French language comic produced in Quebec
Quebec comics
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Earliest publications
| 19th century
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Publishers
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Publications
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Creators
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Series and characters
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Languages
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Quebec comics
(
French
:
bande dessinee
quebecoise
[b??d
d?.si.ne
ke.be.kwaz]
or
BDQ
) are
French language
comics
produced primarily in the
Canadian province
of
Quebec
, and read both within and outside Canada, particularly in French-speaking Europe.
In contrast to
English language
comics in Canada, which largely follow the American model, Quebec comics are influenced mainly by the trends in
Franco-Belgian comics
. There is little crossover between the French and English comics worlds in Canada.
Overview
[
edit
]
The majority language of Quebec is
French
, and Quebec comics refers to those comics published in French?English-language comics are considered part of the
English
-language part of
Canadian comics
history. The two traditions have little crossover, with the English tradition following mainly American trends, and the French tradition following mainly European ones, especially the
French language
Franco-Belgian
trends. However, newspaper
comic strips
have tended to be French translations of
syndicated
American strips.
In the early 2000s, most comics consumed within Quebec were of European or American origin, with local comics only making up 5% of the total market,
[1]
which had been true since the early 1970s.
[2]
However, several comics of Quebecois origin have found success overseas, like
Michel Rabagliati
's
Paul
series and
Maryse Dubuc
's
Les Nombrils
(
The Bellybuttons
), some of these cartoonists have had success with English translations, as when
Montreal
-based English publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
picked up
Julie Doucet
's
Dirty Plotte
, which won acclaim and awards in the English-speaking comics world.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
Native Quebec comics have had a long up-and-down history, alternating between periods of flourishing and periods languishing under the deluge of foreign comics.
19th century
[
edit
]
Caricatures have appeared in newspapers in Quebec since at least the 18th century. A political poster using
speech balloons
from 1792 has been attested.
[3]
Most were anonymous, but one, titled
"La Menagerie annexionniste"
, by
William Augustus Leggo
was another early francophone use of speech balloons. Later, speech balloons became more common in caricatures and advertising, and humorous and satirical publications proliferated.
[4]
By the end of the century, one could buy compilations of these cartoons and illustrations?the roots of
comic albums
in Quebec. Between 1878 and 1884,
Henri Julien
published two books of political caricatures,
L’album drolatique du journal Le Farceur
.
[4]
In 1900, Morissette published
Petit chien sauvage et savant
,
[5]
and in 1901
Raoul Barre
put out
En roulant ma boule
.
[4]
Following this, the number of cartoonists in newspapers in
Quebec City
and Montreal increased.
[5]
What has been called the first comic strip in Quebec appeared in 1866. The woodcut serial strip was called
Baptiste Pacot
and has been attributed to the sculptor
Jean-Baptiste Cote
. A number of other pantomime or captioned strips appeared throughout the rest of the century. In 1902,
Raoul Barre
drew the captioned eight-panel strip, "Pour un diner de Noel", which was the first known strip to appear in a daily Quebec newspaper.
[4]
Barre created a strip called
Noah's Ark
in 1912 for the
New York
-based
McClure Syndicate
, which he brought to
La Patrie
the next year in French.
[6]
Soon after he moved into
animation
and became an innovative pioneer in the field.
[4]
[6]
Hector Berthelot
was a cartoonist and the publisher of
Le Canard
, where Berthelot started running satirical material signed
Pere Ladebauche
("Father Debauchery") starting in 1878.
[4]
Berthelot would bring Ladebauche with him from newspaper to newspaper,
[4]
and in 1904,
Joseph Charlebois
's comic strip version of
Le Pere Ladebauche
debuted in
La Presse
, a popular strip that would last until 1957.
[5]
Le Canard
published the works of a number of other notable cartoonists, such as Henri Julien, and it was there that the oldest known comic strip using a speech balloon appeared, an unsigned strip printed on 22 September 1883.
[4]
Early 20th century comic strips
[
edit
]
The popular press began to flourish at the turn of the century, and, as photographic reproduction was still in its infancy, the papers hired cartoonists and illustrators to liven up their pages, with the
Montreal Star
employing up to eight artists.
