L'Association

L'Association

Status	Active
Founded	May 1990
Founder	Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, Mokeït
Country of origin	France
Headquarters location	Paris, France
Key people	Mattt Konture
Publication types	Comics
Fiction genres	Alternative
Official website	www.lassociation.fr

L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït. As of 2012, of the original founding members, only Konture continues to be affiliated with the company.

L'Association is one of the most important publishers to come out of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics in the 1990s, and remains highly regarded,^[1] having won numerous awards at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. They were among the first to publish authors such as Joann Sfar and Marjane Satrapi, and also are known for publishing French translations of the work of North American cartoonists like Julie Doucet and Jim Woodring.

Lapin is the group's magazine, which showcases many talents from the European alternative scene.

History

L'Association's was founded in May 1990 by seven young cartoonists struggling to find an outlet for their work: Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït^[2] (who left soon afterward). They named their venture "Atelier Nawak" (later the "Atelier des Vosges"), with the publishing branch being L'Association.

One of L'Association's most distinctive works was the seminal black-and-white anthology Comix 2000 which includes work from over 300 creators from 29 countries in one 2,000-page hardcover volume. In addition to L'Association's founders, notable contributors to Comix 2000 included Jessica Abel, Edmond Baudoin, Nick Bertozzi, Émile Bravo, Mike Diana, Julie Doucet, Renée French, Tom Hart, Dylan Horrocks, Megan Kelso, James Kochalka, Étienne Lécroart, Brian Ralph, Ron Regé, Jr., Joann Sfar, R. Sikoryak, Chris Ware, Skip Williamson, and Aleksandar Zograf.

By 2005, many of L'Associations founders and creators had begun also publishing in France's "mainstream" industry. That year co-founder Menu published Plates-bandes, a diatribe against what he perceived as the co-optation and wholesale copycatting of the alternative comics aesthetic by France's mainstream comic book publishers looking to corner what had suddenly become a lucrative market. Literally meaning “flowerbeds,” the title is a pun involving part of the word for comics (“bande dessinée,” or “drawn strip”), a concern that independent comics are headed for blandness and platitude (“plat,” literally flat or insipid), and a gauntlet thrown down to mainstream publishers for encroaching on indie territory (the colloquial expression “trampling someone’s flowerbeds” means to step on someone’s toes).^[2]

The book coincided with three of the original founders and a few authors leaving L'Association:^[3] David B. left the group in spring 2005; Lewis Trondheim left in autumn 2006, followed shortly after by Stanislas and Killoffer. (At that point, L'Association's "editorial board" was dissolved, since it was originally composed of the company's founders.)

In May 2011, after nearly six months of debate Menu announced his official departure from L'Association,^[4] leaving only Mattt Konture from the original group. Shortly afterward, co-founders David B., Killoffer, and Trondheim returned to the publishing house.^[5]

Titles (by author)

Anthologies

• Comix 2000 (2000)
• Oubapo
  • OuPus 1 (1997)
  • OuPus 2 (2003)
  • OuPus 3 (2004)
  • OuPus 4 (2005)

Edmond Baudoin

• Le portrait (re-issue of 'Baudoin, collection 30x40, originally published by Futuropolis in 1990)
• coll. Eperluette
  • Éloge de la poussière (1995)
  • Terrains vagues (1996)
• coll. Patte de Mouche
  • Made in U.S. (1995)
  • Nam (1998)
• coll. Ciboulette
  • Le voyage (1996)
  • Salade niçoise (1999)
• Le chemin de Saint-Jean (2002)
• Araucaria, carnets du Chili (collection Mimolette, 2004)
• Couma acò (2005; re-issue, originally published by Futuropolis in 1991)
• Crazyman (2005)
• L'Espignole (2006)

David B.

• le Cheval blême (1992)
• le Cercueil de course (1993)
• L'ascension du haut mal
  • Vol. 1 (1996, ISBN 2-909020-73-8)
  • Vol. 2 (1997, ISBN 2-909020-84-3)
  • Vol. 3 (1998, ISBN 2-84414-004-1)
  • Vol. 4 (1999, ISBN 2-84414-020-3)
  • Vol. 5 (2000, ISBN 2-84414-047-5)
  • Vol. 6 (2003, ISBN 2-909020-07-X)
• la Bombe familiale (1997, ISBN 2-909020-78-9)
• L'Association en Égypte (with Golo, Edmond Baudoin, Jean-Christophe Menu) (1998)
• Maman a des problèmes (with Anne Baraou) (1999)
• les Incidents de la nuit
  • Tome 1 (1999)
  • les Traces du dieu Enn (2000)
  • l'Embuscade (2002)

