Europe Comics is a pan-European comics and graphic novel digital venture run by 13 European comics publishers from eight European countries. The project received funding in 2015 from the European Commission's

Creative Europe Creative Europe is a European Union programme for the cultural and creative sectors. In its first phase, going from 2014 to 2020, it had a budget of € 1.47 billion, which were expanded to € 2.44 billion in its second phase (2021-2027). His ...

Programme, and launched officially in November of that year. The purpose of the initiative is the development of a lesser-known but ample European literary genre,

European comics European comics are comics produced in Europe. The '' comic album'' is a very common printed medium. The typical ''album'' is printed in large format, generally with high quality paper and colouring, commonly 24x32 cm (9.4x12.6 in), has around 48 ...

, through the formation of a collective English-language digital catalogue, the organization of author tours and events across Europe and North America, and the creation of a website meant for comics readers and professionals.

Partners

* Akan Ajans (rights agency, Turkey) * Ballon Media (publisher, Belgium) * (publisher, Italy) *

Cinebook Cinebook Ltd is a British publishing company that publishes comic albums and graphic novels. It describes itself as "the 9th art publisher," the 9th art being comics in continental Europe, especially France, Belgium and Italy. They typically t ...

(publisher, UK) *

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. H ...

(publisher, France) * Darkwood (publisher, Serbia) * (publisher, Spain) *

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic albums and magazines. It is originally a French lan ...

(publisher, Belgium) *

Ellipsanime Ellipsanime (formerly known as Le Studio Ellipse, Ellipse Programme and Ellipse Animation) is a French animation studio that produces television programs. It was founded in 1987. In February 2000 it merged with Expand SA; Expand sold the company t ...

Productions (animation studio, France) *

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 is now part of Média-Participations, alongside publishers Dargaud and Du ...

(publisher, Belgium) * Mediatoon Licensing (rights agency, France) * (publisher, Poland) * (publisher, Italy)

Catalog

The Europe Comics catalog consists of original works from each publisher of the project, translated in English and published digitally. Selected titles include: * ''The Adventures of Jerome Katzmeier'' ( François Boucq, Le Lombard) * ''Agrippina'' ( Claire Bretécher, Dargaud) * '' Blacksad'' (

Juan Díaz Canales Juan Díaz Canales is a Spanish comics artist and an animated film director, known as the co-creator of '' Blacksad''. Biography At an early age, Juan Díaz Canales became interested in comics and their creation, which progressed and broadened o ...

and Juanjo Guarnido, Dargaud) * ''

Djinn Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic my ...

'' (

Jean Dufaux Jean Dufaux (; born 7 June 1949) is a Belgian comic book writer. Beginning his professional career as a journalist for "CINÉ-PRESSE", Dufaux started writing comic books in the 1980s. Perhaps his most well-known, and certainly his most long-runn ...

and

Ana Mirallès Ana Miralles (born 16 December 1959; also spelled as Ana Mirallès) is a Spanish comic books artist, known particularly for her treatment of erotic subjects. After a degree in fine arts, she became an illustrator for publishing houses Gregal, Te ...

, Dargaud) * '' Gipsy'' ( Enrico Marini and Thierry Smolderen, Dargaud) * ''Globetrotting Viola'' ( and Teresa Radice, Tunué) * ''

Jeremy Jeremy may refer to: * Jeremy (given name), a given name * Jérémy, a French given name * ''Jeremy'' (film), a 1973 film * "Jeremy" (song), a song by Pearl Jam * Jeremy (snail), a left-coiled garden snail that died in 2017 * ''Jeremy'', a 19 ...

'' (

Jef Nys Jozef "Jef" Nys (30 January 1927 – 20 October 2009) was a Belgian comic book creator. He was best known for his comic strip '' Jommeke''. Biography Early years Jozef Nys was born in Berchem, Belgium in 1927.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Jef Ny ...

, Ballon) * ''Keepers of Lost Time'' (Miroslav Marić and Vujadin Radovanović, Darkwood) * '' Kobane Calling'' ( Zerocalcare, BAO Publishing) * ''The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke'' (, inspired by ''

Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western ''bande dessinée'' series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their par ...

'', Dargaud/Lucky Comics) * '' Michel Vaillant'' (

Jean Graton Jean Graton (10 August 1923 – 21 January 2021) was a French comic book author and cartoonist. Graton created the famous character Michel Vaillant and the eponymous series in 1957. Biography Graton was born in Nantes, France, in 1923. He move ...

, Dupuis) * ''The Midlife Crisis'' ( Florence Cestac, Dargaud) * '' Murena'' (

and , Dargaud) * ''Noir'' (Łukasz Bogacz and , Timof) * ''Portugal'' (

Cyril Pedrosa Cyril Pedrosa (born 22 November 1972) is a French comic book artist, colorist, and writer. Biography Early life Pedrosa was born in Poitiers to a family of Portuguese descent; his grandfather immigrated to France in the 1930s. He wanted to bec ...

, Dupuis) * ''The Suicide Forest'' ( and Gabriel Hernández, Dibbuks) * '' Valerian and Laureline'' ( Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières, Dargaud)

Events

Since its launch, Europe Comics and its authors have participated in a number of comics and book events such as comic conventions (including the

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

and

New York Comic-Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a for- ...

), European book events (the

London Book Fair The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and di ...

and

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: Frankfurter Buchmesse, FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for internationa ...

) and a variety of independent comics events such as the Small Press Expo and the

Brooklyn Book Festival The Brooklyn Book Festival is an annual book fair held in the fall in Brooklyn, New York. It was begun in 2006 by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, co-producers Liz Koch and Carolyn Greer who wanted to showcase the "Brooklyn voice" in ...

in the United States.

Online directory

As described in the official summary of the Europe Comics initiative, one of the "tangible ... outcomes of the project will be the creation of a European comics directory with statistical information on markets and trends," intended as a reference for both comics fans and professionals in the comics field (including publishers, journalists, and scholars).

References

External links

* European comics Comics publishing companies Publishing companies established in 2015 European Commission projects {{Comics-company-stub