Publications Update: September 2014

… One-Shot edition! New information (and some newly-uncovered information) tells us more about the schedule of upcoming releases, and why there are suddenly so many of them. Also, let Franquin & Jijé teach you how to become a comic creator…

One-Shots

In an interview with ActuaBD, Benoît Fripiat, the editor of the Spirou and Fantasio series, talks about the one-shots under preparation:

There are many creators who would like to make a Spirou album. There are discussions, but they don’t always work out. Of projects that have been signed, there’s Marc Hardy and Zidrou (Soumaya). You mentioned the one by Frank Pé and Zidrou (L’Okapi blanc) as well as the second one by Émile Bravo. There’s also one by Lebeault and Filippi that’s been signed (Fondation Z).

This, of course, comes in addition to La Grosse tête (Makyo, Toldac & Téhem), which has already been completed. We still know fairly little about any of these projects, but about Fondation Z in particular. Equally interesting is it to see which projects have been left out: Mystère de Venise by Conrad & Arleston, Spirou et les femmes by Feroumont, and the untitled album by Dany & Yann. That’s not to say they have been refused or canceled; they could each have been pushed back to accommodate busy schedules. There’s also no mention of the sequel to La Femme-léopard by Schwartz & Yann, Le Maître des hosties noires, but it’s probably a pretty sure thing, given how the last album ended.

Indeed, in a comment on Dupuis’ web page for La Femme-léopard (posted in May, but which I hadn’t seen until recently), a spokeswoman for the publisher states that the sequel will be out in 2016. She also indicates that Bravo’s two volumes will be out in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

It might also be interesting to add a nugget from a February 2013 interview with Yoann, which explains the long gap between Panique en Atlantique (2010) and La Femme-léopard (2014): Dupuis agreed to wait on doing more one-shots until Yoann & Vehlmann had done three albums, presumably to allow them to establish themselves as the official Spirou team without having to compete with Spirou albums by other creators.

How do I become a comic creator?

If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, Dupuis has the book for you: Comment on devient créateur de bandes dessinées (“How to Become a Comic Creator”) by Franquin and Jijé, as interviewed by Philippe Vandooren, is a new edition of a book first published in 1969. It covers multiple aspects of the job, from art tips to dealing with the business side (the latter most likely quite outdated). The images include beautiful sketches by both artists, e.g. as seen here: