European Graphic Novels+

A great Sunday to all of my fellow comic book nerds 🌞

This sequence comes from Astérix et Cléopâtre (1965), the sixth published album, taken from the 1963 & '64 pages of Pilote magazine. Note: I made a slight panel crop here to help readability.

For those unaware, Monstres is a sub-line of the amazing Donjon series, showcasing a who's-who of BD artists & writers, each volume concentrating on a different set of characters. The series was created by Trondheim & Joann Sfar, and there are almost sixty total volumes across Donjon as of this writing. Personally I find it astonishing how high the overall quality is, and how well the volumes compliment each other.

With no further ado, <<HERE>> are a bonanza of page samples from "Monsters: The Depths."

This story is indeed my favorite from the Monstres series, in which lead artist Patrice Killoffer has done a sensational job depicting the underwater realm & creatures in this story, as perhaps you'll agree.

The four criminal brothers up to their usual shenanigans. As explained in the stories, they're actually cousins of the notorious Dalton Gang, motivated to avenge their cousins' deaths & imprisonment at the hands of Lucky Luke. This panel is from Lucky Luke - Daltons in the Blizzard.

It's weird that it's tome 22 in France but only tome 15 in the English edition.

When Cinebook started publishing LL, they began right off with Morris - Goscinny stories. In reality, Morris had created the character on his own (in 1946) and it wasn't until a decade later that Goscinny came on as writer. But just as with Asterix, I'd argue that the Goscinny-written stories are the best of the series.

So it makes business and pragmatic sense to me why they wanted to start with those.

Fernando de Felipe is a Spanish university professor, born in Zaragoza in 1965 . He also works as a film and television scriptwriter, in addition to having been a major Euro cartoonist of the late-80's & early-90's. [more]

I was originally exposed to the "Basil Headstone" series in 1996, through the American version of Métal hurlant magazine, i.e. "Heavy Metal." As far as I can tell, there were five total "Headstone" stories published to the American market, but there may have been more published to the Euro market, I believe through "Comix Internacional" (Toutain).

-------> HERE is the full story. <-------

Personally, I felt this introduction story was one of the best of the stories, nicely illustrating what a complete lunatic the host was. This also reminded me a bit of UK genius' Pat Mills stuff, such as Requiem, Chevalier Vampire. Others have commented that in terms of the color palette, they're reminded of Richard Corben, Andrea Pazienza, and Matthias Schultheiss. (credit to u/ShiDiWen & u/LondonFroggy)

Over the years I've greatly enjoyed seeing so many artists do Tintin tribute & pastiche covers. I notice that the vast majority take great care to appear 'authentic,' yet that doesn't stop some from going in thoroughly gonzo & absurdist directions, which I confess tend to be some of my favorites.

<<HERE>> then is a small general collection, drawn from many sources. Some of them I couldn't find quality art for, so I used upscale and editing tools to enhance.

If you'd like to browse through more fake covers (there are seemingly thousands), may I suggest these sites-- [1], [2], and [3].

(btw, the joke in the preview image is that the French pronunciation of "Tintin" is near-identical to the way "Taun Taun" is pronounced in English, in the Star Wars franchise.

This is easily my favorite moment in Asterix and the Griffin (2021), set in ancient Sarmatia. Many seem to agree that the book is probably the best of the recent albums, and maybe even one of the best non-Goscinny albums of all.

Hopefully Ferri will continue to loosen the reigns a bit and try some new concepts out (like Asterix having to make do without potion), because it seems to me that the standard Asterix adventure-mechanics got a bit stale over time.

Side note: Can you identify the counterparts to all six (or is it seven) villagers?

RANDOM RESOURCES:

• The History of German comics: [1] [2]

• News / review sites, some with forums: [BDgest] [ActuaBD] [Bedetheque] [1001BD] [BD Amateur] [BD Zoom] [BoDoï] [aVoir-aLire] [9emeArt] [BD Lire]

• Ampton's amazing reviews & reflections on the albums of: Tintin and Astérix.

