Quebec comics (french: bande dessinée québécoise, or BDQ) are

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

produced primarily in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, and read both within and outside Canada, particularly in French-speaking Europe. In contrast to

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

comics in Canada, which largely follow the American model, Quebec comics are mostly influenced by the trends in Franco-Belgian comics. There is little crossover between the French and English comics worlds in Canada.

Overview

The majority language of Quebec is

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, and Quebec comics refers to those comics published in French—English-language comics are considered to be part of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-language part of

Canadian comics Canadian comics refers to comics and cartooning by citizens of Canada or Permanent residency in Canada, permanent residents of Canada regardless of residence. Canada has Official bilingualism in Canada, two official languages, and distinct comic ...

history. The two traditions have little crossover, with the English tradition following mainly American trends, and the French tradition following mainly European ones, especially the

Franco-Belgian trends, although newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s have tended to be French translations of syndicated American strips. In the early 2000s, most comics consumed within Quebec were of European or American origin, with local comics only making up 5% of the total market, which had been true since the early 1970s. However, a number of comics of Québécois origin have found success overseas, like Michel Rabagliati's ''Paul'' series and

Maryse Dubuc Maryse Dubuc (; born 21 October 1977) is a Canadian comics writer, known particularly for ''The Bellybuttons'' which she created with Marc Delafontaine ("Delaf"). Early life Maryse Dubuc was born in Compton, Quebec,

's '' Les Nombrils'' (''The Bellybuttons''), some of these cartoonists have had success with English translations, as when

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

-based English publisher Drawn & Quarterly picked up Julie Doucet's ''

Dirty Plotte ''Dirty Plotte'' is a comic book series by Julie Doucet, published by Drawn & Quarterly from 1991–1998. Most of the oddball stories in ''Dirty Plotte'' were autobiographical, often about the struggles of being a woman and being an alternative ...

'', which won acclaim and awards in the English-speaking comics world.

History

Native Quebec comics have had a long up-and-down history, alternating between periods of flourishing and periods languishing under the deluge of foreign comics.

19th Century

Caricatures have appeared in newspapers in Quebec since at least the 18th Century. A political poster using

speech balloon Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a char ...

s from 1792 has been attested. Most were anonymous, but one, titled ''"La Ménagerie annexionniste"'', by William Augustus Leggo was another early francophone use of speech balloons. Speech balloons thereafter became more common in caricatures and advertising, and humorous and satirical publications also proliferated. By the end of the century, one could buy compilations of these cartoons and illustrations—the roots of comic albums in Quebec. Between 1878 and 1884,

Henri Julien Henri Julien, baptised Octave-Henri Julien (14 May 1852 – 17 September 1908), was a Québécois artist and cartoonist noted for his work for the ''Canadian Illustrated News'' and for his political cartoons in the ''Montreal Daily Sta ...

published two books of political caricatures, ''L’album drolatique du journal Le Farceur''. In 1900, Morissette published ''Petit chien sauvage et savant'', and in 1901 Raoul Barré put out ''En roulant ma boule''. Following this, the number of cartoonists increased in newspapers in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

and Montreal. What has been called the first comic strip in Quebec appeared in 1866. The woodcut serial strip was called ''Baptiste Pacôt'' and has been attributed to the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Côté. A number of other pantomime or captioned strips appeared throughout the rest of the century. In 1902, Raoul Barré drew the captioned eight-panel strip, "Pour un dîner de Noël", which was the first known strip to appear in a daily Quebec newspaper. Barré created a strip called ''Noah's Ark'' in 1912 for the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based McClure Syndicate, which he brought to '' La Patrie'' the next year in French. Soon after he moved into

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

, becoming an innovative pioneer in the field.

Hector Berthelot Hector Berthelot (March 4, 1842 – September 15, 1895) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist, columnist, satirist, caricaturist, photographer and publisher who was born in Trois-Rivières. He was not married and died in Montreal. He is most well ...

was a cartoonist and the publisher of ''Le Canard'', where Berthelot started running satirical material signed Père Ladébauche ("Father Debauchery") starting in 1878. Berthelot would bring Ladébauche with him from newspaper to newspaper, and in 1904, Joseph Charlebois's comic strip version of '' Le Père Ladébauche'' debuted in '' La Presse'', a popular strip that would last until 1957. ''Le Canard'' published the works of a number of other notable cartoonists, such as Henri Julien, and it was there that the oldest known comic strip using a speech balloon appeared, an unsigned strip printed on 22 September 1883.

