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, 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.
In 12 January 2023, Europe Comics announced it would stop their "consumer-facing activities" (website, social media, newsletters, events); the initiative announced it will still release new digital comics through online retailers.
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 tr ...
(publisher, UK)
*
Dargaud (publisher, France)
* Darkwood (publisher, Serbia)
* (publisher, Spain)
*
Dupuis
Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.
Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now ...
(publisher, Belgium)
*
Ellipsanime Productions (animation studio, France)
*
Le Lombard (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 and
Juanjo Guarnido, Dargaud)
* ''
Djinn'' (
Jean Dufaux and
Ana Mirallès, Dargaud)
* ''
Gipsy'' (
Enrico Marini and
Thierry Smolderen, Dargaud)
* ''Globetrotting Viola'' ( and Teresa Radice, Tunué)
* ''
Jeremy'' (
Jef Nys, 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 (genre), Western bande dessinée, comic album series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris (cartoonist), Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborati ...
'', Dargaud/Lucky Comics)
* ''
Michel Vaillant'' (
Jean Graton, Dupuis)
* ''The Midlife Crisis'' (
Florence Cestac, Dargaud)
* ''
Murena'' (
Jean Dufaux and , Dargaud)
* ''Noir'' (Łukasz Bogacz and , Timof)
* ''Portugal'' (
Cyril Pedrosa, Dupuis)
* ''The Suicide Forest'' ( and Gabriel Hernández, Dibbuks)
* ''
Valerian and Laureline'' (
Pierre Christin and
Jean-Claude Mézières, Dargaud)
* ''The Famous Quartet of Piraeus'' (
Giorgos Skabardonis,
Dimitris Kerasidis, Mikros Iros)
Events
Since its launch, Europe Comics and its authors have participated in a number of comics and book events such as comic conventions (including
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
and the
New York Comic Con
The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to comics, Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, Film, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. With an attendance of 200,00 ...
), European book events (the
London Book Fair and
Frankfurt Book Fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...
) and a variety of independent comics events such as the
Small Press Expo and the
Brooklyn Book Festival 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
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