La Patrie
had convinced
Alberic Bourgeois
to give up his job at the
Boston Globe
and create comic strips for them back in Quebec. 1904 saw, in
La Patrie
, the publication of his
Les Aventures de Timothee
(
The Adventures of Timothee
), said to be the first French-language comic to feature
speech balloons
consistently. This began what historian Michel Viau calls "The Golden Age of the BDQ".
[7]
La Presse
, in response to
La Patrie'
s success with
Timothee
, added a weekly children's section, "
La Ruche enfantine
", which included comic strips. Charlebois's
Pere Ladebauche
had begun, and after 43 instalments was taken over by Bourgeois, who continued to create other strips as well for
La Presse
, to which he soon moved and stayed with until his 1955 retirement.
Theophile Busnel
took over
Timothee
and continued it until his sudden death in 1908. It was replaced with a translation of American
Richard F. Outcault
's
Buster Brown
. Soon, other native strips were being replaced with translations of popular American strips, and by 1909, the "Golden Age" that had started in 1904 had come to an end. Native strips didn't disappear entirely, but those that remained lost the distinct flavour of contemporary life in Quebec, and began to imitate the silent films and vaudeville that were inundating popular culture in the province.
[7]
Quebecois cartoonists would unsuccessfully propose a number of strips to compete with the American strips that dominated the Sundays and dailies. The native Quebec presence on those pages would become more dominant after 1940, however, with the introduction of the
War Exchange Conservation Act
, which restricted the import of foreign strips.
[5]
Comic strips disappeared more-or-less from the dailies during
World War I
, and didn't really return until
Arthur Lemay
revived
Timothee
for a number of years starting in 1920. Weekend supplements grew, some to as many as 40 pages, but were filled with translations of American strips, which were well-distributed by the growing syndicates, as well as some strips from France. Some native strips continued to appear, however, and in 1935
Albert Chartier
made his cartooning debut with a strip called
Bouboule
.
[7]
In 1943, he created the comical character
Onesime
, a strip that would have the longest run of any in Quebec, and which replaced
The Captain and the Kids
when it first appeared. It starred a naive and clumsy country person and his plump and authoritarian wife.
[5]
While the adventure strip flourished in the 1930s, papers in Quebec were unwilling to pay local artists more than what they would pay for a syndicated American strip, which made it hard for local artists to survive, due to the
economies of scale
that made it cheaper for them to buy the American strips. A few commissioned propaganda works and adaptations of "novels of the homeland" appeared. Rodolphe and Odette Vincent, under the banner of Editions Vincent, produced some adaptations of adventure novels that they managed to sell to some papers, and were collected into albums by Quebec Editions de l'A. B. After the end of
World War II
, however, Editions Vincent found themselves unable to compete with the flood of American comics that returned after trade restrictions were loosened. The longest-running of the adventure strips was
Les Aventures de Robert et Roland
by
Roberto Wilson
, which debuted in 1956 and lasted until 1965.
[7]
Paulin Lessard
, at the age of sixteen, had his
Les Deux Petits Nains
published in
Le Progres du Saguenay
in 1947 and 1948. This was the first
science fiction
BDQ, about two brothers who were only a few centimetres tall, but were endowed with enormous strength, and met with people of other minuscule races.
[7]
Post-war era
[
edit
]
The end of
World War II
brought with it a loosening in trade restrictions with the US, and American comics came flooding into the province. Whereas in English Canada this had meant the death toll for the local industry, in Quebec local production was paradoxically stimulated by the influx of foreign material. At the height of the "
Great Darkness
", a time of conservative government policies mixed with close government ties with the Catholic Church, the violence in many American comics at the time led to a belief that they promoted
juvenile delinquency
, and as it had in English Canada and the US, the belief prompted the authorities and concerned parents to crack down on comics.
Gerard Tessier
, with the support of Cardinal
Paul-Emile Leger
, published
Face a l'imprime obscene
in 1955, in the vein of
Fredric Wertham
's
Seduction of the Innocent
.
[8]
Catholic comics reached their highest point at this time. The
Centrale de la Jeunesse etudiante catholique
("The Centre for Young Catholic Students") put out the biweekly
Francois
beginning in 1943, printing mostly humorous strips. It was joined by
Claire
in 1957, the girls' version of
Francois
, which was almost identical in content.
