European Comics

[Danny Rand's Other Fist]

Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but hopefully it can be moved if not!

So I'm wondering if anyone on here reads European Comics, whether translated into English or not, and if so which do you recommend?

I grew up reading Asterix and Lucky Luke comics (half my family is French) and still like reading them even though I'm now in my mid-30s. I love Blacksad, which I'm sure everyone who has read it does, and earlier this year took a trip to the Museum of Comics in Brussels (Belgian Comic Strip Centre) where I discovered Frank Pé, whose art is amazing. I also just found Kim Jung Gi's art too which is mindblowing and has done some work in European books.

So yeah, recommendations welcome!

[TotalSnorefest]

Looks like you've got the basics covered, would perhaps throw some Hergé in there although you'll want to be picky there since some of it is pretty racist. Tintin goes to the Moon is decent, that's 2 volumes I think.
In fact I'm gonna do an all sci-fi post here, of translated stuff too because my French is dreadful.

So an absolute must should be pretty much anything done by Möebius. Dark Horse is currently putting out some, admittedly very pricey, hardcover collections of his stuff translated to English. If you like sci-fi with that seventies spacey vibe, this should be your highest priority. Current series that you might know which seem to take inspiration from this include Prophet, ODY-C and anything Simon Roy produces perhaps too.

moebius-artwork.jpg

Next up I will champion the work of Bengal. Guy's getting work in US comics now, did an issue of Batgirl I believe so you might know this name too. Magnetic Press have put out some gorgeous hardbacks of his work (like Meka and Naja), of which I would recommend Luminae the highest.

f4e58c6fb6a8fae48aab7106f0d0ecd6.jpg

Last mention: The Empire of a Thousand Planets. Two spacefarers explore this vast 1,000-planet wide space sector ruled by a decaying class of rich aristocrats and they're trying to determine whether the inhabitants of these planets are a threat to humanity, or whether they are willing to overthrow their leaders.
I've always liked this page below, you can't help but wonder if George Lucas saw the "Valerian trapped in plastic" pages and figured "yes this is perfect for Star Wars, I'll name it carbonite to prevent lawsuits".

valerian02-empire-p2.jpg

[armlessphelan]

Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but hopefully it can be moved if not!

So I'm wondering if anyone on here reads European Comics, whether translated into English or not, and if so which do you recommend?

I grew up reading Asterix and Lucky Luke comics (half my family is French) and still like reading them even though I'm now in my mid-30s. I love Blacksad, which I'm sure everyone who has read it does, and earlier this year took a trip to the Museum of Comics in Brussels (Belgian Comic Strip Centre) where I discovered Frank Pé, whose art is amazing. I also just found Kim Jung Gi's art too which is mindblowing and has done some work in European books.

So yeah, recommendations welcome!

I don't read anything regularly, but Jazz Maynard is great.

[codystarbuck]

Cinebook, in the UK is translating (and has been, for a while now) many Franco-Belgian comics.They have classics, like Lucky Luke, Blake & Mortimer, Iznogood, Blue Coats and Valerian, as well as later material, like XIII, Scorpion, Barracuda, and Lady S and Largo Winch. They have a nice variety, with some all ages material, and adult-oriented stuff, all kinds of genres, and even some historical.

I started reading European stuff, in the 80s, with Heavy Metal and stuff from Catalan Communications. I also used to get a bit from NBM. Loved Pepe Moreno's Rebel and Zeppelin, as well as Generation Zero (done for Epic and reprinted by DC, with Archie Goodwin writing), Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese (read the NBM editions), Jodorowsky and Moebius' Incal and Jodorowsky and Bess' White Lama. Tome & Janry's Spirou & Fantasio, as well as Franquin's more classic version; Yves Charland's Fredy Lombard, Jordi Bernet and Sanchez Abuli's Torpedo, the work of Enki Bilal, Moebius, Druillet, and love, love, Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters' Cities of the Fantastic. A huge favorite is Vittorio Giardino and his Max Freidman stories, as well as A Jew in Communist Prague. Blacksad goes without saying, as does Jacques Tardi. Still want to get my hands on Esteban Maroto's Cinco Por Infinito. I have some pdfs of things like Tangy et Laverdure, Michel Valiant, Barbe Rouge, Mort y Filemon, Les Bidochons, Mafalda, Hugo Pratt's Ernie Pike, The Eternaut, some Alan Ford, Nathnan Never, Martin Mystere and Dylan Dog; and some Gaston Lagaffe.

Also a massive fan of Francois Boucq: Magician's Wife, Billy Budd, KGB; Pioneers of the Human Adventure, Bouncer. Same with Daniel Torres and Rocco Vargas.

[ian0delond]

Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but hopefully it can be moved if not!

So I'm wondering if anyone on here reads European Comics, whether translated into English or not, and if so which do you recommend?

I grew up reading Asterix and Lucky Luke comics (half my family is French) and still like reading them even though I'm now in my mid-30s. I love Blacksad, which I'm sure everyone who has read it does, and earlier this year took a trip to the Museum of Comics in Brussels (Belgian Comic Strip Centre) where I discovered Frank Pé, whose art is amazing. I also just found Kim Jung Gi's art too which is mindblowing and has done some work in European books.

So yeah, recommendations welcome!

If you can read French I made a small list of very French comics.
Some are translated, but I guess most are not.

The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf is currently a big seller in France.
Recently Shangri-La by Mathieu Bablet was a good surprise.
Les Vieux Fourneaux is also a popular series at its level, because you are in your mid 30s and half of your family is French you might fin it interesting.
Quai d'Orsay by Antonin Baudry and Christophe Blain is about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the early 2000's.

With more action stuff there is Les Sentinelles by Dorison and Breccia, it is basically about a French super soldier program during World War One. In the same vein of "French super heroes from the past" there is La Brigade Chimérique by Lehman.
Universal War One by Denis Bajram has been a big mindblow to me when I read it. Universal War Two is currently in progress.
Last Man is a weirder one, a team of great cartoonists (Vives, Balak and Salanville) started this project to do something "like a manga". It starts with a basic tournament but the scale grows exponentially. It is a mix of very diverse things. You can also check other comics made by Vives but they are not action comics, I recommend Polina.

[Mormegil]

Back in 2009 Fantasy Flight Publishing put out four album's of the Legend of Percevan. I thought they were very entertaining hero stories. Its a shame more of these weren't translated.

The other one i read is UNIVERSE! by Albert Monteys. Brian Vaughn's panel Syndicate puts the series out digital only. Its a very hard series to explain. There are only 5 issues so far. Each one is its own stand alone story but they're all loosely connected in that they take place in the same world. So you see various characters and things show up again.

Its mostly a comedy series with some serious emotional moments thrown in. His goal is to do 6 issues a year but i don't think he's stuck to that very often.

Panel Syndicate is pay what you want, so there's no reason not to at least try and issue and see if you like it.