Early 20th Century comic strips

The popular press began to flourish at the turn of the century, and, as photographic reproduction was still in its infancy, the papers hired cartoonists and illustrators to liven up their pages, with the ''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the dominan ...

'' employing up to eight artists. '' La Patrie'' had convinced

Albéric Bourgeois Albéric Bourgeois (November 29, 1876 – November 17, 1962) was a Canadian cartoonist, credited with creating the first continuing comic strip to use word balloons in Canada. Personal history and career Albéric Bourgeois was born November 29, ...

to give up his job at the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' and create comic strips for them back in Quebec. 1904 saw, in ''La Patrie'', the publication of his '' Les Aventures de Timothée'' (''The Adventures of Timothée''), said to be the first French-language comic to feature

speech balloons Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a charac ...

consistently. This began what historian Michel Viau calls "The Golden Age of the BDQ". ''La Presse'', in response to ''La Patries success with ''Timothée'', added a weekly children's section, "''La Ruche enfantine''", which included comic strips. Charlebois's '' Père Ladébauche'' had begun, and after 43 instalments was taken over by Bourgeois, who continued to create other strips as well for ''La Presse'', to which he soon moved and stayed with until his 1955 retirement. Théophile Busnel took over ''Timothée'' and continued it until his sudden death in 1908. It was replaced with a translation of American

Richard F. Outcault Richard Felton Outcault (; January 14, 1863 – September 25, 1928) was an American cartoonist. He was the creator of the series ''The Yellow Kid'' and ''Buster Brown'' and is considered a key pioneer of the modern comic strip. Life and career ...

's ''

Buster Brown Buster Brown is a comic-strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault. Adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904, Buster Brown, along with Mary Jane, and with his dog Tige, became well known to the United States of America ...

''. Soon, other native strips were being replaced with translations of popular American strips, and by 1909, the "Golden Age" that had started in 1904 had come to an end. Native strips didn't disappear entirely, but those that remained lost the distinct flavour of contemporary life in Quebec, and began to imitate the silent films and vaudeville that were inundating popular culture in the province. Québécois cartoonists would unsuccessfully propose a number of strips to compete with the American strips that dominated the Sundays and dailies. The native Quebec presence on those pages would become more dominant after 1940, however, with the introduction of the War Exchange Conservation Act, which restricted the import of foreign strips. Comic strips disappeared more-or-less from the dailies during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and didn't really return until Arthur Lemay revived ''Timothée'' for a number of years starting in 1920. Weekend supplements grew, some to as many as 40 pages, but were filled with translations of American strips, which were well-distributed by the growing syndicates, as well as some strips from France. Some native strips continued to appear, however, and in 1935

Albert Chartier Albert Chartier (16 June 1912 – 25 February 2004) was a French-Canadian cartoonist and illustrator, best known for having created the comic strip ''Onésime''. Biography Albert Chartier was the son of Joseph Chartier, a traveling salesman who ...

made his cartooning debut with a strip called ''Bouboule''. In 1943, he created the comical character ''

Onésime Albert Chartier (16 June 1912 – 25 February 2004) was a French-Canadian cartoonist and illustrator, best known for having created the comic strip ''Onésime''. Biography Albert Chartier was the son of Joseph Chartier, a traveling salesman who ...

'', a strip that would have the longest run of any in Quebec, and which replaced ''

The Captain and the Kids ''The Katzenjammer Kids'' is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years (1914 to 1949). While the adventure strip flourished in the 1930s, papers in Quebec were unwilling to pay local artists more than what they would pay for a syndicated American strip, which made it hard for local artists to survive, due to the

economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...

that made it cheaper for them to buy the American strips. A few commissioned propaganda works and adaptations of "novels of the homeland" appeared. Rodolphe and Odette Vincent, under the banner of Éditions Vincent, produced some adaptations of adventure novels that they managed to sell to some papers, and were collected into albums by Quebec Éditions de l'A. B. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, however, Éditions Vincent found themselves unable to compete with the flood of American comics that returned after trade restrictions were loosened. The longest-running of the adventure strips was ''Les Aventures de Robert et Roland'' by Roberto Wilson, which debuted in 1956 and lasted until 1965. Paulin Lessard, at the age of sixteen, had his ''Les Deux Petits Nains'' published in '' Le Progrès du Saguenay'' in 1947 and 1948. This was the first

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

BDQ, about two brothers who were only a few centimetres tall, but were endowed with enormous strength, and met with people of other minuscule races.