Herauts
began in 1944, at first printing translations of American strips from the religious
Timeless Topix
. The publication, which had a circulation of 100,000, had a mission to battle the "bad" American comics, and was distributed in schools starting in 1947, which resulted in fewer comics being included in its pages.
Herauts
was also the first BDQ to be exported to the European market, although only briefly. By the mid-1950s,
Herauts
was publishing local comics by the likes of
Gabriel de Beney
and
Maurice Petitdidier
. Almost all the strips from
Herauts
, Quebecois and American, were reprinted in comics albums during this time, and they also launched a younger version called
Le Petit Herauts
in 1958, in which Petitdidier's
Fanchon et Jean-Lou
was particularly popular.
[8]
[9]
BDQ of this period flourished only between 1955 and 1960. After this time, the Catholic magazines once again took to reprinting American comics, and the market was flooded with glossy, full-colour
Franco-Belgian comics
magazines like
Tintin
,
Spirou
,
Vaillant
,
Pif
, and
Pilote
. By the mid-1960s, the Catholic publications were gone.
[8]
Spring of BDQ
[
edit
]
The revolutionary 1960s and the
Quiet Revolution
in Quebec saw new vigour in BDQ. The so-called
printemps de la BD quebecoise
("Spring of Quebec comics") is said to have begun in 1968 with the creation of the group Chiendent, who published in
La Presse
and
Dimanche-Magazine
. Jacques Hurtubise (
Zyx
),
Real Godbout
,
Gilles Thibault
("Tibo"), and
Jacques Boivin
were particularly notable cartoonists, and publications appeared with names like
Ma®de in Quebec
,
L'Hydrocephale illustre
,
La Pulpe
,
B.D.
, and
L'Ecran
. The comics no longer focused on younger audiences, instead seeking confrontation or experimenting with graphics.
[5]
The first modern Quebec comic book is said to be
Oror 70 (Celle qui en a marre tire)
by
Andre Philibert
, which dealt with countercultural topics like what were being seen in the
underground comix
of
Robert Crumb
and
Gilbert Shelton
.
[10]
During the 1970s, BDQ were sometimes called "BDK",
bande dessinee kebecoise
.
[11]
Numerous short-lived, small press titles popped up here and there throughout the province. The artists who made them set out to challenge society, and the comics abounded in taboos, like sex and drugs. Lack of distribution, irregular publishing scales, and a relatively small market led eventually to the demise of these publications.
Albums
, on the other hand, had become incredibly popular, and large European publishers began to open Quebec divisions to deal with the demand for titles like
The Adventures of Tintin
,
Asterix
and
Blueberry
. Quebec publishers scrambled to get in on the boom, and published a number of albums, many based on TV characters, some aimed at adults.
[10]
This period saw an increased interest in Quebec of local comics, and a number of events were first held: the
Salon international de la caricature de Montreal
added a comic strip section to their annual exhibit in 1971;
Festival de la bande dessinee de Montreal
("Festival of Comics of Montreal") was held for four years starting in 1975 at the
University of Montreal
; and the
Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal
mounted its first major retrospective of Quebec comics, presented at the
Angouleme International Comics Festival
in France. Richard Langlois developed a course called "Bande dessinee et figuration narrative" in Sherbrooke that was offered in post-secondary schools throughout the province, which sparked a number of other practical and theoretical courses to be offered in colleges and universities.
[note 1]
An issue of the literary journal
La Barre du Jour
dedicated an entire 260-page issue to Quebec comics, and certain arts and sociological magazines ran articles on the subject, as well as some popular newspapers and periodicals. A fanzine called
B.D.K.
, published by Michel Ouellette and dedicated exclusively to Quebec comics, ran for three years beginning in 1975. Increasingly over this period, comics became increasingly deeply analyzed, and began to be taken seriously and scholarly as an artform.
[note 2]
[10]
In 1979, with the help of an $80,000 grant from the
ministere des Affaires culturelles du Quebec
("Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs"
[12]
),
[13]
Jacques Hurtubise,
Pierre Huet
and
Helene Fleury
would establish the long-lived, satirical
Croc
("Fang" in French
[2]
), which published many leading talents of the era, many of whom were able to launch their careers through the magazine's help.
