this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2024

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European Graphic Novels+

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“BD” refers to Franco-Belgian comics, but let's open things up to include ALL Euro comics and GN's. Euro-style work from around the world is also welcome!

* BD = "Bandes dessinées"
* BDT = Bedetheque
* GN = graphic novel
* LBK = Lambiek
* LC = "Ligne claire"

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Cover art from Topolino #3597 (Oct, '24), by Paolo Mottura & Mario Perrotta (64.media.tumblr.com)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Sometimes I forget that Disney comics are not just an American thing, but have been thriving in Italy since 1932, specifically via Topolino magazine and associated publications. Interestingly, the output has not been solely Italian nor American, but evidently a mix of original content from both nation's creators.

Here's the published cover above, with thanks to t/dirtyriver for the find:

In recent years France's Glénat publishing house has joined the fun, but has been tending to go in more gonzo directions, not unlike various creators doing guest shots on Lucky Luke.

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[–] Maultasche 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sometimes I forget that Disney comics are not just an American thing

I mean apart from Carl Barks and Don Rosa, are they even an American thing? At least to me the comics were always an Italian thing or Danish.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Hey hey, let's not forget Floyd Gottfredson!

But yes, Disney was of course founded in the States, with the USA comics first appearing a couple years before Topolino. In fact, far as I understand, Topolino's editors failed to properly license the Disney properties at first, and had to play shenanigans with the character names for a period of time before Mickey Mouse et al were properly licensed from Disney.

From what I can tell, it's true though that in recent decades, Disney comics have declined in the States while growing in popularity around the world. Pretty interesting phenomena in fact, as I'm not sure I've ever seen such a reversal across comics before.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I came into contact with a huge stash of these when I was a kid. As I recall, the Paperino (Donald Duck) stories were always better than the Topolino (Mickey Mouse) ones. There's nothing quite like a good Paperino freak-out authored in Italian. Plus they came up with new characters like Paperinik.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

As I recall, the Paperino (Donald Duck) stories were always better than the Topolino (Mickey Mouse) ones.

Indeed! Mickey Mouse Stories were most of the time just classic crime stories with Mickey as the investigator, which simply gets old after a few times. Donald on the other hand is a bit like Homer Simpson, you just can´t help but feel his troubles and feel sympathy for the kind-hearted underdog, especially considering how he is treated by his billionaire uncle.

There’s nothing quite like a good Paperino freak-out authored in Italian

That must be even more funny! There is probably no better language for it!

Plus they came up with new characters like Paperinik.

In the german version his name is Phantomias. That name sounds like it was inspired by Fantômas, which is weird because Fantômas was, as you might know not a hero but on the contrary, the first supervillain in pop culture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fant%C3%B4mas

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I didn't even know paperinik was an italian thing. It makes sense, since it's clearly inspired by Diabolik, which is also an italian origianl creation

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They have been a huge thing in Germany too for decades now, called Lustige Taschenbücher aka LTB. I had a nice collection as a kid but it somehow got lost when I moved from Austria to Germany once more, just as my Asterix and Lucky Luke collections T_T

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I had a nice collection as a kid but it somehow got lost when I moved from Austria to Germany once more, just as my Asterix and Lucky Luke collections T_T

Oh, shizzle-snap! oO

Tragically, the same thing happened to my BD and Love & Rockets collections when I was unable to work and had to leave a group house I was living in at the time (mid 90's). Naturally I meant to go back and get those, but life was too topsy-turvy for me, so it never happened. Part of why 99% of my comics collections are now digital, which does have the handy side-effect of making it easy to post high-quality excerpts here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Tragically, the same thing happened to my BD and Love & Rockets collections when I was unable to work and had to leave a group house I was living in at the time (mid 90’s). Naturally I meant to go back and get those, but life was too topsy-turvy for me, so it never happened. Part of why 99% of my comics collections are now digital, which does have the handy side-effect of making it easy to post high-quality excerpts here.

It's crazy how much personal stuff people loose during their lives, when moving or just borrowing them away and not getting them back. I like to imagine that there is a hidden subspace bubble somewhere in the time space continuum (like that weird floating house in the third season of Twin Peaks, just less scary), where all these lost things end up, neatly organized on shelves, sorted by former owner, year of production, cause of loss and so on, in an eternally existing kind of museum, ran by a species whose culture revolves around lost stuff that had significant personal value to it's former owner, because they are fascinated by emotional bonds and especially love for inanimate objects, which they perceive and (thanks to their unique cerebral structure) also receive, as the purest form of psycho-emotional energy in the universe.

Damn, I wish Jean Giraud was still alive and could make a comic based on this idea :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Haha, that's great.

Damn, I wish Jean Giraud was still alive and could make a comic based on this idea :)

Or at least a living creator who could do a nice job with the idea, eh? Actually in one of the "Hilda" books (which I briefly reviewed a year+ ago), there's kind of a parallel concept, in which a gremlin inhabits the main character's house, living in a subspace filled with stolen items. The subspace also connects with other houses and places around the village, but individually the gremlins are harshly territorial and protective so that the others don't intrude on their home turf. It's very clever and funny, so I'm thinking maybe you might like it. Let me know if you want me to track down the specific book.