Comic culture: exploring France’s “BD” obsession

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French people love comic books, les bandes dessinées. That means the “BD” industry is booming. Comics books are such an important part of French culture that there are several festivals around the country, including the prestigious Angoulême International Comics Festival. In the past couple of years, the place of women in the comic book world has been in the spotlight. While they count for over half of comic book readers, women remain underrepresented in the industry, though change is underway.
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[@DelightLovesMovies]

I learned to read French from reading Asterix comics.

[@lephilistin]

Great work as usual but it would be nice to talk about other BDs than Tintin and Asterix. Some anglo people seem to think those two are all there is. The last Tintin album was published 40 years ago!!! There are other more contemporary commercial and critical successes that need to be introduced to the world. Anyway, great work, I love to watch these videos.

[@rolanddeschain6089]

Absolutely right. There are treasures from sci-fi to western. From drama to comedy. And a lot of great modern stuff. But for some reason, everyone talks about Tintin and Asterix.

[@jonnybottle]

Carmen Cru, for example :))).

[@levdominikus7415]

@Kyle Miller lucky luke; blake and mortimer; valerian and veronique; spirou and fantasio

[@markallenfarris6958]

Can anyone tell me about Transformers #4 printed in french by the Heritage Group (1984) I have a copy, and it seems to be the only copy in the world!

[@Perktube1]

Flo's english is wonderful. 😉

[@Mark-fv8vt]

six comic books or six graphic novels?

[@keirastarss]

HI FRENCH CLASS XD

[@kiiggyy3629]

Hi keira! 😂

[@stephanobarbosa5805]

Majority of french language comics famous are Belgian

[@vincentproninvasionradio7532]

used to be true 30 years ago maybe, not really today

[@MrJujuriri]

nope... blueberry, asterix, thorgal, la quête de l'oiseau du temps, peter pan, les vieux fourneaux, are made by french artists/writers and they have massive success... 90% of this industry is made by french authors...

[@stephanobarbosa5805]

@@MrJujuriri blueberry ... belgian & frencha creators.... thorgal... belgian & polish-belgian creators! ........

[@stephanobarbosa5805]

@@vincentproninvasionradio7532 Belgium fell "violently" in this art ?? wow

[@stephanobarbosa5805]

@@MrJujuriri Most European comics famous worldwide are Belgian. Tintin, Smurfs, Marsupilami etc.

[@Assuntosimportantes]

Not every reader is a writer, im not one

[@kiiggyy3629]

Hi people in my french class lol :)

[@tanymastey]

hi lol i think u go to my school

[@tanymastey]

yun

[@hail_kraidoz1073]

hello people in my french class

[@wednesday567]

awards don't work like that, if everyone is represented, then what is the point of an award??

[@lexieellis1997]

Olivia

[@inayahzaman9415]

:) hi

[@lexieellis1997]

Inayahhhhhhhh

[@Rick_Cleland]

I love me some Flo.

[@stephanobarbosa5805]

🇧🇪 king of 🇪🇺 comics

[@hetplays05]

🧐

[@awesomewill1882]

hi french class XD

[@Gible18]

i luv

[@22grena]

Asterix wasn't French

[@tlotpwist3417]

Goscinny and Uderzo are both french

[@Evan.Arapis]

@@tlotpwist3417 Goscinny was Belgian and Uderzo had Italian heritage..

[@kamandi1362]

@@Evan.Arapis both Goscinny and Uderzo were born in France.

[@vampazilla2622]

Listen up you DING DONG reporters in this video. It's not new that the French love to read comics (cartoons, etc.) France is the 3rd largest nation that love this Ninth Art. (Japan and the United States take the lead.) BTW, the U.S. is No.1 with comic book consumption.

[@Evan.Arapis]

You Americans are ONLY obsessed with super-heroes so I wouldn't count you as comic book readers/aficionados, France, Belgium, Italy have sense of culture and quality and they really acknowledge comic books as The Ninth Art..

[@MrJujuriri]

48 millions french/belgian comic books are sold each year in France... for a total amount of 555 millions euros... the industry represents also 5500 NEW BOOKS EACH YEAR, too... It's a HUGE industry there, who compete with Japan and US comic books industries !!!

[@jaspermcminnis5538]

@@Evan.Arapis Ninja Turtles, Sin City, The Last Ronin, 300, Archie, Soloman Kane, The Walking Dead, Peanuts, American Flagg, Cyberfrog, and Crossgen comics. Just to name a few American comics that aren't in the superhero genre.

[@Evan.Arapis]

@@jaspermcminnis5538 So what ?? The vast majority of American readers are DC/Marvel maniacs and they dont have a clue who Asterix is. I for one love Sin City, Hellboy, Dynamite comics, The Boys comics, 300.. Europeans are superhero readers as well mostly due to the movies.. And I adore Italian Disney comics from the seventies and eighties era..

[@latengocomoburro]

4:52 WFT is she dressed as? an amish?

[@clincpb8903]

A dress inspired by Coco Chanel not by the Amish, you ignorant !

[@1LSWilliam]

In one of the mist liberated societies on earth, France, women were never "cursed," and, if women have been failing to perform in the comic book universe it can only reflect on their as-yet lack if demonstrable talent.

[@reginaldforthright805]

Yes and there are quite a few extremely successful female mangakas - rumiko takahashi and hiromu arakawa for instance. The lack of French women is a bit puzzling. I think the explanation may reflect the overall decline of BD quality. In that the classic era of BDs was 50 + years ago, so really no one’s doing that much great work now. Alex Alice and Lauffray are pretty but not much substance or character.

[@lordclaret5075]

This was quite interesting until it lapsed into ham-fisted socio-political messaging.

[@flitsertheo]

As soon as they started that feminist point of view. Knowing how to draw BDs is a talent. And if that talent is divided as 80% men and 20% women then there is nothing you can do about it.

[@lordclaret5075]

@@flitsertheo Precisely. They have deluded themselves into thinking outcomes should be equalised.

[@alexxx7972]

hello people in my french class

[@ihateamyyybabyyy863]

your mum