SOURCES OF PHYSICAL & ONLINE EURO COMICS OUTSIDE EUROPE:

Among North American comics publishers releasing a growing number of translations are Comixology Originals, Fantagraphics, First Second, IDW, Insight Comics, Lerner Graphic Universe, Lion Forge, NBM, and Uncivilized Books, as well as U.K. and Canadian houses that market their titles heavily in the U.S., such as Drawn & Quarterly, Nobrow, SelfMadeHero, and Titan.

• NetGalley.com -- "Publishers and authors offer free digital graphic novels to the NetGalley community of book advocates and industry professionals."

SOME SOURCES TO HELP FIND POSTING CONTENT:

• https://9emeart.tumblr.com/
• https://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/
• https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=bande%20dessin%C3%A9e
• https://heavymetalmagazine.tumblr.com/
• https://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/category/bande-dessinee/
• https://classiccomics.org/thread/75/european-comics
• https://bande-dessinee.blogs.la-croix.com/
• https://bande-dessinee.tumblr.com/

Indeed, I've used a lot of these to help inspire me, and of course the news / review sites (listed earlier) are also great for finding content. And then there's Lambiek.Net, an awesome site for finding biographical info for individual creators.

COMMUNITY IMAGE BACKUPS:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HY_-yjoEfws5IBVGL368QL15jE4eCJMZ/view?usp=drive_link

Cartoonist Les McClaine has been updating this album for the past eight years in his spare time. Four chapters and 250+ pages are done so far. He also includes insider commentary & sketches on how he produces the work, including using CAD software to design some of the buildings.

(HERE are some art & panel samples)

There are a few oddities about the work, starting with the protagonist being perpetually dressed in a Halloween skeleton suit, but somehow it becomes normal after awhile. If you're a Tintin fan, you'll also love all the subtle little tributes, even as the overall work is fresh and original.

(click the title or HERE to start reading)

Why this community?

Good question. 😅
Well okay, in some regions (I'm thinking Japan and the USA), BD might be kind of unknown, but around the world, I assure you, they're quite popular, and in fact go back all the way to the 20's - 30's era (more HERE). Indeed, one of the earliest BD's, Tintin, was turned in to a major motion picture in America, Indiana Jones-style, made by director Steven Spielberg in 2011.

Now, while BD might be the 'core' of European comics, Franco-Belgian comics are only part of the whole Euro comics experience. For example, there's British (Pat Mills, Bryan Talbot, Alan Moore), Spanish (Paco Roca, Segura y Ortiz), Italian (Fior, Manara, Pratt, Crepax, Bonelli), German (Mawil, Schultheiss), Polish (Rosiński & Makuszynski), Dutch (Kolk, Wit, Kuijpers, Seele) and many other terrific Euro comics creators worth a look. Not to mention, plenty of great creators working in similar spirit from around the world, such as Richard Corben from the States, Alejandro Jodorowsky from Chile, and Breccia, Noé, Giménez, Varela & Carlos Nine from Argentina.

So to sum up-- this sub/community strives to represent an excellent, all-locations body of BD-style work, starting in Europe, but not always well-represented across other comics sites.

Can you recommend some good bandes dessinées to me?

Sure. There's a nice, descriptive Library of Congress list HERE, and I'll shamelessly link to r/bandedessinee's additional collections THERE. Personally, I can add on with my roundups of artists who worked on great works HERE, and post-apoc themed series THERE. Also, most of the 'mini-review' and 'sampler' posts we make in this sub are meant to highlight the better stuff, so please check those out HERE. Finally, I can certainly recommend the excellent, thoughtful, short-form reviews by u/Titus_Bird THERE, and the interesting, page-length reviews by Augie De Blieck, who's been writing in-depth articles about BD for decades now, over at Pipeline Comics.

Where can I pick up such comics, both in physical and digital format?

In the States, I've been pleased to see over the years how many bookstores and libraries have started carrying graphic novels, of which there will usually be a healthy BD subsection. Many libraries also feature an 'online lending' ebook service, through which one can read graphic novels via Kindle, tablet, etc. For example, in my area there's both Libby and Hoopla, which link through my library card. Check out your local services!

As for purchasable ebooks online, there are many options, but I'll need to research this further to build a good list; stand by! (note to self: what about Izneo, ~~Europe Comics~~ for starters?

