Cinebook, Publisher of the best-selling European comic books for all ages followed by Into the enriching wonders of the 9th Art by Paul Gravett
Cinebook, Publisher of the best-selling European comic books for all ages
For many English-speaking readers, knowledge of European comic books is limited to the popular characters Tintin and Asterix.
Lucky Luke, Iznogoud, Blake & Mortimer, Thorgal, Largo Winch, Spirou & Fantasio, Billy & Buddy, Yakari, the Bluecoats, Yoko Tsuno, Buck Danny, Cedric . . . These European comic book characters, already boasting more than 300 million copies sold, are featured stars in Cinebook’s catalogue.
Since the end of 2005, Cinebook has worked to become the premier publisher of the Franco-Belgian Ninth Art in English in markets dominated by American superhero comics and Japanese manga.
In 2008, almost half of Cinebook’s album sales were in Europe (46%) and one-third in North America (31%). Cinebook, which is present throughout the world, also sells in the South Sea Islands (10%), Asia (10%) and Africa/the Middle East (3%).
All in all, Cinebook will publish 38 new titles in 2009—compared with eight, the number of books the company published in 2005, our first year of operations.
Cinebook selects series and individual titles based on a number of factors in order to please a wide range of readers—factors such as geographic settings, protagonists’ age and gender, historic themes, genres, etc. After having built a wide base of child-friendly series, we introduced a new line in 2008: a number of graphic-novel series targeting ages 15 and up.
The comic book and its close relative, the graphic novel, are a highly respected art form in France, Belgium and the rest of Western Europe—so well regarded that Cinebook takes our tagline (“The 9th Art Publisher”) from the classification of comic books as No. 9 on the list of plastic arts in Europe (Plastic Art list: 1st-Architecture; 2nd-Painting; 3rd-Sculpture; 4th-Engraving; 5th-Drawing; 6th-Photo; 7th-Cinema; 8th-Television; 9th-Comic books), In fact, one of every eight books sold in France is a comic book.
Less than four years ago, Cinebook owner Olivier Cadic pooled his earnings from the sale of his electronics-related companies in France and England, started up Cinebook, and published eight popular Franco-Belgian comic books in English. Since 2005, Cinebook has been steadily purchasing rights to publish top-selling Franco-Belgian authors and series in English:
René Goscinny, co-creator and writer of the “Asterix” series, has sold 500 million books. His Lucky Luke, a cowboy character dubbed “the man who shoots faster than his own shadow” and created with Morris, has sold over 250 million copies in multiple languages and is popular with all ages.
Along with Lucky Luke, Cinebook released in 2008 Goscinny’s hilarious character the grand vizier “Iznogoud,” who wants to become Caliph instead of the Caliph in old Baghdad.
Edgar P. Jacobs (“Blake & Mortimer”) and Roger Leloup (“Yoko Tsuno”), both of whom worked with Hergé (the father of “Tintin”), have sold, respectively, 12 million and six million copies.
Jean Van Hamme is one of Belgium’s most successful contemporary novelists and comic writers. “Thorgal,” his exciting fantasy series with Rosinski, and “Largo Winch” with Francq (which was adapted to the big screen in 2008) have sold, respectively, 13 million and 10 million copies. At the end of 2008, Cinebook added “Lady S,” Van Hamme’s espionage series with Aymond, and “The Francis Blake Affair” with Benoit, based on the “Blake & Mortimer” characters of E. P. Jacobs.
Raoul Cauvin excels in humorous adventures and visual gags for all ages. His “Bluecoats” with Lambil, starring two soldiers in the U.S. Union Army during the Civil War, and his “Cedric” with Laudec, about an eight-year-old boy, have sold, respectively, more than 15 million and eight million copies.
Stephen Desberg, an American living in Belgium, is one of the most successful new-generation comic writers for young adults (15 and older) and adults. His “IR$” series with Vrancken stars a specialist from a little-known branch of the Internal Revenue Service. “The Scorpion” with Marini is a cape-and-sword thriller series set in the mysterious shadows of the 18th century Vatican. Each series has sold more than one million copies.
Francis Bergèse, pilot and aviation enthusiast, is the most reputable illustrator in the area of aviation art was chosen to be in charge of the new “Buck Danny” adventures. This series, the creation of Georges Troisfontaines, Victor Hubinon and Jean-Michel Charlier, has sold 15 million copies. Bergèse also adapted into graphic novels some of the “Biggles” novels of Captain W.E. Johns.
Leo, creator of “The Worlds of Aldebaran,” takes the theme of the colonisation of space further than most sci-fi comics. His series has sold more than one million copies.
These titles are being joined in 2009 by two legendary series of the ninth art. “Billy and Buddy,” about a little boy and his canine best friend, and “Spirou and Fantasio” (created in 1938) have respectively sold 25 million and 20 million copies. Cinebook is also introducing the young, beautiful and… naughty “Bellybuttons” coming from Canada. “Orbital” and “The Chimpanzee Complex” enrich our science fiction section. “Pandora’s Box” and “Insiders” are added to the lineup for ages 15 and up.
Thank you for sharing with us a passion for the numerous talents of the Ninth Art!
Into the enriching wonders of the 9th Art! by Paul Gravett
Asterix and Tintin are hugely popular heroes around the world. So if you love all their stories, what others are there to read? Luckily, there is much, much more waiting for you to discover in French and Belgian comics than potion-enhanced, ancient Gauls and quiffed, big-hearted boy reporters, and Cinebook is carefully selecting and translating some of the finest bestsellers for readers of every age to enjoy in English.
You'll find René Goscinny, the original writer and co-creator of Asterix, showing all his genius for comedy again with the cartoonist Morris on Lucky Luke, the coolest, fastest-shooting cowboy in a very wild and crazy West. And you'll soon see why Hergé picked Edgar P. Jacobs to be his first great collaborator on Tintin, when you step into Jacobs's gripping, meticulously drawn thrillers starring Blake and Mortimer, as dynamic a British detective duo as Holmes and Watson.
Another equally British investigator is the moustached, Bristol-born Colonel Clifton, who finds himself embroiled in cases as zany as they are exciting. And welcome back to Britain's most celebrated fictional fighter pilot, Biggles, who takes to the air in a thoroughly researched account of the Falklands War. Toad, Ratty, Badger and Mole from Kenneth Grahame’s perennial Wind in the Willows also return in a faithful, beautifully drawn four-volume adaptation.
Aficionados of sweeping Tolkienesque fantasy will be swept up in the powerful epic of Thorgal, while the human saga of real French history comes to exquisite life in Queen Margot.
For the young and young-at-heart, Ducoboo's classroom catastrophes are as hilarious as the best in The Beano, while little Yakari's wide-eyed discoveries teach us the lessons of growing-up and living in harmony with nature. Fans of Charmed, Sabrina or W.I.T.C.H. are sure to come under the spell of magical Melusine.
Each Cinebook series can be your ticket to another storyworld that is almost familiar, yet also delightfully unexpected. Like your favourite Tintin and Asterix, these are comics to keep and treasure, to read and re-read again and again. Why wait? Start your voyage into the enriching wonders of the 9th Art today!
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Paul Gravett is the author of Graphic Novels: Stories To Change Your Life, Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics and Great British Comics.
www.paulgravett.com
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