Your view on european comics?

[shazzbaa]

I'm American and I grew up on Tintin and Asterix! We would check them out from the library when I was little. I don't get the impression that they're COMMON, but apparently they're available in some places! But I don't know many others. Whenever I've seen European comic work I've always been impressed.

When I went to art school (SCAD) for comics we all had this impression that in America, a comic artist is treated like cheap entertainment; in Japan, a comic artist is treated like a rock star (complete with burnout lifestyle); and in France, a comic artist is treated like an Artist, that it was as respected as any other art, which we took to be the reason why the european comics we saw were often so beautiful with so much time put into them.
I don't know how true this is for the average creator in France, but that was the prevailing impression!

Though I never managed to go, there was a study abroad program at my school, and when the sequential art classes went to France they'd make sure to attend the International Comics Festival in Angoulême. European comics were DEFINITELY highly respected in my program.

[cribeilletguillaume]

Cartoon adaptation ? I will take it ! It's part of their influence after all

Yeah finding them online (legally) is a bit hard, French publisher are kind of slow on the whole digital thingy.

Finding illegally is also hard (and a bad thing !) wich is part of why I create this topic, I believe the more popular a thing is, the more it can be pirated haha (for example right now in France there is the comic Last Man that is getting really popular and you can't find it illegally so it made me wonder )

[MrKyleRose]

Hello there!

I'm an American and grew up during the "manga craze" of the early '00's. I never really got into manga that much until recently, but it definitely has had a major mainstream impact on America comics. Personally I've notice a large number of cartoonists around my age (mid-late 20's) seem to be heavily influenced by them. European comics so far have not had the same level of adoption here in the states but it seems to be going that way. I've even seen certain comics panels and lectures where it's been suggested that Bandes dessinées will be the next be import craze. I've seen a number of propionate Franco-Belgian comics (beyond the classics like Tin Tin and Asterix) works being translated and collected by American publishers lately. The biggest example is Dark Horse's upcoming collections of Mœbius' work.

In terms of my personal exposure I first heard about most European comics in art school. It seems most of the people who I've come across that are aware of European comics seem to be other cartoonists.

I've actually been trying to explore more European work lately and would love to hear additional suggestions. I will definitely check out Blacksad.

Thanks!

[cribeilletguillaume]

Enrique's comic "Aurore" is one of those comic I bought without knowing anything just because of the art, I also have one of Delisle book (and yep he is a french canadian)

As for Lucky Luke, haha, if it can please the 6 y.o. you, there is a story where the shadow wins its duel against Lucky Luke )

[MrKyleRose]

we all had this impression that in America, a comic artist is treated like cheap entertainment; in Japan, a comic artist is treated like a rock star (complete with burnout lifestyle); and in France, a comic artist is treated like an Artist,

I've come across this impression several times too. The one exception I would add would be the syndicated cartoonists of certain era's seemed to have a level of respect and recognition other american cartoonists didn't. I've heard this was especially true for the early continuity strips.

Which brings up a good question—do European comics have the same divide between syndicated "newspaper strips" and periodical "comics" (or graphic novels) or is that something specific to the states?

[cribeilletguillaume]

mmm, yeah it may be true for the artist part, both for its upside and downside haha

Enki Bilal did have an exposition in the Louvre so yeah, the big names are definitly respected (Boulet, Sfar, Vivès, Moebius...)
comic books are very popular because it must be one of the more common gift for children and teenager, it can even become a family "legacy"

the trouble begins when (average) authors are talking about bad they are paid and here comes the debate "but is comic book author a real job ?"...but yeah I guess this means they are perceive as artists too haha

but yeah usually when I tell people I want to be a comic book author, they find it cool

[cribeilletguillaume]

Cool to know ! (and yeah I heard recently that America discovered Dragon Ball in 1998, if you got everything in the same time, that must have hit you hard)

I know that Luc Besson is adapting Valerian and Laureline in a live action movie, maybe that will help too (don't fuck up Luc).

As for the suggestion, I have no idea which comic is translated or not but if you want to look up :

• Last Man (pic), a huge hit in France, referred as the first Manfra (French manga, did I tell you that manga hit France very hard too ? )

• Doggy Bags (pic), serie of short story, always punchy and violent (and with some historical facts that are very cool to know...but most of them are american so you might already know them)

• Lanfeust (pic), fun heroic fantasy saga

• Pinocchio (pic), by Winchluss, a (very) dark and (very) cool interpretation of Pinocchio

and if you want there is the blog of Boulet : http://english.bouletcorp.com/

[bakasama25]

Luc Besson? The guy that directed The Fifth Element and Taken? I'm very sure it's going to be a good movie.