Post-war era

The end of

brought with it a loosening in trade restrictions with the US, and American comics came flooding into the province. Whereas in English Canada this had meant the death toll for the local industry, in Quebec local production was paradoxically stimulated by the influx of foreign material. At the height of the " Great Darkness", a time of conservative government policies mixed with close government ties with the Catholic Church, the violence in many American comics at the time led to a belief that they promoted

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...

, and as it had in English Canada and the US, the belief prompted the authorities and concerned parents to crack down on comics. Gérard Tessier, with the support of Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger, published ''Face à l'imprimé obscène'' in 1955, in the vein of

Fredric Wertham Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German-American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafargue ...

's '' Seduction of the Innocent''. Catholic comics reached their highest point at this time. The ''Centrale de la Jeunesse étudiante catholique'' ("The Centre for Young Catholic Students") put out the biweekly ''François'' beginning in 1943, printing mostly humorous strips. It was joined by ''Claire'' in 1957, the girls' version of ''François'', which was almost identical in content. '' Hérauts'' began in 1944, at first printing translations of American strips from the religious '' Timeless Topix''. The publication, which had a circulation of 100,000, had a mission to battle the "bad" American comics, and was distributed in schools starting in 1947, which resulted in fewer comics being included in its pages. ''Hérauts'' was also the first BDQ to be exported to the European market, although only briefly. By the mid-1950s, ''Hérauts'' was publishing local comics by the likes of Gabriel de Beney and Maurice Petitdidier. Almost all the strips from ''Hérauts'', Québécois and American, were reprinted in comics albums during this time, and they also launched a younger version called '' Le Petit Hérauts'' in 1958, in which Petitdidier's '' Fanchon et Jean-Lou'' was particularly popular. BDQ of this period flourished only between 1955 and 1960. After this time, the Catholic magazines once again took to reprinting American comics, and the market was flooded with glossy, full-colour Franco-Belgian comics magazines like ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

'', '' Spirou'', ''Vaillant'', '' Pif'', and '' Pilote''. By the mid-1960s, the Catholic publications were gone.

Spring of BDQ

The revolutionary 1960s and the Quiet Revolution in Quebec saw new vigour in BDQ. The so-called ''printemps de la BD québécoise'' ("Spring of Quebec comics") is said to have begun in 1968 with the creation of the group Chiendent, who published in '' La Presse'' and '' Dimanche-Magazine''. Jacques Hurtubise (

Zyx ZYX or Zyx may refer to: * Zyx, a region in the North Caucasus inhabited by the Zygii * Zyx (cartoonist) (1950–2015), French-Canadian cartoonist * ZyX (company), a Japanese company that makes erotic video games * ZYX (gene), a gene that encod ...

Réal Godbout Réal Godbout is a Quebec writer and comic book illustrator, best known for his ''Michel Risque'' and ''Red Ketchup'' series which he co-created with his long-time friend Pierre Fournier. Biography In the 70's, Godbout published his comic strips i ...

, Gilles Thibault ("Tibo"), and Jacques Boivin were particularly notable cartoonists, and publications appeared with names like ''Ma®de in Québec'', '' L'Hydrocéphale illustré'', '' La Pulpe'', '' B.D.'', and '' L'Écran''. The comics no longer focused on younger audiences, instead seeking confrontation or experimenting with graphics. The first modern Quebec comic book is said to be ''Oror 70 (Celle qui en a marre tire)'' by André Philibert, which dealt with countercultural topics like what were being seen in the

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

of Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton. During the 1970s, BDQ were sometimes called "BDK", ''bande dessinée kébécoise''. Numerous short-lived, small press titles popped up here and there throughout the province. The artists who made them set out to challenge society, and the comics abounded in taboos, like sex and drugs. Lack of distribution, irregular publishing scales, and a relatively small market led eventually to the demise of these publications. Albums, on the other hand, had become incredibly popular, and large European publishers began to open Quebec divisions to deal with the demand for titles like ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...

'', ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

'' and ''

Blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

''. Quebec publishers scrambled to get in on the boom, and published a number of albums, many based on TV characters, some aimed at adults. This period saw an increased interest in Quebec of local comics, and a number of events were first held: the Salon international de la caricature de Montréal added a comic strip section to their annual exhibit in 1971; ''Festival de la bande dessinée de Montréal'' ("Festival of Comics of Montreal") was held for four years starting in 1975 at the University of Montreal; and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal mounted its first major retrospective of Quebec comics, presented at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France. Richard Langlois developed a course called "Bande dessinée et figuration narrative" in Sherbrooke that was offered in post-secondary schools throughout the province, which sparked a number of other practical and theoretical courses to be offered in colleges and universities.In Canada, the words "university" and "college" have different meanings—both are post-secondary institutions, but, in general, a "university" is a school which grant degrees, while a "college" is a vocational school. See Education in Canada#Post-secondary education. An issue of the literary journal ''La Barre du Jour'' dedicated an entire 260-page issue to Quebec comics, and certain arts and sociological magazines ran articles on the subject, as well as some popular newspapers and periodicals. A fanzine called ''B.D.K.'', published by Michel Ouellette and dedicated exclusively to Quebec comics, ran for three years beginning in 1975. Increasingly over this period, comics became increasingly deeply analyzed, and began to be taken seriously and scholarly as an artform. In 1979, with the help of an $80,000 grant from the ''ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec'' ("Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs"), Jacques Hurtubise, Pierre Huet and Hélène Fleury would establish the long-lived, satirical '' Croc'' ("Fang" in French), which published many leading talents of the era, many of whom were able to launch their careers through the magazine's help. ''Croc'' begat another magazine, ''Titanic'', dedicated entirely to comics, and in 1987, ''

Safarir ''Safarir'' is a defunct Canadian French-language humour magazine. The name is derived from "safari" and French "ça fait rire", "it makes you laugh". It was in circulation between 1987 and 2016 History and profile ''Safarir'' was established in ...

'' (a pun, which combines "safari" with ''ça fait rire''—"it makes you laugh"), a '' Mad''-like publication patterned after the French '' Hara-Kiri'', rose in competition with ''Croc'', eventually putting the older magazine out of business. By the mid-1980s, a number of professional comics publishers began to flourish. Adult and Underground comics of the time began to multiply, with notable titles including ''Cocktail'', ''Tchiize! présente'', ''Tchiize! bis'', and the fanzine ''Iceberg'' appearing in the early 1980s, giving an outlet to young cartoonists like Henriette Valium and Julie Doucet. Fanzines, which had earlier focused on

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es, now began to feature

instead.

Since the 1990s

In Montreal in the 1980s and 1990s, in parallel to mainstream humour magazines, a healthy underground scene developed, and self-published fanzines proliferated. Julie Doucet, Henriette Valium, Luc Giard,

Éric Thériault Éric Thériault (born 1967 in Trois-Rivières, Quebec) is a Canadian comics artist, writer, illustrator and blogger living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Biography Éric Thériault began as a teenager publishing comics in a fanzine called '' ...

Gavin McInnes Gavin Miles McInnes (; born 17 July 1970) is a Canadian writer, podcaster and far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of '' Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes'', on the subscription-based streaming media platform C ...

and Siris were among the names that were discovered in the small press publications. In the 21st Century, some Québécois cartoonists who have seen success in Canada and abroad are Michel Rabagliati and his semi- autobiographical ''Paul'' series,

and

Delaf Delaf (the pen name of Marc Delafontaine, born October 9, 1973, in Sherbrooke, Quebec), is a '' Québécois'' comics creator and illustrator, notable for his work in ''The Bellybuttons'' (''Les Nombrils''), a comics feature that he co-created wit ...

's ''Les Nombrils'' (''

The Bellybuttons ''The Bellybuttons'' (french: Les Nombrils, ) is a Canadian comics series written by Maryse Dubuc (credited as "Dubuc") and illustrated by her husband, Marc "Delaf" Delafontaine. Dubuc and Delafontaine are based in Sherbrooke, Quebec. History A ...

