Glénat Éditions SA () is a French publisher with its head office in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

. Their products include

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 ...

s and

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 ...

in France,

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

, and in the past

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

; it was founded by Jacques Glénat. The

subsidiary, Glénat Benelux N.V., is located in

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 ...

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 ...

. The

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 ...

subsidiary, Glénat Éditions (Suisse) SA, has its headquarters in

Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...

. The Spanish subsidiary had its head office in

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

History

Jacques Glénat started his comics fanzine ''Schtroumpf'' (the French, original, title of ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (; ) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was created and introduced as a series of comic characters by ...

'') in 1969, when he was still a student. In 1972, only twenty years old, he established his own publishing house, Glénat. The first two books were by

Claude Serre Claude Serre (10 November 1938 – 13 November 1998) was a French cartoonist, born in Sucy-en-Brie, Val-de-Marne. Biography After academic studies, he studied the craft of stained glass for eight years under Max Ingrand, along with his cou ...

and by

Claire Bretécher Claire Bretécher (; 17 April 1940 – 10 February 2020)
on Lambiek Comiclopedia was a French

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF; ) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lucca Comics & Games and the Comiket of Japan. It has occur ...

. To support the rapid growth, the company opened warehouses in

Orly Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius". Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the c ...

near Paris, and a flagship store in

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 ...

. A new comics magazine, ''Circus'', first appeared in 1975 and existed until 1989. But the next few years saw Glénat move more away from the traditional juvenile Franco-Belgian comics and more towards the

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 ...

, with an emphasis on their successful historical series by François Bourgeon and

André Juillard André Juillard (9 June 1948 – 31 July 2024) was a French comics artist. Biography Born in Paris, Juillard was one of the most prolific artists of historical comics in France. His career began in 1974. After studies in the School of Decorativ ...

. A second magazine, ''Vécu'', dedicated to historical comics, was created in 1985 and survived until 2004. From 1980 on, Glénat also published non-fiction books related to mountain climbing and to the sea. They also bought the publisher

Vents d'Ouest Vent or vents may refer to: Science and technology Biology *Vent, the cloaca region of an animal * Vent DNA polymerase, a thermostable DNA polymerase Geology *Hydrothermal vent, a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated wate ...

and from 1991 on started publishing

. But the biggest success of all came with ''

Titeuf ''Titeuf'' (known sometimes as ''Tootuff'' in English) is a Swiss comic series created by the Swiss comic-book creator Zep in 1992. In 2001 it was adapted into an animated TV series and in 2011 into a film with the same title. The series also ...

'' by Zep, which soon was one of the bestselling French comic series, with its own magazine ''Tchô'' and animated series. On 5 October 2011, yielded 100% of the capital of Glénat España to Joan Navarro and Félix Sabaté, the two heads of the former subsidiary.

Company

As of 2009, the company gets 50% of its turnover from comics, 20% from manga, and 15% from books, with the last 15% divided over smaller products. The book division has a catalogue of over 4,000 titles, publishing some 400 new books and 12 million volumes a year. Bestselling series include ''Titeuf'', with 16 million copies, and ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

'', with 17 million copies. It is the second largest comics publishing group in France, behind

Média-Participations Média-Participations () is a French media concern, controlled by a Belgian holding concern, specialized in Franco-Belgian comics. It has some forty publishers in its portfolio, including Dupuis, Dargaud, Le Lombard, Fleurus, La Martinière, a ...

, with some 20% of the market. The company has two international subsidiaries, Glénat Benelux and Glénat Suisse (Switzerland). The company is also very active in Canada and collaborates with other publishers in other countries. Apart from translating and distributing the original Glénat productions, these regional companies also produce their own content and specializations. Glénat Benelux has 13% of the market of Belgian comic shops.

Head office

The company head office is in central

,Mentions obligatoires
" Glénat. Retrieved on 1 May 2011. "GLENAT Éditions SA 37, Rue Servan BP 177 38008 GRENOBLE CEDEX 1"Jacques Glénat, 40 ans de passion pour la BD
" '' Ouest-France Multimédia''. Sunday 18 October 2009. Retrieved on 31 December 2011. "Toutes ces collections vont trouver leur place dans une grande bibliothèque - ouverte au public - que nous installons dans notre nouveau siège social, au coeur de Grenoble. Il s'agit d'un ancien couvent du XVIIe siècle dont la restauration a duré cinq ans. Une centaine de salariés y travaillent." in the former Convent of St. Cecilia, a 17th-century building which previously hosted a theater. Jacques Glénat had the building restored so it could become the headquarters of the company.Dary, Thibaut.
Quarante ans dans ses bulles
" ''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

''. 3 October 2009. Updated 2 October 2009. Retrieved on December 31, 2011. "C'est d'ailleurs là que vient d'être inauguré le nouveau siège du groupe. Jacques Glénat a racheté et fait restaurer avec le plus grand soin le couvent Sainte- Cécile, datant du XVIIe siècle. Archives, bibliothèque, collection privée ouverte au public .. The building's restoration took five years to complete. 100 employees work in the building. The building's archives, library, and private collection are open to the public.

Awards

* 1974: Best French Publisher at the

, France

Gallery

File:Seu de Ediciones Glenat España.JPG, Head office of the Spanish subsidiary

References

External links

Glénat website
(

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

)
Glénat website
(

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

)
Foreign rights page in English

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