The rise of theBande

Dessinée

Information gathered and consolidated by Amalivre for the Annual ALA Conference in San Francisco June 2015

WESS Programme: Beyond Tintin: Collecting European Comics in the U.S. (27 June)

Introduction• The BD market in France has experienced near to consistent

growth over the last 20 years.• Revenue accumulated from BD sales has jumped from 2.5%

to 9,3%.• 504 new BD titles were released in 1994, whereas in 2014 the

figure was 4,877 ― almost ten times the number released 20 years previously.

• Here we will attempt to cover the history of the BD, development of BD trends along with notable titles, authorsand publishers, to deliver a general overview of the genre, and the reasons its has experienced such success in recent years.

History: Traditional BD• Up until the 1970s, publishers tended to choose adventure

series with ‘star’ frontmen ― Tintin, Astérix, Spirou ― the success of which would allow them to financially sustain the publishing house, newspaper or magazine, while then beingable to publish lesser known authors at the same time.

• From the 1970s onwards, some authors began to break awayfrom the mainstream and produce less formulaic work whichbranched out in subject matter.

• However, they increasingly found themselves falling back intothe same pattern, especially when more original projectsproved a failure with the public.

Development of the ‘genre’• The growth in popularity of BDs in the last 20 years can

be attributed to the fact that their subject matter has alsogreatly developped and diversified.

• BDs are no longer the reserved for the adventures of heroes or detectives, and nor are they dominated by the classic light-hearted humour of Fluide Glacial. By consequence, BDs are no longer a ‘specialist’ interest.

• In fact, it would now be incorrect to class BDs as a genre at all ― they have become a medium which, in the sameway as novels, painting, music, encompasses a myriad of topics, in which every reader can find a point of interest.

Development of the ‘genre’: examples

• Adaptions of classic texts, such as Murat’s version of Hemingway’s Nobel Prize-winning short story ‘Le vieil homme et la mer’ (‘The Old Man and the Sea’) and Christophe Chabouté’s BD rendition of ‘Moby Dick’.

• Leading BD publisher Glénat has brought out a new collection titled ‘Ils ont fait l’histoire’ (‘They made history’), a selection of biographies of historical figures produced by BD authorsworking with university historians.

• From the late 1990s, there has been a surge of personal or autobiographically-inspired works from BD authors, such as the responses of Charlie Hebdo cartoonists Sfar and Luz to the January 2015 attack or Riad Sattouf’s recount of hischildhood in ‘L’Arabe du Futur’.

Journalism in BD – ‘Le BD-reportage’• As a part of new BD trends, there has been a rise in the number of

BDs based on current affairs produced by or in co-operation withjournalists :

• ‘Quai d’Orsay’ by Antonin Baudry and illustrator Christophe Blain was inspired by Baudry’s experience at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (known colloquially as Quai d'Orsay, after its location in Paris).

• After having followed François Hollande on his presidential campaign in his first book, Mathieu Sapin has returned with another insider, ‘Le Château’, in which he tells us of the year he wormed his way into the Élysée Palace and what happens behind those closed doors.

• ‘Le Procès Carlton’, Boucq’s newest title, illustrates the reports of journalist Pascal-Robert Diard on the trial of those involved in the scandalous Carlton Affair, in which officials and high ranking businessmen, including former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, were accused of using corporate funds to facilitate the running of a prostitution ring.

• Guy Delisle’s Chroniques de Jérusalem (2011) recounts his one year stay in Beit Hanina with Médecins Sans Frontières and won the AngoulêmeInternational Comics Festival Prize for Best Album in 2012.

BD in Journalism• The Charlie Hebdo attacks this January have highlighted the role

of drawing in the press. • Press drawing is of course a sector that naturally attracts BD

authors, and there are many that regularly pass from one to the other, yet the two are different : while press drawing falls underillustration in general, the BD is an illustrated story in itself.

• For authors, work for newspapers and magazines is a more regularsource of income than working on projects themselves, and, likeblogs, it can serve as a portfolio and attract publishers.

• For the newspapers and magazines, illustrations can enhanceimportant articles and, especially if the artist is already wellknown, their work can become part of the paper’s brand image.

See developed presentation

Manga• Manga is a genre which for a long time has not been recognized

amongst BD fans. For example, it has been considerablyunderrepresented at the Angoulême festival:

• 2003 : Quartier lointain by Taniguchi received the prize for the best story• 2007 : Nononba by Mizuki Shigeru received the prize for the best BD• 2015 : Otomo was the first Japanese author to receive ‘Le Grand Prix’

• Despite this, sales figures and the number of events focused on manga show that there really is a public enthusiasm for the genre:

• In 2012, ‘Japanexpo’ (an event dedicated to Japanese culture, started in 2000, that takes place in Villepinte every year) attracted more visitors thanthe ‘Salon du Livre’ in Paris.

• Specialist manga schools have been founded.• There have been more and more manga publications by European authors

who choose to follow the rules of the Japanese model, dubbed ‘Manfra’ (variations being ‘Franga’ and ‘Euromanga’).