Hey! In terms of mainly-Euro options, let's go with this set of recommendations for now, once again from our helpful, badass friend u/Titus_Bird, with u/goug: Amazone.es, Lireka, Rakuten, Momox, AbeBooks, FNac and Giver Joseph. (source)

And our colleagues:
https://www.reddit.com/r/bandedessinee/comments/1dya327/hey_rbandedessinee_lets_make_a_list_of_the_best/

When was this community founded? (and why?)

That would be August 1st, 2023, and it was in direct response to Reddit's owners famously abusing its mods, content creators and app developers (complete coverage of that in a comment below). At that point, looking around the 'Fediverse,' I couldn't find a BD community, so I decided to get the ball rolling on Lemmy.

Can I contribute here, such as by making posts?

Certainly! I try to do my best, along with my Mœby-lovin' buddy "Nacktmull," but there's so much to cover in Euro comics that we could always use more contributions, such as news, samples of comics pages & art, and reviews.

Tips for posting-- 1) I strongly recommend including an image at the top of your post, which gets turned in to a thumbnail for browsing purposes. This helps people quickly engage with your content.; 2) When including significant text in the body of the post, it can help to refer to such text in the topic title, for example by saying "(see notes)." Otherwise, people might assume you're just sharing an image, react to it, then scroll on.

What about NSFW content?

Our policies directly flow from Lemm.ee's #4 rule, "no pornography." That's the single-most important thing to keep in mind, and the following is meant to help guide the sharing of non-pornographic, NSFW content:

1. When sharing explicit content (genitalia, extreme gore, disturbing themes, etc) in the thumbnail / lead image-- please use the official tag (via the lower-left posting button). This will result in the image thumbnail being blurred out and a red "NSFW" tag appearing to warn browsers.

2. If the lead image is milder in nature (e.g. light nudity, dark themes), or when explicit content is shared in the body (not the lead image) of the post, it's okay to simply add “[NSFW]” or "[mature]" to the title of the post, as appropriate.

3. Clarifying the "[NSFW]" text in a title will almost always help. For example, one might say "NSFW-- physical trauma" or "borderline NSFW" or whatever makes good sense.

The point of the above is to help prevent users from accidentally clicking something they wouldn't want to see due to being at work, having specific sensitivities, etc. We feel that's just good netiquette, and in the spirit of what this instance (site/server) is aiming for. So that's that. Feel free to use your own judgement in these things, but if the post is reported, we mods may need to take action. Thank you! 😮‍💨

What about sharing my own content here?

To be clear-- the focus of this community is to post news, reviews, content & pictures by established BD and 'Euro+' creators. That said, we also feel it important to encourage amateur artists, whoever & wherever they may be. To this end, our current policy is to allow any sort of post you like promoting your own sketches, ideas, finished art, and WIP's ONCE per month. We also recommend 'making it a good one,' showing as much of your stuff as possible, like in a 'roundup' post with multiple content.

In the meantime, may we also recommend these three communities in which homegrown artists are encouraged to share their work and get helpful feedback-- 1) Watercolors (!watercolor@lemmy.ml), 2) Art (!art@lemmy.ml), 3) Drawing (!drawing@lemmy.world).

--Johnny & Nacktmull

(click the links for samples)

Belladonna (Ange & Alary, 2009) Set in France, in the middle of the reign of Louis XIV (the celebrated "Sun King"), this is a superb, cinematic story of political intrigue, factional infighting, assassination, and the struggle for an orphan to piece together her backstory while on the run. I found it impressively realistic, full of historical personages, but also fast-moving, titillating, and efficient in storytelling. The album covers seem to suggest cartoony, lighthearted fun, but don't be fooled. These three albums are indeed every bit as intriguing and deeply-plotted as similar series such as Alix, Senator & The Scorpion, almost like a lost Alexandre Dumas tale. Bonus points for Ange & Alary managing to interject a level of lightness and humor in to this sometimes-grim historical mystery-adventure.

The Property (Rutu Modan, 2013) Nicely-done long story of a Jewish woman and her grandmother who travel from their homeland back to Poland to reclaim a property the latter was forced to abandon in WWII. Complications arise between themselves, from some of the locals, and even from a fellow passenger who just won't leave them alone. That may not exactly sound like a thrilling premise, but Modan's excellent at using panels and expressions to tell a story without bogging it down with too much text. Indeed, it comes off a lot like a classic French film in 'BD' form. Also, it's difficult for me to put in to words, but it seems to me that Modan has an uncanny ability to capture the 'Israeli soul,' and I really felt a sort of rare cultural transportation in this work.

