Jean Dupuis (publisher)

Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.

Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comic albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now publishes numerous editions in both the French language and Dutch. Other language editions are mostly licensed to other publishers.

History

Early years

Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis (1875–1952).

The growth of Dupuis towards becoming the leading comic book editor of Belgium started in 1938, when Dupuis added to its portfolio a men's magazine (''Le moustique'' he mosquitoin French, '' Humoradio'' in Dutch), a women's magazine (''Bonnes Soirées'' ood eveningsin French, ''De Haardvriend'' he hearth's friendin Dutch) and the children's comics magazine '' Spirou''. The latter was originally only in French, and contained a mixture of American comics (e.g. ''Superman'', ''Brick Bradford'', and ''Red Ryder'') and new creations ( and ''Tif et Tondu''). A few months later, a Dutch edition called ''Robbedoes'' followed.

Growth after WWII

After some difficulties during the war (mainly because of the scarcity of paper towards the end of it, but also because American comics weren't allowed to be published anymore), Dupuis started to grow quickly. ''Le moustique'' became one of the leading magazines with information on radio and (later) television programs in Belgium, and ''Spirou'' was one of the two leading Franco-Belgian comics magazines (together with ''Tintin'' magazine).

Dupuis started publishing some books as well, but had real success by republishing the comics that had appeared as serials in the magazine, collected as albums afterwards. Sometimes these were one shots, but mainly they came in series. Dupuis has some of the best-selling European comic series, including ''Lucky Luke'', ''The Smurfs'', ''Gaston Lagaffe'' and ''Largo Winch''. Many of these comic albums have been reprinted constantly for thirty or forty years, thereby generating constant revenue for the editor.

Stabilization and diversification

In the early sixties, Dupuis started with other activities, including the merchandising of its comic series (puppets, posters, etc.), and the making of animated movies. Most of these weren't very successful but further raised the visibility of their comics. Still, towards the end of the 1960s, the golden age of Dupuis seemed to be over. Some of the magazines were struggling, the merchandising activities were vastly reduced, and the movie studio did not seem to be producing any successful movies.
But the core business, the comics and the main magazines, continued to be hugely successful, with a comics catalogue of more than 2000 titles available in French. Many of the series were turned into animated movies in the 1990s, including ''Papyrus'' and , and are being sold as movies and comics throughout Europe. Dupuis has also started producing computer games.

In June 2004, Dupuis was bought by Média-Participations, which now owns almost all major European comic book publishers, including Dargaud and Le Lombard, More recently, in 2015, Dupuis joined with twelve other European comics publishing actors to create Europe Comics, a digital initiative co-funded by the European Commission's Creative Europe program.

In March 2013, Dupuis who owned a minority stake in Marsu Productions announced that they're buying out and taking full control of publishing house Marsu Productions along with their catalogue, thus bringing their publishing activities and the Marsupilami franchise back to their original publisher Dupuis.

In January 2019, Dupuis announced that they've launched their first European webtoon production subsidiary and platform dedicated to European and African authors named Webtoon Factory.

In January 2024, Dupuis announced that their manga publishing imprint Vega Dupuis had joined forces with Japanese manga publishing company Kadokawa to launch a joint venture business named Vega SAS to publish Japanese and Korean comics for the French language markets alongside Kadokawa's own titles which will be their focus with Kadokawa acquiring a 51% stake in Dupuis's imprint Vega Dupuis whilst Dupuis retaining the 49% stake in the imprint.

Main publications

This is a selection of magazines and comics series originally or mainly published by Dupuis. Some titles later changed to a different publisher.

Magazines

*Moustique (created as "Moustique" in 1924, named "Télémoustique" between the 1960s and 2011) and its Flemish counterpart HUMO (since 1936, originally called "Humoradio"). Both versions have been sold to other publishers.
* Spirou, since 1938: between 1938 and 2005 also a Flemish version, "Robbedoes".

Comics series

This is a selected list of comics series, ordered by year of first publication by Dupuis, with main authors given. Many series were also continued or temporarily taken over by other artists and writers. Some of the series have been taken over by other publishers.