[5]
Croc
begat another magazine,
Titanic
, dedicated entirely to comics, and in 1987,
Safarir
(a pun, which combines "safari" with
ca fait rire
?"it makes you laugh"
[2]
), a
Mad
-like publication patterned after the French
Hara-Kiri
, rose in competition with
Croc
,
[5]
eventually putting the older magazine out of business.
[13]
By the mid-1980s, a number of professional comics publishers began to flourish.
[5]
Adult and Underground comics of the time began to multiply, with notable titles including
Cocktail
,
Tchiize! presente
,
Tchiize! bis
, and the fanzine
Iceberg
appearing in the early 1980s, giving an outlet to young cartoonists like
Henriette Valium
and
Julie Doucet
. Fanzines, which had earlier focused on
superheroes
, now began to feature
science fiction
instead.
[13]
Since the 1990s
[
edit
]
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
January 2012
)
|
In Montreal in the 1980s and 1990s, in parallel to mainstream humour magazines, a healthy underground scene developed, and self-published fanzines proliferated.
[5]
Julie Doucet
,
Henriette Valium
,
Luc Giard
,
Eric Theriault
,
Gavin McInnes
and Siris were among the names that were discovered in the small press publications.
In the 21st century, some Quebecois cartoonists who have seen success in Canada and abroad are
Michel Rabagliati
and his semi-
autobiographical
Paul
series,
Maryse Dubuc
and
Delaf
's
Les Nombrils
(
The Bellybuttons
), aimed at teenaged girls, and
Guy Delisle
with various
travelogue
comics. All of these series have seen English translations. An increasing number of cartoonists also took to online
webcomics
.
Around the turn of the century, the government of Quebec mandated
La Fondation du 9e art
("The
9th Art
Foundation") to promote francophone cartoonists in North America. There have also emerged events such as the
Festival de la bande dessinee francophone de Quebec
in
Quebec City
and la Zone internationale du neuvieme art (ZINA).
[5]
Publication, promotion and distribution
[
edit
]
Comics publications tend to follow the
Franco-Belgian
model, with books printed as
albums
with either soft- or hardcovers. When aimed at children, they are usually in full-colour, while comics aimed at adults are often in
black-and-white
and have softcovers.
[1]
Traditionally, comics publishing in Quebec has centred in Montreal, Quebec City,
Sherbrooke
and, since the 1990s, in
Gatineau
. Fanzines are also produced throughout the province.
[14]
There are a number of French-language comics publishers based in Quebec, such as
Editions Mille-Iles
,
La Pasteque
,
Les 400 coups
,
Mecanique Generale
, and Glenat Quebec, the Quebec arm of the
France
-based publisher
Glenat
. Translations into English of Quebecois comics such as
Michel Rabagliati
's
Paul
series have been published by the English-language, Montreal-based
Drawn & Quarterly
, and
Conundrum Press
, also based in Montreal, has put much of its focus on publishing translations of Quebec comics.
[15]
The
Prix Bedelys
("Bedelys Prize") has been awarded to French language comics since 2000. It comes with
bursaries
for the
Prix Bedelys Quebec
for Best Book from Quebec and the
Prix Bedelys Fanzine
.
[16]
The
Joe Shuster Awards
are open to all Canadian comics in any language, not limited to either French or English, and a number of francophone comics and publishers have won the awards.
The
government of Quebec
mandated
La Fondation du 9e art
("The
9th Art
Foundation") to promote francophone cartoonists in
North America
. Events such as the
Festival de la bande dessinee francophone de Quebec
in Quebec City and
la Zone internationale du neuvieme art
(
ZINA
) celebrate francophone comics in Quebec.
[5]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Viau, Michel
(2002-06-24).
"Publishing Comics"
.
Library and Archives Canada
. Retrieved
2012-01-12
.
- ^
a
b
c
Spalding, Eric (1995). Lorimer, Rowland (ed.).
"La bande dessinee au Quebec"
.
Canadian Journal of Communication
.
20
(4).
doi
:
10.22230/cjc.1995v20n4a899
.
ISSN
1499-6642
. Retrieved
2012-01-16
.
- ^
(in French)
Viau, Michel
,
MensuHell
#45, August 2003
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Viau, Michel
(2002-06-24).