Paul has a Summer Job (Michel Rabagliati, 2002) From the excellent, semi-autobiographical Paul series, this one covers the period where the protagonist crashes and burns out of high school, followed by unexpectedly becoming a counselor at a summer camp for disadvantaged children. Things don't get off to a great start with the kids, and a young woman who's been assigned to work with him is immediately contemptuous of Paul. Oh, how things go from there(!) The art is spare, stylised, and beautifully effective, while the overall book is fun and absorbing, with a feel-good, NSFW-style finish.

Last Days of an Immortal (Fabien Vehlmann, 2012) A sci-fi gem by one of comic-dom's most gifted storytellers. In this highly-imaginative scenario, mankind has greatly-extended lifespans, with a new, astonishing ability to split off temporary clones who can go off on missions, then re-assimilate with the host. Story-wise, the main character is on a series of diplomatic missions, even as his close relationships evolve significantly. But more than that, he's in an existential crisis, deeply fatigued by the world he lives in, and increasingly ready to leave it all behind. This is a somewhat abstract, idea-driven work (quite a contrast to Paul, for example), but is well worth a read for sci-fi fans. I must say-- Vehlmann is unbelievably good at conjuring up worlds and then breathing life and plausibility in to them.

Set to Sea (Drew Weing, 2014) Here's a lovely, minimalist tale of the sea and a pirate's life, in which a bibliophile & poet is gang-impressed aboard a ship, and must struggle to cope with a radical new life, transforming himself in the process. This one pairs quite nicely with a similar, longer work, Blacklung, by the author's friend, Chris Wright. Both of these works contain a fascinating sub-theme of gentle/genteel people suddenly forced to survive in violent, abusive situations.

Luke's a British cartoonist born in 1987 who did storyboarding for animated Adventure Time episodes. What I find remarkable is that he took that "AT" sensibility and turned it in to something even more interesting to my mind, i.e. the Hilda series.

The series occurs in a sort of Scandinavian-fairytale setting, populated by various mythological races; one in which humans live in villages with paradoxically modern conveniences, such as electricity, plumbing and manufactured goods. This serves to create an amusing, fertile juxtaposition in which all kinds of interesting story ideas can be mined, not unlike as in sci-fi.

Just before the following sequence from Hilda and the Mountain King, a troll-mother, impressed by Hilda's gumption and kind-hearted nature, decided to 'make her happier' by turning her in to a troll!

After an anguished period of rebellion, one in which it's impossible for her to return to the city, Hilda finally calms down and decides to stick around the mountain for a bit:

In this series there's plenty of adventure going on, but instead of going for 'pure cartoony fun,' Hilda tends to focus more on personalities and motivations, particularly the main character's delightfully curious nature, which can sometimes be quite the double-edged sword.

I was consistently fascinated by the quandaries Hilda encountered, based on understandings and misunderstandings between minds, often unravelling certain mysteries and truths along the way, such as who and what are her troll neighbors, exactly?

Like some of the best literature, the stories can be enjoyed by all ages, but there's unexpected depth and even angst in Hilda that I greatly appreciated as an older reader. Indeed-- Pearson never panders nor falls in to the trap of trying to make moralistic points, either subtly or unsubtly. Rather, there's a sort of 'naturalism' going on in these stories, and Luke manages to keep things on a remarkably even keel, letting the stories speak for themselves as if he himself is just a Tolkien-esque observer.

The albums are published in English by Nobrow Press, and there's even a well-received adaptation on Netflix. Samples of that here.

(HERE are some more cover & panel samples)

My all time favorites are:

The Incal - Moebious & Jodo

Before the Incal - Janjetov & Jodo

The Meta Barons - Giménez & Jodo

Fragments of the Encyclopedia of Dolphins - Prado

Nikopol Trilogy - Enki Bilal

The Techno Priests - Janjetov & Beltran & Jodo

Jeremiah - Herman

Megalex -Beltran & Jodo

What do you think about those and what are your favorites?