2000AD in France?

[moldovangerbil]

Hi, posting this here as I don't seem to have rights to post new topics in 'Suggestions'.

I was recently on holiday in France and noticed that graphic novels and comics are absolutely massive over there.  Go into any bookshop and they will have a huge section devoted to all kinds of them.  There are also loads of shops dedicated to them.  As an example, walking round Lyon, we came across 3 dedicated graphic novel/comic shops in the space of a half hour walk in a relatively small area of the town.  It seems to be much, much bigger over there than it is here.

A lot of the stuff they sell seems to be French language stuff, but I also saw quite a lot of Marvel, DC and Walking Dead stuff.  What I didn't see was any 2000AD or Judge Dredd material.  Given the size of the market, it seems to me that there must be a gap to be exploited there.  Although I noticed a fair bit of sci-fi in the French language stuff, none of it looked to be a patch on Tharg and his droids' regular output.

Has there ever been a serious attempt to get into any foreign language markets?  Would it be worth a go or would the translation costs just make it prohibitive?

[The Adventurer]

I thought Pat Mills/Clint Langley ABC Warriors/Slain was pretty much tailor-made for the mainland Europe market? You didn't see any of those collection hard covers?

[moldovangerbil]

Nope.  Not a sausage.

[IronGraham]

i think there are spanish collections of the Judge Dredd case files not sure what other countries have them

[Frank]

Les Livres du Criminalité are an ongoing concern en Français. Monsieur Vark explique ici:

[TordelBack]

Zut alors, who wouldn't buy that beauty!   

[vark]

Zut alors, who wouldn't buy that beauty!

Yes indeed! Indeed as this fourth volume is the last attempt of the French editor (Jean-Luc Istin who has a nice FB profile picture https://www.facebook.com/jeanluc.istin?fref=ts) to publish CCF (in other words, if that one doesn't sell better than the previous 3 the collection will stop).

And Sauchie, in France too they are called "Complete Case Files" (Les livres du Criminalité ??  )

[moldovangerbil]

Yes indeed! Indeed as this fourth volume is the last attempt of the French editor (Jean-Luc Istin who has a nice FB profile picture https://www.facebook.com/jeanluc.istin?fref=ts) to publish CCF (in other words, if that one doesn't sell better than the previous 3 the collection will stop).

It's great that they're trying to sell them then, but from what I saw they can't have a very high profile over there.  Any idea why the French market hasn't taken to JD and 2000AD in general?

[vark]

If there's a gap for 2000ad's stuff, it is very, very narrow as the French market suffers from constant overproduction (don't know if the word exists in English language): 6000 hardcover books per year (not conting the newsstand market).

Jean-Luc Istin at Soleil edition (a big editor) has also tried to (re)published the ABC Warriors with the Volgan War arc, but had to stop at the third volume.
The small editor Nickel edition that produces Requiem Vampire Knight is currently (re)publishing Sláine, both recent Langley's stories and Rebellion reprint, but it's been ages since the last volume has been issued (almost 2 years).

[Spikes]

Great looking reprints, and handy to re-read Vark's original thread again;

Monsieur Vark explique ici:

So has sales been kinda modest for these Vark?

EDIT: Ah, i see youve largely answered this question in the post above.

[Frank]

Sauchie, in France too they are called "Complete Case Files" (Les livres du Criminalité ??  )

Don't knock my hilarious Hobson-Jobson Franglais, man (i). We've only got your word you're actually wearing a black polo neck sweater and smoking Gauloises by the banks of La Seine anyway; prove it by telling us whether Pat Mills's anecdotal evidence that European collections of Slaine sell by the bucket load on the continent has any basis in truth or not.



(i) I've just run 'The Crime Files' through google translate; it's the very prosaic and not French enough by half 'les dossiers de criminalité'. I like my cod French version better.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

The bottom right hand side of that helmet, as we look at it, seems to be bent outwards slightly!

[vark]

Sauchie, in France too they are called "Complete Case Files" (Les livres du Criminalité ??  )

Don't knock my hilarious Hobson-Jobson Franglais, man (i). We've only got your word you're actually wearing a black polo neck sweater and smoking Gauloises by the banks of La Seine anyway; prove it by telling us whether Pat Mills's anecdotal evidence that European collections of Slaine sell by the bucket load on the continent has any basis in truth or not.

(i) I've just run 'The Crime Files' through google translate; it's the very prosaic and not French enough by half 'les dossiers de criminalité'. I like my cod French version better.

Thing is I kind of like it too! And fact is I wouldn't know how to translate it properly myself (toutes les enquêtes?  )

Regarding Sláine I think this is indeed a good seller in Europe as there are at least Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French and German editions, and for the later it is quite a challenge as the comics market in German speaking language seems to be very very small. In France there is currently a pause regarding the publication of Sláine because the editor probably knows some financial difficulties at the moment. Requiem is their major source of income to help finance other publications. For example this year they have published only one book, kind of related to Requiem as it's an Olivier Ledroit's art book.

[IronGraham]

Sharp eye there CF

[I, Cosh]

It's a shame these don't seem to be selling well. The original covers have been cracking and I know the contents are good.

Can't speak for France but there's a lovely comic shop over here in Basel. Light, airy and spacious with helpful, attractive, multi-lingual staff. I don't think they sell single issues at all and they have one, comparatively small, wall of standard Yankee comics (which includes a couple of Case Files and one or two other Thargian wares) and a similar sized section of English language indie stuff.

The bulk of the shop (excluding the downstairs gallery/ art shop) is filled with row upon row of  European albums in French, German and Italian. There's not a Slaine to be seen anywhere, nor even a Claudia or Requiem. On the other hand, I was expecting there to be loads of Corto Maltese and I haven't seen many of those either.