Xavier Dorison Christophe Bec Popular Books

Xavier Dorison Christophe Bec Biography & Facts

Les Humanoïdes Associés (or Humanoids) 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. Its initial goal was to publish the magazine Métal hurlant, which focused on science fiction. It later expanded to include works from other comic book genres. Considered revolutionary in the comic book form at the time, chiefly due to its focus on the science fiction genre, the work found in Humanoïdes inspired many generations of authors and filmmakers. History Métal Hurlant and early works In December 1974, critic and scriptwriter Jean-Pierre Dionnet, writer-artists Philippe Druillet and Mœbius, along with businessman Bernard Farkas, decided to create Les Humanoïdes Associés in order to publish a quarterly science-fiction magazine. The first issue of Métal hurlant was published in January 1975, with Jean-Pierre Dionnet as editor. The magazine mainly published science fiction and fantasy works, but Dionnet prized diversity and published works by Chantal Montellier as well as those by Philippe Druillet. Dionnet also endeavored to publish foreign authors—the first issue showcased American artist Richard Corben, the second issue featured fellow American Vaughn Bodé, along with Brazilian Sergio Macedo, Swiss Daniel Ceppi, Dutchman Joost Swarte, etc. As early as 1975, two graphic novels were published: Jason Muller, by Claude Auclair, and Rolf, by Richard Corben. An increasing number of graphic novels were published in the following years (10 in 1976, 15 in 1977, 17 in 1978, 28 in 1979, 38 in 1980, etc.). The titles were mostly by authors that featured in the magazine, such as Druillet, Mœbius (Arzach was published in 1976), Jacques Tardi, etc. Nevertheless, Humanoïdes also published other authors, such as Italian Hugo Pratt, as well as the American classics Conan the Barbarian, Spirit, Nick Fury, and British classic Dan Dare. Humanoïdes also published a handful of risqué works, such as John Willie's erotic Gwendoline. In 1977, Humanoïdes published their first compendium of images with H. R. Giger's Necronomicon. Humanoïdes' publishing enabled it to gain a considerable financial grounding, which proved to be useful when confronted with a number of management mishaps (exorbitant loan rates, high production costs, non-payment of dues, etc.). It also led to a number of landmark imprints, such as Xanadu, which featured large-scale American comics (nine volumes between 1983 and 1985), and Autodafé, which published comics in novel form. Autodafé (six volumes were published in 1982–1983) was the first manga to be distributed in French bookshops. From 1976 to 1978, Humanoïdes published a second magazine, Ah! Nana, a project managed by women. Its editors (Janic Guillerez, with early input from Anne Delobel) and principal contributors were almost all women. This innovative project, especially given the male-influenced milieu in which it took place, was nevertheless hampered by chronically poor sales and its adult-only material. In May 1977, Ciné Fantastic was published, but the magazine folded after a single issue. Several years later, Dionnet noticed an increase in the number of titles available in bookshops, and sought to increase the reach of Les Humanoïdes Associés. The magazines Métal (hurlant) Aventure, with a focus on adventure, and Rigolo!, with a comedic focus, were both launched in 1983, but were only published until 1984 and 1985, respectively. In 1977, Métal hurlant gained worldwide attention when it was translated into English and distributed in North America and the Commonwealth countries under the name Heavy Metal. Heavy Metal featured mainly European authors near the beginning of its publication, but increasingly relied on American authors as time went on. Nevertheless, it introduced European comics to the North American market, where artists such as Mœbius began to be noticed. By the end of the 1980s, Heavy Metal became completely independent from Les Humanoïdes Associés. As of 2020, it is still being published. This mix of financial successes and failures led to a difficult situation for the publishing house. In April 1980, the company's ownership was divided between a Spanish printing company (a major creditor) and a number of private shareholders, principally people who had been associated with the beginnings of the company (such as Druillet, Mœbius, Margerin, and Gillon). Renewal In 1988, the publishing house and its catalogue (including Métal hurlant) were purchased by 23-year-old Swiss publisher/producer Fabrice Giger, who turned it into an intellectual property development company. In less than two decades, the company developed one of the most respected graphic novel/comic book catalogues in the world, featuring authors such as Moebius, Alexandro Jodorowsky, Enki Bilal, Milo Manara, and Juan Gimenez, and books from multiple genres, all intended for mature readers. The success led Giger to abandon his own original publishing house Alpen Publishers (founded in 1988 for traditional comics publications aimed at an all-ages readership ) in 1994 after unsuccessful efforts to integrate its disparate catalogue into that of Humanoïdes, instead focusing all his energy on Humanoïdes. A number of additional crises (including a narrowly averted 1993-1995 hostile takeover attempt by Parisian publisher Hachette, considered by Giger as Humanoïdes' darkest hour), led Humanoïdes to be put into administration, which it exited after 18 months in late 2009. Since then, the company has enjoyed renewed success with a number of new series, such as Crusades, La Légende des nuées écarlates, Les Épées de verre, Carthago, and Le Manoir des murmures. Humanoïdes have also tried their hand at European manga, such as Omega and B.B. Project. These titles were published in the traditional manga format, but Humanoïdes has also experimented with manga-type publications in a more European style. The Ecube series is an example of this mixed genre, written by Iovinelli and illustrated by Dall Oglio. Crusades, another example of this blended style, has European authors but a Chinese illustrator. The North American and Japanese markets Humanoids Publishing, Inc. ("Humanoids") was founded in the United States in 1999 by Giger, eleven years after his acquisition of the French parent company, with the aim to publish French cult classics as well as recruit American talent. A number of successful French works were published, including Bouncer, Metabarons, Technopriests, The White Lama, The Incal, The Nikopol Trilogy, and others. In 2002, Humanoids began publishing an English-language version of the new Métal Hurlant (not to be confused with the then still running Heavy Metal magazine), which would only last two years. In January 2004, Humanoids signed an agreement with DC Comics aimed at integrating the Humanoids publications into the DC Comics cata.... Discover the Xavier Dorison Christophe Bec popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Xavier Dorison Christophe Bec books.