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mediatoon April 2019
Bande dessinée and the Joys of Learning

 
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“And always, there was the magic of learning things.” – Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

We hope the sun is shining on you in your corner of the globe! Here at Mediatoon Foreign Rights we are pleased to present a month of colorful titles including the most recent volumes of the celebrated series “Pico Bogue” and “Ana Ana.” The ever-sharp Pico Bogue will be confronted with his grandfather’s increasingly fragile health as he gets older, and he will take it upon himself to visit him at the hospital, where he asks him some important questions and learns what it means to age. Meanwhile, in the 13th volume of her series, Pico’s little sister Ana Ana finds out how much more fun it is to get outside and play than to stay inside stuck behind a screen…

We’re also proud to present two expressly educational works this month: the latest installment of the “Petite Bédéthèque des savoirs“, which teaches us about the fascinating origins of the Homo sapiens (us!), and a graphic novel called “Cigarettes“, which is an in-depth look into the tobacco industry and its ruthless pursuit of profit at the expense of more than seven million deaths a year.

As always, we’re at your disposal for any questions you may have and/or requests for reading copies.

Till next month,

The MFR Team

Compilations & special editions

BEST-SELLERS

 
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La Jeunesse de Thorgal

La dent bleue (7)

By Surzhenko & Yann

Mainstream Comics
Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Action & Adventure, Fantasy & Esoteric 

The series tells the story of Thorgal’s adventures from when he was 15 to 20 years old, showing us how the adolescent we left at the end of Aaricia became the young man we later meet as he is being chained up by his father-in-law in the main series.


 
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Tanguy & Laverdure Classic

Coups de feu dans les Alpes (3)

By Durand, Buendia & Cunin

Mainstream Comics
Publisher: Zéphyr Editions
Genres: Action & Adventure 

Tanguy and Laverdure are hosting four foreign pilots who’ve travelled to Istres to try out the Mirage F1 in order to recommend it to the air forces of their respective countries. From the first flight, the F1 shows itself to be unreliable when the German pilot loses control of the plane. Only Tanguy’s expert guidance saves him. A few days later, it’s Stinton’s turn to pilot the F1. He also finds himself a hair’s breadth from disaster when one of the landing wheels malfunctions at the critical moment. Helped by the head mechanic and an engineer, Tanguy begins looking into the real reasons behind these multiple glitches…


Graphic novel

 
 
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La petite Bédéthèque des Savoirs

Homo Sapiens. Histoire(s) de notre humanité (27)

By Bailly & Balzeau

Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Non-Fiction 

Homo sapiens, that’s us. We probably started life in Africa around 200 000 years ago. But who are our ancestors? The increasing number of fossil discoveries, as well as numerous scientific breakthroughs these last 20 years, such as new protein studying techniques (proteomics) and the reconstruction of ancient genomes (paleogenetics), refine more than ever our understanding. Antoine Balzeau, a paleoanthropologist at the forefront of this research, gives us an overview of what science today can tell us about our origins.


 
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Un petit goût de noisette

Un petit goût de noisette et de fruits rouges (2)

By Vanyda

Publisher: Dargaud Benelux
Genres: Romance, Comics for girls 

What does a bear growl sound like in Dutch? What makes a perfect moment? Do we die every night only to be reborn the following morning? These are the existential questions that the characters of Un Petit Goût de Noisette ask themselves as they search for someone to share their thoughts with, someone to turn their questions back around, a shoulder to lean on, or just someone to love…Like squirrels looking for the best nut! A beautiful collection of short stories about love! The characters from each story cross paths with one another and cross over from one story to the next. Some of the stories are true, and others purely fictional. Stories that will move you, inspire your imagination, bring butterflies to your stomach, and maybe even make you shed a tear…


 
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Cigarettes le dossier sans filtre

Cigarettes le dossier sans filtre (one-shot)

By Brangier & Boisserie

Publisher: Dargaud
Genres: Non-Fiction 

Arguably humanity’s most deadly invention—responsible for 100 million deaths in the 20th century—the cigarette continues to kill. Half of all smokers die of a smoking-related illness, and more than a billion people currently smoke. “Cigarettes” tells the story of the tobacco industry’s cynical efforts to impose this danger on as many people—or victims—as possible, with a single purpose in mind: shareholder profits. Always frank in delivering its meticulously-documented message, “Cigarettes” should make the tobacco industry tremble more than a nicotine-deprived smoker.


