Comic strip
Comics: a literary genre we love from 5 to 77 years old
There is no library or bookstore without a comic strip. Each visitor will recognize him from far away thanks to the DB dimensions, a 24x32 format that allows bands, vignettes and bubbles to flourish throughout the pages.
Comics are a rich genre with a long history who has lived through the ages by evolving with them, by renewing its aesthetics and by diversifying the terms it approaches.
Definition, history and evolution of comics
BD is a genre whose beginnings are complex to define. Telling stories in drawing, using the icon, already dates back to hieroglyphics or even prehistory and even seems to predate the writing itself. Despite these hardly identifiable contours, "The Story of Mr Jabot", of Switzerland Rodolphe Topffer, is known as the first comic book.
A comic book published in 1833 that did not yet have the name. At that time, it was rather called "Stories in Prints".
200 years later, comics are a popular literary genre that brings together simple amateurs and collectors.
Asterix, Titeuf, Dragon Ball for the manga or Valerian for the comics, these books have become true institutions that have inspired cinema and made millions of followers around the world. The genre so arouses passions that there is even a comic book argus. Some comics or collectibles may be sold fortunes and their odds exceed hundreds or even thousands of euros.
World-famous comics and thousands of stories
4000 new albums of comic book are published every year. A huge number of new stories are published in multiple French publishing houses.
Many authors are writing these works, authors and authors of all generations who contribute to the spread of the culture of French comics. In France and abroad. They include:
- Asterix by René Groscinny
- The Arab of the future by Riad Sattouf
- The Rabbi’s Cat by Joan Sfarr
- Nickelés feet by Louis Forton
- Troy Lanfeust by Chistophe Arleston
- The Incal by Moebius
Digitalization of the 9th art: Free comics to download and forums to exchange
In thecomic book universe, some sites have become real references. Whether it’s the online comic book, forum or even sites to learn to do a comic book, there is a real digital community that allows to know everything about the ninth art, between bedhese digital and reading evolutions.
To be up to date on the news of the comic and fill its bedside library, it is advisable to take a look at the sites BDgest, comic book planet, the online review ninth art 2.0 or the application of the National Library of France BDnF.
Year of the comic: intensification of public policy to encourage this popular register.
In January 2019, Riester announced the intensification of public policy in favour of comics. The announcement that the Ministry of Culture was making at the 46th edition of the Angoulême comic strip festival continued with the launch of a year 2020 under the sign of comics. A special year extended to June 2021 following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Large institutions to host exhibitions and events
For "BD 20 21", the Minister of Culture has joined National Book Centre (CNL) and to the Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l'image (CIBDI) to organize exhibitions, conferences, meetings and events around the comic book, its authors and its publishers.
Since 2020, Angoulême, the world capital of comics according to UNESCO, is the heart of this special year.
The city of the southwest organizes in its various cultural places many activities to discover or deepen its comic book culture.
A year to launch a new public policy for comics
Two years before the launch of thecomic book year, François Nyssen confided to Pierre Lungheretti a mission of reflection on the national policy in favor of comics. The Director of the International City of Comics and the Image of Angoulême responded with a report of 54 proposals.
At the launch of "BD 2020", the Ministry of Culture promised to work on these recommendations.
A commitment honoured with among others:
- a national order for 12 prints between 60 x 80 cm and 130 x 90 cm
- the launch of a residence grantcomic book writers in school.
- the operation "All of France draws"
We can also note the launch of #culturecheznous, a digital platform gathering an infinite collection around comics, architecture, publishing, video games...
The site launched during the lockdown gives everyone access to thousands of cultural references.
As far as comics are concerned, there are workshops for children, digitized collections and exhibitions. There is something for all ages and tastes!
Discover the site #culturecheznous
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