''), aimed at teenaged girls, and Guy Delisle with various travelogue comics. All of these series have seen English translations. An increasing number of cartoonists also took to online webcomics. Around the turn of the century, the government of Quebec mandated ''La Fondation du 9e art'' ("The

9th Art a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

Foundation") to promote francophone cartoonists in North America. There have also emerged events such as the ''Festival de la bande dessinée francophone de Québec'' in

and la Zone internationale du neuvième art (ZINA).

Publication, promotion and distribution

Comics publications tend to follow the Franco-Belgian model, with books printed as albums with either soft- or hardcovers. When aimed at children, they are usually in full-colour, while comics aimed at adults are often in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

and have softcovers. Traditionally, comics publishing in Quebec has centred in Montreal, Quebec City,

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional count ...

and, since the 1990s, in

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

. Fanzines are also produced throughout the province. There are a number of French-language comics publishers based in Quebec, such as

Éditions Mille-Îles Éditions Mille-Îles is a Canadian French language, French-language publisher of comics founded in 1988. History Mille-Îles began in 1988 with Tristan Demers' ''Gargouille'', a series for children, and the adult comics album ''La Vie qu'on mè ...

La Pastèque La Pastèque is a French Canadian publisher of comics, based in Montréal, Québec. Overview La Pastèque ("The Watermelon" in English) was founded by Martin Brault and Frédéric Gauthier in Montréal, Québec in July 1998, and their first pu ...

Les 400 coups Éditions Les 400 Coups is a French-language publisher of books for children. It was founded in 1995 and is based in Montréal, Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute ...

, Mécanique Générale, and Glénat Québec, the Quebec arm of the

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

-based publisher Glénat. Translations into English of Québécois comics such as Michel Rabagliati's ''Paul'' series have been published by the English-language, Montreal-based Drawn & Quarterly, and Conundrum Press, also based in Montreal, has put much of its focus on publishing translations of Quebec comics. The ''Prix Bédélys'' ("Bédélys Prize") has been awarded to French language comics since 2000. It comes with

bursaries A bursary is a monetary award made by any educational institution or funding authority to individuals or groups. It is usually awarded to enable a student to attend school, university or college when they might not be able to, otherwise. Some awa ...

for the ''Prix Bédélys Québec'' for Best Book from Quebec and the ''Prix Bédélys Fanzine''. The Joe Shuster Awards are open to all Canadian comics in any language, not limited to either French or English, and a number of francophone comics and publishers have won the awards. The

government of Quebec A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

mandated ''La Fondation du 9e art'' ("The

Foundation") to promote francophone cartoonists in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Events such as the '' Festival de la bande dessinée francophone de Québec'' in Quebec City and '' la Zone internationale du neuvième art'' (''ZINA'') celebrate francophone comics in Quebec.

References

Notes

Works cited

* * Bell, John. ''

Invaders from the North ''InVader'' is the fourth album by Finnish glam metal band Reckless Love, released on 4 March 2016 through Spinefarm Records. Track listing All songs written by Olli Herman, Pepe Reckless, and Ikka Wirtanen, unless otherwise noted. Reception Wr ...

: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe''. Toronto:

Dundurn Press Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...

, 2006. * Carpentier, André, et al., ''La Bande dessinée kébécoise'', La barre du jour, 1975

External links

Quebecois Comics
history at Collections Canada

history at Collections Canada
La BD au Québec
to Marc Tessier's history of the Montreal comics since that appeared in ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing re ...

s 2005 Special Edition Comics festivals and conventions in Quebec *
Montréal Comicon
*
Expozine
(website of

Expozine Expozine is an annual small press, zine and comics fair in Montreal, Quebec. It is reported to be Canada's largest zine fair and one of the largest small press fairs in North America attracting some 270 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors each autumn. ...

press fair) *
Festival de la bande dessinée francophone de Québec
*
Otakuthon
{{Animation industry in Canada

Quebec comics Quebec comics (french: bande dessinée québécoise, or BDQ) are French language comics produced primarily in the Canadian province of Quebec, and read both within and outside Canada, particularly in French-speaking Europe. In contrast to Englis ...

Culture of Quebec Canadian comic strips History of Canadian comics