Guy Delisle

• Réflexion (October 1996, ISBN 978-2909020723)
• Aline et les autres (April 1999, ISBN 978-2844140159)
• Shenzhen (April 2000, ISBN 978-2844140357)
• Albert et les autres (June 2001, ISBN 978-2844140746)
• Pyongyang (June 2003, ISBN 978-2844141132)

Julie Doucet

• Ciboire de criss

Patrice Killoffer

• Killoffer en la matière (1992)
• Billet SVP (1995)
• La Clef des champs (1997)
• Six cent soixante-seize apparitions de Killoffer (2002)
• Le Rock et si je ne m'abuse le roll (2006)
• Quand faut y aller (2006)

Mattt Konture

• coll. Patte de Mouche
  • Supra plus (1992)
  • Glofluné Triblonto (1996)
  • Galopinot (story and drawings) (with Lewis Trondheim) (1998)
• coll. Mimolette
  • Printemps, Automnes (1993)
  • Krokrodile comix II (1999)
  • Tombe (la veste ?) (1999)
  • Head banger forever !? (2000)
  • Barjouflasque (2000)
  • Cinq heure du Mattt (2001)
  • Sclérose en plaques (2006)
• Ivan Morve (coll. Éperluette, 1996)
• Les Contures (coll. Ciboulette, 2004)
• Galopu sauve la terre (Hors-Collection, 2005)
• Archives - Mattt Konture (coll. Archives, 2006)

Étienne Lécroart

• Pervenche et Victor (1994)
• Cercle vicieux (2000)
• Le Cycle (2003)
• Scroubabble (2005)
• L'élite à la portée de tous (2005)

Jean-Christophe Menu

• Moins d'un quart de seconde pour vivre (with Lewis Trondheim) (1991)
• Dinozor Apokalips (1991)
• Omelette (1995)
• Livret de Phamille (1995)
• Gnognottes (1999.
• Le Livre du Mont-Vérité (2002)
• Mini Mune Comix (2003)
• Meder (2005; originally published by Futuropolis in 1988)
• Plates-Bandes (2005; writings)
• La Marraine des Moines (2008)
• Lock Groove Comix
  • Lock Groove Comix N°1 (2008)
  • Lock Groove Comix N°2 (2009)
• Lourdes coquilles (2009)
• Corr&spondance with Christian Rosset (2009; writings)
• La Présidente with Blutch (2010; originally published by Autrement in 1995)
• La bande dessinée et son double (2011; writings)

Riad Sattouf

• La vie secrète des jeunes (2007)

Marjane Satrapi

• Persepolis
  • Persepolis (2000), ISBN 2-84414-058-0
  • Persepolis v2, (2001), ISBN 2-84414-079-3
  • Persepolis v3, (2002), ISBN 2-84414-104-8
  • Persepolis v4, (2003), ISBN 2-84414-137-4
• Broderies (2003, ISBN 2-84414-095-5)
• Poulet aux prunes (2004), ISBN 2-84414-159-5

Joann Sfar

• Le petit monde du Golem (1998, ISBN 2-909020-98-3)

Lewis Trondheim

• Genèses apocalyptiques
• Non, non, non
• Le pays des trois sourires

Jim Woodring

• Frank
  • Frank (1998, ISBN 2-84414-005-X)
  • Frank, Tome 1 (2001, ISBN 978-2-844-14005-0)
  • Frank, Tome 2 (2006, ISBN 978-2-844-14216-0)
  • Frank's Real Pa: Suivi de Frank et la corde de luth (2007, ISBN 978-2-844-14224-5)
  • Weathercraft (2010, ISBN 978-2-844-14390-7)
  • Frank et le congrès des bêtes (2011, ISBN 978-2-844-14422-5)
  • Fran (2014, ISBN 978-2-844-14506-2)

References

Notes

1. Nevins, Mark D. "L'Association: The Future of Comics?" Expo 2000 (Bethesda, Maryland: The Expo, 2000), pp. 264-266.
2. Gauvin, Edward. "La Grève, C’est Grave (Striking is a Serious Business)," Words Without Borders (Jan. 19, 2011).
3. "Conversations: Jean-Christophe Menu & Sammy Harkham," The Comics Journal #300 (Dec. 2009).
4. Spurgeon, Tom. "Jean-Christophe Menu Resigns From L'Association," Comics Reporter (May 23, 2011).
5. Beaty, Bart. "Conversational Euro-Comics: Bart Beaty On Jean-Christophe Menu Leaving L'Association," The Comics Reporter (May 23, 2011).

Sources

• Wivel, Matthias. "A House Divided: The Crisis at L’Association (Part 1 of 2)," The Comics Journal (Nov. 3, 2011).

External links

• Official website