Bandes dessinées, abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics, are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition in comics, separate from that of English-language comics. Belgium is a mostly bilingual country, and comics originally in Dutch are culturally a part of the world of bandes dessinées, even if the translation from French to Dutch far outweighs the other direction.
A graphic novel is a long-form work of sequential art. The term graphic novel is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and industry professionals. It is, at least in the United States, typically distinct from the term comic book, which is generally used for comics periodicals and trade paperbacks.
Comics are a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically takes the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate dialogue, narration, sound effects, or other information. There is no consensus among theorists and historians on a definition of comics; some emphasize the combination of images and text, some sequentiality or other image relations, and others historical aspects such as mass reproduction or the use of recurring characters. Cartooning and other forms of illustration are the most common means of image-making in comics. Photo comics is a form that uses photographic images. Common forms include comic strips, editorial and gag cartoons, and comic books. Since the late 20th century, bound volumes such as graphic novels, comic albums, and tankōbon have become increasingly common, along with webcomics as well as scientific/medical comics.
Maurilio Manara, known professionally as Milo Manara, is an Italian comic book writer and artist.
Maus, often published as Maus: A Survivor's Tale, is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work employs postmodern techniques, and represents Jews as mice and other Germans and Poles as cats and pigs respectively. Critics have classified Maus as memoir, biography, history, fiction, autobiography, or a mix of genres. In 1992, it became the first and only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which in the past have dominated the American comic book industry. They span across a wide range of genres, artistic styles, and subjects.
Laurent Chabosy, better known as Lewis Trondheim, is a French cartoonist and one of the founders of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic La Mouche and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animated cartoons.
Peter Kuper is an American alternative comics artist and illustrator, best known for his autobiographical, political, and social observations.
Giuseppe Bergman is an Italian comics series by Milo Manara, which was first published in 1978. It stars a Candide-like anti-hero who appeared in four graphic novels which are an ironic deconstruction of adventure stories and comic books as a medium.
Rick Geary is an American cartoonist and illustrator. He is known for works such as A Treasury of Victorian Murder and graphic novel biographies of Leon Trotsky and J. Edgar Hoover.
Les Humanoïdes Associés is a French-American publishing house specializing in comics and graphic novels, founded in December 1974 by comic artists Mœbius, Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Philippe Druillet, and financial director Bernard Farkas.
Jean-Marc Lofficier is a French author of books about films and television programs, as well as numerous comics and translations of a number of animation screenplays. He usually collaborates with his wife, Randy Lofficier, and the reason why credits sometimes read "R. J. M. Lofficier", after the initials of both spouses.
Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc. is an American graphic novel publisher. Founded by Terry Nantier in 1976 as Flying Buttress Publications, NBM is one of the oldest graphic novel publishers in North America. The company publishes English adaptations and translations of popular European comics, compilations of classic comic strips, and original fiction and nonfiction graphic novels. In addition to NBM Graphic Novels, the company has several imprints including ComicsLit for literary graphic fiction, and Eurotica and Amerotica for adult comics.
Norma Editorial is a Spanish comics publisher, with its headquarters in Barcelona.
Kim Thompson was an American comic book editor, translator, and publisher, best known as vice president and co-publisher of Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books. Along with co-publisher Gary Groth, Thompson used his position to further the cause of alternative comics in the American market. In addition, Thompson made it his business to bring the work of European cartoonists to American readers.
Dean Mullaney is an American editor, publisher, and designer whose Eclipse Enterprises, founded in 1977, was one of the earliest independent comic-book companies. Eclipse published some of the first graphic novels and was one of the first comics publishers to champion creators' rights. In the 2000s, he established the imprint The Library of American Comics of IDW Publishing to publish hardcover collections of comic strips. Mullaney and his work have received seven Eisner Awards.
Squeak the Mouse is an Italian adult black comedy comic strip and later comic book created by artist Massimo Mattioli. The comic depicts attempts by its title character, the anthropomorphic Squeak the Mouse, to outwit a cat who is chasing him. The comic satirizes cartoon series such as Tom and Jerry, taking the content to extreme levels, which includes gory horror violence and explicit sexual content.
Papercutz Graphic Novels is an American publisher of family-friendly comic books and graphic novels, mostly based on licensed properties such as Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Lego Ninjago. Papercutz has also published new volumes of the Golden Age-era comics series Classics Illustrated and Tales from the Crypt. In recent years they have begun publishing English translations of European all-ages comics, including The Smurfs and Asterix. They publish several titles through their imprint Super Genius.
Kerascoët is the joint pen name of the French illustrators, comics and animation artists Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset.
Gullivera or Gulliveriana is a stand-alone erotic graphic novel written and illustrated by comic book creator Milo Manara. It was first published in 1996 by French publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés, and has since been translated into several languages. The comic is a parody of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