See developed presentation

The BD and technology: BD Blogging

• For BD cartoonists, blogging seems to have becomealmost compulsory.

• Blogging benefits both the writers and publishers – itallows lesser-known BD writers or those who are new to the scene to get themselves noticed by publishers, and, at the same time, it allows publishers to take on writers, reassured by the fact they already have a loyal fan base.

• The majority of Delcourt’s ‘Shampooing’ collection originated from blogs.

The BD and technology:the prospect of the digital BD‘The internet and smartphones are changing the situation. We have been living on a relatively narrow market. The boundaries of whichare falling down… The risk is that we will also see the emergence of new ways of digital distribution. An artificial digital rendition of the BD will impose itself on us and there is a strong chance that, likeFacebook or Twitter, it will be American’,

— Didier Borg, director of the KSTR collection and patron of the Delitoon website

• Websites such as Avécomics, Iznéo and Digibidi enable readers to buy individual works, but more often readers choose to subscribe, giving them access to either all or a certain number of digitals BDson the site.

• However, it seems that loyal BD fans are not yet prepared to makethe digital switchover and abandon the BD on paper.

An uncertain future for authors• As in many artistic fields, notably in music, new practices

have changed the relationship between authors and editors.• This January in Angoulême, hundreds of BD writers and

cartoonists protested against the changes to their pension scheme contributions, which are due to increase from 4% to 8% next year.

• While BDs have become a successful and prosperousindustry, the quality of life of those behind them has not improved in the same way.

• BD authors point out that they have no right to unemployment benefit, holiday or paid leave.

• Writer Fabien Vehlmann declared that the protest was to ‘denounce the growing pauperization’ in their field of work.

• ‘In 20 years, we have gone from 500 authors living reasonably to 1,500 living badly.’

— Claude de Saint Vincent, General Director of Media Participation (Dargaud, Dupuis, Le Lombard, Kana, UrbanComics…)

BD publishers• Major BD publishers – Glénat (Grenoble, France), Dupuis

(Marcinelle, Belgium), Dargaud (Paris, France), Casterman (Brussels, Belgium), Soleil (Toulon, France), Futuropolis (Paris, France), Delcourt (Paris, France), Les Humanoïdes Associés (Paris, France), Editions Audie-Fluide Glacial (Paris, France), Paquet (Geneva, Switzerland), Le Lombard (Brussels, Belgium), Ankama(Roubaix, France), Vertige Graphic (Paris, France)

• Established publishers with BD collections – Gallimard(Paris, France), Actes Sud (Arles, France), Denoël (Paris, France), L’Harmattan (Paris, France), Seuil (Paris, France), Rue de Sèvres (Paris, France)

BD publishers• Smaller, independent publishers – L’Association (Paris,

France), Cornélius (Paris, France), Atrabile (Geneva, Switzerland), 6 pieds sous terre (Montpellier, France),Cambourakis (Paris, France), Éditions FLBLB (Poitiers, France), Ego comme x (Paris, France), Les Requins Marteaux (Bordeaux, France), Rackham (Paris, France), Les Rêveurs (Montreuil, France), La boite à bulles (Massy, France), Même pas mal (Marseille, France), Fremok (Bruxelles, Belgium), Dernier Cri (Marseille, France), Editions 2024 (Strasbourg, France), Warum (Paris, France), Vraoum (Paris, France), Onapratut (Noisy-le-Grand, France), Sarbacane (Paris, France), Editions Emmanuel Proust (Paris, France), Les ronds dans l’O (Vincennes, France), Editions de la Gouttiere (Amiens, France), Ça et là (Bussy-Saint-Georges, France), Editions de la Cerise (Bordeaux, France), Akileos (Talence, France)

Festivals• There are more than 100 BD festivals in France, with some

estimating the total to be nearer 300.• Going for over 40 years, the most well-known festival is the

‘Festival International de la Bande Dessinée’ (FIBD), whichtakes place in Angoulême in January. The festival’s ‘grand prix’ gives the winner the opportunity to design next year’sposter and to have a retrospective exhibition of their work.

• Other festivals include:• ‘Quai des bulles’ – takes place in Saint-Malo in October• ‘Festival BD d’Ajaccio’ – takes place in Ajaccio in November• ‘Festival BD de Perros-Guirec’ – takes place in Perros-Guirec in

April• ‘BD Boum’ – takes place in Blois in November

Awards• Prix de la Critique – chosen by the Association of Critics

and Journalists of BD (ACBD) at the Angoulême Festival –this year’s winner was ‘Moi, assassin’ by Antonio Altarriba & Keko (translated from Spanish).

• Prix Canal BD-Album – chosen by specialist BD booksellers – this year’s winner was ‘Les vieux fourneaux Tome 1 - Ceux qui restent’ by Paul Cauet and Wilfrid Lupano.

• Prix de la BD Fnac – chosen by readers – this year’swinner was ‘Un Océan d’amour’ by Grégory Panaccione & Wilfrid Lupano.

• Grand Prix RTL de la Bande Dessinée – chosen by a panel of booksellers and journalists – this year’s winner was ‘L’Arabe du Futur’ by Riad Sattouf