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Webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...
s in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
are usually referred to as either blog BD (comic strip
blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
s) or BD numérique (digital comic strips). Early webcomics in the late 1990s and early 2000s primarily took on the form of personal blogs, where amateur artists told stories through their drawings. The medium rose in popularity in economic viability in the country in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The
Turbomedia Webcomics in France are usually referred to as either blog BD (comic strip blogs) or BD numérique (digital comic strips). Early webcomics in the late 1990s and early 2000s primarily took on the form of personal blogs, where amateur artists told st ...
format, where a webcomic is presented more alike a
slideshow A slide show, or slideshow, is a presentation of a series of still images ( slides) on a projection screen or electronic display device, typically in a prearranged sequence. The changes may be automatic and at regular intervals or they may be ...
, was popularized in France in the early 2010s.


History

The distribution of digital comics (BD numérique) in France dates back to 1997, when "interactive comics", a hybrid of
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
and
animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
, were circulated on
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
s. Comic blogs (blog BD) started to appear on the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...
as it gained traction in the late 1990s and early 2000s, generally offering strips and short stories. French webcomics were primarily published on personal blogs, as artists tell stories of their daily lives by putting them in images. For a long time, the blog BD primarily served as a resume for cartoonists. In the mid 2000s, blog BDs started to attract larger and more loyal readerships. In 2008, the "Révélation Blog" prize was established at the
Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF; ) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lucca Comics & Games and the Comiket of Japan. It has occur ...
, which awards popular blog BD with publishing deals.


Economy

Blogger Gilo described the pre-publishing of comics online, the online sale of digital comics, and
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
as a wide variety of profitable models used in French webcomics. "Paper albums remain unavoidable," he said in an interview with ''
Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
'' in 2011, "and that will last another 5 or 10 years. But little by little, real economic models unique to the digital medium appear." The same year, ''
Mediapart ''Mediapart'' () is an independent nonprofit French Investigative journalism, investigative online newspaper created in 2008 by Edwy Plenel, former editor-in-chief of . It is published in French language, French, English language, English, and ...
'' reported that French webcomics take on a much smaller portion of its local comics market than Japanese and American webcomics do. The primary economic model for blog BD is to release the work free of charge with the hope of signing a publishing contract. For instance, the 2012 success of
Turbomedia Webcomics in France are usually referred to as either blog BD (comic strip blogs) or BD numérique (digital comic strips). Early webcomics in the late 1990s and early 2000s primarily took on the form of personal blogs, where amateur artists told st ...
webcomic ''
MediaEntity ''MediaEntity'' is a Turbomedia webcomic created by Emilie Tarascou and Simon Kansara since 2012. The webcomic follows the story of a young man whose social media account suddenly starts generating compromising messages. It features a large amou ...
'' led to a publishing deal with Delcourt. Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding are the main driver for various webcomic projects as well: services such as
MyMajorCompany MyMajorCompany is a crowdfunding platform in Europe. Company history Since 2007, MyMajorCompany has been an independent record label. In hard times for the music industry, its co-funders began enrolling internet users in financing young artis ...
, Sandawe, and Manalosanctis allow readers to directly finance or even edit their favorite blog BD. successfully implemented a
subscription business model The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...
for digital comic book series ' in 2010. Drawing in over a hundred collaborators to work on the overarching narrative, Cadène drew inspiration from the "golden age of magazines" (characterized by ''
Pilote ''Pilote'' (), for a while subtitled ''the magazine of Asterix and Obelix'' (French: ''Le Journal D’Astérix et D’Obélix'' ) was a French comics magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major Franco-Belgian comics, French ...
'', ''
Le Journal de Spirou ''Spirou'' () is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company since April 21, 1938. It is an anthology magazine with new features appearing regularly, containing a mix of short humor strips and serialized features, of which ...
'', and ''
Le journal de Tintin ''Tintin'' (; ) was a weekly Belgian comics magazine of the second half of the 20th century. Subtitled ''"The Magazine for the Youth from 7 to 77"'', it was one of the major publications of the Franco-Belgian comics scene and published such no ...
'') to create a successful subscription model. Several magazines were inspired in turn by Cadène's success, resulting in hybrid blog BD projects such as ''Professor Cyclopse'' and '.


