschrift'' was in effect very reliant on ''Phénix'' for content, before it managed to shake off its French roots and stand on its own, and is, contrary to its French progenitor, still being published as of 2020 and thus the oldest known professional comics journal still in existence worldwide.
Impact and popularity
Franco-Belgian comics have been translated in most European languages, with some of them enjoying a worldwide success. Some magazines, aside from the Dutch-language editions, have been translated in Greek, Portuguese, Italian and Spanish, while in other cases foreign magazines were filled with the best of the Franco-Belgian comics. In France and Belgium, most magazines have since then disappeared or have a largely reduced circulation for socio-economic reasons (but mostly because modern readership no longer possesses the patience to read their comics in weekly or monthly installments, instead preferring to have a story presented to them wholesale in album format), but the number of published and sold albums stays relatively high – the majority of new titles being currently directly published as albums without prior magazine serialization – with the biggest successes still on the juvenile and adolescent markets. This state of affairs has been mirrored in the other European countries as well. As a format, the Franco-Belgian comic has been near-universally adopted by native comic artists all over Europe, especially in the neighboring countries of Belgium and France (and including Italy, despite that country having had a rich and thriving comics culture of its own and with the Netherlands as an early adopter being one of the first, if not the first, to do so), solidifying the position of the Franco-Belgian comic as the preeminent force on the European comics scene, Great Britain excepted.
The greatest and most enduring success however was mainly for some series started in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s (including ''Lucky Luke
''Lucky Luke'' is a Western (genre), Western bande dessinée, comic album series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris (cartoonist), Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborati ...
'', '' The Smurfs'', and ''Asterix
''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...
''), and the even older ''Adventures of Tintin'', while many more recent series have not made a significant commercial impact outside mainland Europe and those overseas territories historically beholden to France, despite the critical acclaim for authors like Jean Giraud, Moebius. One out-of-the-ordinary overseas exception where Franco-Belgian comics are as of 2017 still doing well turned out to be the Indian subcontinent where translations in Tamil language, Tamil (spoken in the south-eastern part of India, Tamil Nadu, and on the island state of Sri Lanka) published by Prakash Publishers under their own "Lion comics, Lion/Muthu Comics" imprints, have proven to be very popular, though their appeal remain somewhat limited to the classic series for an adolescent readership as conceived in the 1960s–1980s, and that more recent, more mature series have yet to make an impression in those territories.
Notable comics
While hundreds of comic series have been produced in the Franco-Belgian group, some are more notable than others. Most of those listed are aimed at the juvenile or adolescent markets:
* ''The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, Adèle Blanc-Sec'' by Jacques Tardi
* ''Alix'' by Jacques Martin
* ''Asterix
''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...
'' by René Goscinny
René Goscinny (; ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Asterix, Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Born in France to a Jewish family from Poland, he spent his chil ...
and Albert Uderzo and others
* ''Barbe Rouge'' by Jean-Michel Charlier
Jean-Michel Charlier (; 30 October 1924 – 10 July 1989) was a Belgian comics writer. He was a co-founder of the famed Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Pilote''.
Life
Charlier was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1924.De Weyer, Geert (2005) ...
, Victor Hubinon and others
* '' Bécassine'' by Jacqueline Rivière and Joseph Pinchon and others
* ''Blake and Mortimer'' by Edgar Pierre Jacobs, E.P. Jacobs and others
* ''Blueberry
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...
'' by Jean-Michel Charlier
Jean-Michel Charlier (; 30 October 1924 – 10 July 1989) was a Belgian comics writer. He was a co-founder of the famed Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Pilote''.
Life
Charlier was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1924.De Weyer, Geert (2005) ...
and Jean Giraud
* ''The Bluecoats'' by Lambil, Willy Lambil and Raoul Cauvin
* ''Boule et Bill, Boule and Bill'' by Jean Roba
* ''Chlorophylle'' by Raymond Macherot and others
* ''Cubitus'' by Dupa
* ''Les Cités Obscures'' by François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters
* '' Gaston'' by André Franquin
André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are ''Gaston (comics), Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to ...
* ''Incal'' by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean Giraud
* ''Iznogoud'' by René Goscinny
René Goscinny (; ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Asterix, Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Born in France to a Jewish family from Poland, he spent his chil ...
and Jean Tabary
* ''Jeremiah_(comics), Jeremiah'' by Hermann Huppen
Hermann Huppen (born 17 July 1938) is a Belgian comic book creator. He is better known under his pen-name Hermann. He is most famous for his post-apocalyptic comic ''Jeremiah'' which was made into a television series.
Biography
Hermann was bor ...
* '' Jerry Spring'' by Jijé
* ''Jommeke'' by Jef Nys
* ''Kiekeboe'' by Merho
* ''Largo Winch'' by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme
* ''Luc Orient'' by Eddy Paape and Greg
* ''Lucky Luke
''Lucky Luke'' is a Western (genre), Western bande dessinée, comic album series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris (cartoonist), Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborati ...
'' by Morris and René Goscinny
René Goscinny (; ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Asterix, Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Born in France to a Jewish family from Poland, he spent his chil ...
and others
* ''Marsupilami'' by André Franquin
André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are ''Gaston (comics), Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to ...
and others
* ''Michel Vaillant'' by Jean Graton
* ''The Adventures of Nero, Nero'' by Marc Sleen
* ''Rahan (comics), Rahan'' by Roger Lecureux and André Chéret
* ''Ric Hochet'' by Tibet (cartoonist), Tibet and André-Paul Duchâteau
* '' The Smurfs'' by Peyo and others
* '' Spike and Suzy'' (Dutch: Suske & Wiske) by Willy Vandersteen
Willebrord Jan Frans Maria "Willy" Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, sel ...
and others
* ''Spirou et Fantasio'' by André Franquin
André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are ''Gaston (comics), Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to ...
, Jijé and others
* '' Thorgal'' by Grzegorz Rosiński and Jean Van Hamme
* ''The Adventures of Tintin, Tintin'' by 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 comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...
* ''Titeuf'' by Zep (cartoonist), Zep
* ''Valérian and Laureline'' by Jean-Claude Mézières and Pierre Christin
* '' XIII'' by William Vance and Jean Van Hamme
* ''Yoko Tsuno'' by Roger Leloup
* '' Zig et Puce'' by Alain Saint-Ogan
See also
*Franco-Belgian comics publishing houses
*List of comic books
*List of comics creators
*List of films based on French-language comics
*List of Franco-Belgian comics magazines
*List of Franco-Belgian comics series
Notes
References
*
*
* ; Revised and enhanced second edition (March 2010),
*
*
External links
ActuaBD
Bande Dessinée Info
Cool French Comics
List of European graphic novels translated into English
stripINFO.be
{{Comics
Bandes dessinées,
Comics formats
Belgian comics
French comics