*1938: ''Spirou & Fantasio'' by Robert Velter, Jijé, André Franquin, ...
*1938: ''Tif et Tondu'' by Fernand Dineur, Will, ...
*1941: '' Jean Valhardi'' by Jijé
*1946: ''Lucky Luke'' by Morris and René Goscinny
*1947: ''Blondin et Cirage'' by Jijé
*1947: '' Buck Danny'' by Victor Hubinon and Jean-Michel Charlier
*1952: ''Johan and Peewit'' by Peyo
*1954: ''Jerry Spring'' by Jijé
*1954: ''La Patrouille des Castors'' by Mitacq and Charlier
*1956: ''Gil Jourdan'' by Maurice Tillieux
*1957: ''Gaston'' by André Franquin and Yvan Delporte
*1958: ''The Smurfs'' by Peyo
*1958: ''Le Vieux Nick et Barbe-Noire'' by Marcel Remacle
*1959: ''Boule et Bill'' by Jean Roba
*1960: ''Benoît Brisefer'' by Peyo
*1961: ''Bobo'' by Paul Deliège and Maurice Rosy
*1963: ''Génial Olivier'' by Jacques Devos
*1965: ''Sibylline'' by Raymond Macherot
*1965: ''Sophie'' by Jidéhem
*1967: '' Les Petits Hommes'' by Pierre Seron
*1968: ''Les Tuniques Bleues'' by Louis Salvérius, Lambil, and Raoul Cauvin
*1969: ''Isabelle'' by Will, Franquin, Delporte and Macherot
*1970: '' Natacha'' by François Walthéry and Gos
*1970: ''Sammy'' by Berck and Cauvin
*1970: ''Yoko Tsuno'' by Roger Leloup
*1972: ''Scrameustache'' by Gos
*1974: ''Papyrus'' by Lucien De Gieter
*1975: '' Agent 212'' by Daniel Kox and Cauvin
*1981: '' Billy the Cat'' by Stéphane Colman and Stephen Desberg
*1981: '' Les Femmes en Blanc'' by Philippe Bercovici and Cauvin
*1982: '' Jeannette Pointu'' by Marc Wasterlain
*1982: '' Kogaratsu'' by Michetz and Bosse
*1982: '' Jérôme K. Jérôme Bloche'' by Alain Dodier
*1986: ''Aria'' by Michel Weyland
*1983: ''Pierre Tombal'' by Marc Hardy and Cauvin
*1983: '' Jojo'' by André Geerts
*1986: '' Soda'' by Bruno Gazzotti and Tome
*1986: ''Cédric'' by Laudec and Cauvin
*1987: '' Le Petit Spirou'' by Tome and Janry
*1987: '' Jessica Blandy'' by Renaud Dufaux and Jean Dufaux
*1987: '' Théodore Poussin'' by Frank Le Gall
*1988: '' Cupidon'' by Malik and Cauvin
*1988: ''Jeremiah (comics)'' by Hermann Huppen
*1990: ''Largo Winch'' by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme
*1992: '' Mélusine'' by Clarke and François Gilson
*1993: '' Kid Paddle'' by Midam
*1996: ''Dallas Barr'' by Marvano
*2001: ''Violine'' by Didier Vasseur and artist Fabrice Tarrin
*2003: '' Parker and Badger'' by Marc Cuadrado
*2004; '' Lady S'' by Philippe Aymond and Van Hamme
*2005: ''The Bellybuttons'' by Maryse Dubuc and Delaf
*2005: '' Orbital'' by Sylvain Runberg and Serge Pellé
*2006: '' Seuls'' by Fabien Vehlmann and Bruno Gazzotti
*2010: ''Michel Vaillant'' by Jean Graton

Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel

Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel is a French/Belgian film & animation audiovisuel production division of the comic book publishing house Dupuis that is dedicated to their adaptations of Dupuis' works into animated series and feature films. It is also one of the production labels that is part of Ellipse Animation.

History

In 1959, six years before Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel was established, Dupuis had another production house when Dupuis and Charles Dupuis the son of Dupuis' founder Jean Dupuis had launched their own animation studio named TVA Dupuis which became famous for producing their first animated series in black and white based on the popular comic series ''The Smurfs'', which was their first adaptation.

In June 2022, during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel alongside their parent company Dupuis and its owner Media Participations announced that their bringing their French animation production labels (which were Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel, Dargaud Media, Ellipsanime Productions alongside their in-house Paris & Angoulême-based animation production studio division Ellipse Studio and Les Cartooneurs Associés) under one umbrella group named Ellipse Animation.

Filmography

Television

Films

References

External links

Homepage of Dupuis (in French)
{{Authority control

Publishing companies established in 1922
Comic book publishing companies of Belgium
Belgian companies established in 1922