"Satirical Newspapers of the 19th Century"
.
Library and Archives Canada
. Retrieved
2012-01-10
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
Swift, William (8 July 2015).
"French Comic Strips"
.
The Canadian Encyclopedia
. Historica Canada.
- ^
a
b
Bell,
Invaders
, page 27
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Viau, Michel
(2002-06-24).
"Newspaper Strips of the 20th Century"
.
Library and Archives Canada
. Retrieved
2012-01-11
.
- ^
a
b
c
Viau, Michel
(2002-06-24).
"Comics During the "Great Darkness"
"
.
Library and Archives Canada
. Retrieved
2012-01-11
.
- ^
(in French)
Salaun, Elise.
Dictionnaire de la Censure au Quebec: Litterature et Cinema
, pages 249?251. Les Editions Fides, 2006.
ISBN
978-2-7621-2636-5
- ^
a
b
c
d
Viau, Michel
(2002-06-24).
"Springtime of the Quebecois Comic Strip"
.
Library and Archives Canada
. Retrieved
2012-01-12
.
- ^
(in French)
Carpentier, Andre, et al.,
La Bande dessinee kebecoise
, La barre du jour, 1975
- ^
Potvin, Gilles (15 December 2013).
"Ministere des Affaires culturelles du Quebec"
.
The Canadian Encyclopedia
.
Historica Canada
.
- ^
a
b
c
Viau, Michel
(2002-06-24).
"Breaking into the Quebec Market"
.
Library and Archives Canada
. Retrieved
2012-01-13
.
- ^
Viau, Michel
(2002-06-24).
"Quebecois Comics"
.
Library and Archives Canada
. Retrieved
2012-01-10
.
- ^
Smith, Kenton (2011-08-19).
"Not just your ordinary cartoons"
.
The Globe and Mail
. Retrieved
2011-01-16
.
- ^
"Les Prix Bedelys: Winners Announced ? Paul 06 x 2, Rapport de Stage, Pico Bogue 03"
. The
Joe Shuster Awards
. 2010-04-20
. Retrieved
2012-01-09
.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
In Canada, the words "university" and "college" have different meanings?both are post-secondary institutions, but, in general, a "university" is a school which grant degrees, while a "college" is a vocational school. See
Education in Canada#Post-secondary education
.
- ^
"Little by little, the original fans gave way to a new generation of more scholarly researchers. Historians, sociologists and semiologists took an interest in the comic strip, as being typical of the 20th century. Encyclopaedic, historical and pedagogic works appeared. The visual grammar and syntax of the comics were scrutinized, analyzed and examined in all their forms."?
Michel Viau
, 2002, writing about the period of 1971?1978
[10]
Works cited
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
In French:
- (in French)
Tessier, Gerard
.
Face a l'imprime obscene
. Plaidoyer en faveur d'une litterature saine
. Montreal: Editions de la Feuille d'erable, 1955
- (in French)
Dubois, B.
Bande dessinee quebecoise : repertoire bibliographique a suivre
. editions D.B.K., Sillery, 1996
- (in French)
Falardeau Mira
.
La Bande dessinee au Quebec
. Boreal, 1994
- (in French)
Falardeau, Mira.
Histoire de la bande dessinee au Quebec
.
VLB editeur
, collection Etudes quebecoises, Montreal, 2008
- (in French)
Giguere, M.
La bande dessinee, populaire et meconnue
, Cahier de reference du programme de perfectionnement professionnel ALQ, 2005
- (in French)
Viau, Michel
.
BDQ : Repertoire des publications de bandes dessinees au Quebec des origines a nos jours
. Milles Iles, 1999.
ISBN
2-920993-38-0
- (in French)
Lemay, Sylvain (2003).
"Panorama de la bande dessinee quebecoise pour la jeunesse (1970?2000))"
. In Lepage, Francoise (ed.).
La litterature pour la jeunesse, 1970-2000
(in French). Les Editions Fides. pp. 99?118.
ISBN
978-2-7621-2404-0
. Retrieved
2012-09-04
.
- (in French)
Viau, Michel.
Grande presse et petits bonhommes, la naissance de la BDQ
, in
Formule Un
,
Mecanique Generale
, 2007
External links
[
edit
]
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