About France being hit hard by Japanese pop culture. It's been a thing since the 70's with French dubbed anime and co-productions like The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31.

Just recently, their animated series are starting look and feel like anime.

[Jrej]

Hello there. I'm french too. It's good to see fellow europeans on Tapastic.
I grew up on french classics like a lot of you guys.
I love Tintin of course, Boule & Bill, Gaston Lagaffe...
I had a subscription to Picsou Magazine which had tons of cool content.
I feel that digital content is hard to break through in France. Artists seem to stick with classic editorial and the publishing structure. Things are changing. I hope more people follow that trend.

Awesome comic! You got a new sub my friend!

[NickRowler]

I'm American and I have seen plenty of European comics but they tend to not be as popular.

I have read several and I really enjoy them, sometimes even more than American comics. I read stuff like The Rabbi's Cat (actually most stuff by Joann Sfar), Corto Maltese, Persepolis, Moomin, Tintin to name some. I also really like European animation, cause I am a dork, so much that I watched a bunch of Barbapapa episodes in German (I don't even know German).

But a majority of comic reader are not like me. I'm a "comic hipster", m'kay. Though I do feel I am somewhat influenced by them.

[cribeilletguillaume]

Oh yeah I didn't meant it was recent, I believe Ulysse 31 was a franco-japanese production. I meant that today comic book author grew up with manga wich can leads to hybrid production (and I find it cool)

And yeah if Besson does a new Fifth Element with its adaptation, I will be so happy

[cribeilletguillaume]

It's true, the big publishers are not fond of digital comics,

I'm part of a project, Watch Digital Comics, that is going to be entirely digital (the launch is kind of hard, we need content and authors, we aim for a manga/american comic like publishing : one chapter of a serie every two weeks) so we may end up being part of the change in French comic haha

for exemple I do that : Enfer Blanc

edit : and thanks for the sub !

[bakasama25]

OH that reminds me of a French webcomic site I saw a while ago. I can't remember the name of it but it had the look and feel of Tapastic. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a rip off site. Except it had far less artists putting up their work than here. The amount of works in could be numbered in the low double digits, maybe around 20 or less? I think I've seen more French artists post their work here than the other site. I think I understand why the number of artists were very low.

[carloswebcomic]

Reading European comics is what sparked my interest in comics in general.
Growing up, I used to read this magazine called Heavy Metal which consisted mostly of Adult (as in mature, not porn) European comics.
In my view, they were far, far superior, in both art and story, than anything I've seen before in the mainstream.
I also got a soft spot for British comics like Judge Dredd and The Rifle Brigade.
After that, I discovered Manga and underground Australian and American comics which also influenced me.
So yeah, European comics is what got me excited about this medium.

[cribeilletguillaume]

I've never managed to find a Heavy Metal book, I only saw pieces of art here and here, I want one so hard. I was happy when they announce a tv serie but it didn't work out too well.

fun fact : in french it's "Métal Hurlant" so the correct tranlsation should have been "Howling Metal" wich I find very cool, too bad they didn't use it !

Never heard of the rifle brigade, I will look that up

[carloswebcomic]

in french it's "Métal Hurlant" so the correct tranlsation should have been "Howling Metal" wich I find very cool, too bad they didn't use it !

Yeah, I know. I guess it was a product of the time when"Heavy Metal" would have resounded better with their target audience.
Howling Metal is such an awesome name though!

[Jrej]

OMG you are part of watch digital comics!
Saw you on the news and subscribed to the newsletter. I was seriously considering a subscription because of Enfer Blanc!

Amazing coincidence!

I think the model you are trying to build is very clever. I think it could really change how digital artists get support for their work. Mind blowing stuff...8-D

[cribeilletguillaume]

Haha what ? are you serious ? that's awesome ! (and thanks because I guess it means you liked Enfer Blanc)

You saw it on France 3 Alsace ?

[miseryhunting]

I'm not sure how European comics are doing outside of Europe, but when I was growing up, the first comic I got was Asterix and Obelix (French) and later on got into Witch (Italian). At that time, Bulgarian comics started dying down and later on, even the publishing of foreign comics started declining. From the American series, I don' think I've seen any with the exception of Spiderman.
The United Kingdom has extremely big comic market though! They do publish a lot of graphic novels, both original and from the USA.

[Jrej]

Enfer Blanc looks brilliant from what I saw. I haven't had the chance to see much of it though. Is it going to be a watch digital exclusive?

I am originally from Seine et Marne but saw the region special on france 3.
You know it's good, when you see it on tv!