Licensed BD numérique

In January 2017, Gilles Retier of ''l'Association des Critiques et journalistes de Bande Dessinée'' (ACBD) stated that licensed BD numérique still weren't able to attract a large enough audience. The economic model for BD numérique is still unclear: the market for published BD numérique is bound to a "symbolic figure of 1%" compared to comic books and strips, and larger publishers mainly stick to their digital platforms in order to not "abandon" this market to companies like
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
. Legal digitalization of traditional comic books did not escalate
piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...
significantly. In 2010, the platform Izneo was launched by several large French comics publishers, in order to make comic books available through the Internet. Authors expressed concerns for a decline of revenue because of such digital publications, but in reality, illegal downloading of BD numérique is very uncommon. Julien Falgas of ''
The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...
'' said that "this lack of interest in the illegal offer, while the legal offer does not take off either, is hardly encouraging for the economic future of cartoon authors if they fail to acclimate in the digital age."


Turbomedia

The term Turbomedia has come in use to describe blog BD where the reader needs to actively participate to read the work. Webcartoonist
Balak Balak son of Zippor ( ''Bālāq'') was a king of Moab described in the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible, where his dealings with the prophet and sorcerer Balaam are recounted. Balak tried to engage Balaam the son of Beor for the purpose of c ...
launched a personal initiative to exploit the Web as a medium in 2009, and created a company and collective for Turbomedia webcomics in 2014. Balak described Turbomedia as a "grammar for digital comics." Turbomedia may be defined very broadly as "all a narrative in pictures on Internet on which the reader controls the speed of reading." In Turbomedia, a reader generally views only one panel at a time, but to keep it from being a simple
slide show A slide show, or slideshow, is a presentation of a series of still images ( slides) on a projection screen or electronic display device, typically in a prearranged sequence. The changes may be automatic and at regular intervals or they may b ...
, the author may use animation and effects to interact with the reader. In Turbomedia, the reader is "the master of their own rhythm," as the reader is the one who decides whether to move on or not. Hence, animation is usually short and to the point, or sometimes loops as a GIF image. According to ''BDZ Magazine'', sound is discouraged in Turbomedia, as it is primarily a visual medium. Balak proposed the Turbomedia format because he found the successful BD numérique up to that point highly disappointing, saying that "they are either scanned boards uploaded online, or gimmicky effects are added to them like sound, voice or movement." Balak resolved to advocate the format after
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
did a presentation on
motion comic A motion comic (or animated comic) is a form of animation combining elements of print comic books and animation. Individual panels are expanded into a full shot while sound effects, voice acting, music, and animation are added to the original artwo ...
s at the 2009
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 ...
.
Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...
became the software of choice to create Turbomedia works, though Balak noted that even PowerPoint would be an option for Turbomedia-creators. Blogger Gilo stated that "Balak himself reinvented a whole toolbox" to express aspects of comics such as framing and ''
mise-en-scène (; or "what is put into the scene") is the stage design and arrangement of actors in scenes for a theatre or film production, both in the visual arts through storyboarding, visual themes, and cinematography and in narrative-storytelling through ...
'', saying that he fights against the artificiality of traditional comics. Gilo believes Turbomedia needs a strong community of active readers, because such blog BD can never see a print release. American cartoonist
Joe Quesada Joseph Quesada (; born January 12, 1962'' Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; page 107) is an American comic book artist, writer, editor, and television producer. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, ...
stated that Balak "crystalized ... the future of digital comics," and described his vision of Turbomedia "essentially an animatic, but what makes it a comic is that the reader controls the timing in the same way that they control the turn of the page." In contrast,
Casterman Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, 90 kilometres southwest of the centre of Brussels, Belgium. History The company was founded in 1780 by Don ...
-editor Didier Borg created a blog BD service
Delitoon Delitoon is a French webtoon service established by Didier Borg in 2011. Initially solely a Casterman product, Delitoon has since been partly acquired by Daou Technology Inc. and has partnered with Sina Weibo. Delitoon offers a large variety of bot ...
in 2011 that implements the infinitely-scrolling layout of South-Korean
webtoons Webtoons () are a type of episodic digital comics that originated in South Korea usually meant to be read on smartphones. While webtoons were mostly unknown outside of South Korea during their inception, there has been a surge in popularity int ...
.


We Do BD

In 2005, an annual blog BD-focused
festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...
was co-created by Yannick Lejeune, titled Festiblog. The festival started out small, taking place outdoors and attracting a few BD blog enthusiasts. The event grew in size over the years. In 2015, Festiblog was renamed to "We Do BD" in order to include all BD numérique, not just blogs.


References

{{Webcomics