Mainstream

 
 
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Six-coups

Le crash de monsieur Crunch (1)

By Jouvray & Thibaut-Jouvray

Publisher: Dupuis
Genres: Humor 

Six Coups is a collection of interrelated short stories following the lives of six different characters. Eliot, a sheriff’s son, has so far failed to share his father’s passion for guns. He would much prefer to just hang out with Bianca, his feisty and rebellious best friend. In his eyes, she can do no wrong. But she thinks he’s a bit of a goody-goody. Then there’s Albert and Mity, two crooks in the making. And in this trigger-happy little town there are plenty more intriguing characters to be discovered. The story begins when Eliot’s father gives him his first gun.


 
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Irons

Les Sables de Sinkis (2)

By Brahy & Roulot

Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Suspense & Thrillers 

Jack Irons is an engineer specialized in superstructures. A sarcastic misanthrope, Jack is tough to like. But in his field, there’s no one better. Massive bridges, far-fetched construction projects in hostile lands — when the task seems impossible, Jack gets the call.


 
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HYPNOS

La Disciple (2)

By Futaki & Galandon

Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Action & Adventure 

Paris, 1919. Camille, a young working girl, uses her talents of hypnosis to steal the money she needs to care for her ailing daughter. When she gets herself arrested, the constable in charge of her case frees her in exchange for her services in infiltrating an anarchist cell suspected of planning to assassinate Clemenceau. Due to her gift, Camille is left with no choice but to slip into a world of double-crossing and espionage…


 
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Face de lune

Face de lune (2)

By Boucq & Jodorowsky

Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Fantasy & Esoteric 

Face de Lune is both mysterious and exceptional: apparently mute and simpleminded, he cannot die, and he seems to be able to control the weather. All of this makes him a particularly troublesome individual in the eyes of the Democratic Ovarian Republic — which takes its name from its primary economic resource — ruled by a merciless dictator in a world parallel to our own. The center of this fully-realized world is an imaginary island whose inhabitants live in self-sufficiency, despite tremendous tidal waves that frequently strike their shores, and strike fear into their hearts. A fear that local tyrants have used to consolidate their power, together with the clergy. In Face de Lune the authors offer up a complex and eye-opening world dominated by political and religious forces that are as oppressive as they are ever-present.


 
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Choc

Les Fantômes de Knightgrave (3)

By Maltaite & Colman

Publisher: Dupuis
Genres: Action & Adventure 

Choc is the baddie in Les Aventures de Tif et Tondu, an elegant masked man with a cruel heart. But what is the backstory of this nefarious gentleman? This is the intriguing question that Maltaite and Colman seek to answer in these three thriller albums with a realistic art style and a film noir twist. A perfect tribute to Eric Maltaite’s father, Willy, who created the character in 1955.


 
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Jérôme Moucherot

Jérôme Moucherot (6)

By Boucq

Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Humor 

This man is a beast. With his leopard-print suit, his noble bearing and piercing gaze, his agile yet powerful walk… and his pen stuck up his nose, he is as alluring as he is frightening. His name is Karzmeier, Jerome Katzmeier. His mission: to destroy the fear of tomorrow, allowing everyone to board the train of progress as it departs from the dock of the hassles of everyday life. In other words, Jerome Katzmeier is an insurance agent. But one not quite like the rest…


Dupuis
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Les Psy

Vive la retraite (22)

By Bédu & Cauvin
Humor
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Dupuis
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Mélusine

La guerre sans magie (27)

By Clarke
Fantasy & Esoteric
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Children's & family

 
 
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Ana Ana

Papillons, lilas et fraises des bois (13)

By Dormal & Roques

Publisher: Dargaud
Genres: Humor 

Pico Bogue’s little sister Ana Ana is a little girl full of mischief. She has heaps of great adventures with her beloved stuffed animals: Tufty, Grizzou, Pinpong, Zigzag, Goupille and Baleineau. She leads her little group wherever her wild imagination takes her!


 
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Elma une vie d’ours

Derrière les montagnes (2)

By Mazé & Chabbert

Publisher: Dargaud
Genres: Action & Adventure 

The legend says that only the daughter of Frigga, sorceress of the kingdom, may save the world from the coming floods. But for that to happen, Frigga has to entrust Elma to the forest, where she must survive for seven years. If she succeeds, their world will be saved and Elma will be reunited with her family. And so at birth, Elma is left in the forest, in the care of a bear that she soon comes to think of as her father. Despite their bond, the bear must keep the promise he made to Frigga: on her seventh birthday, he will guide Elma across the mountain to return her to her mother…


 
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Pico Bogue

L'Heure est grave (11)

By Dormal & Roques

Publisher: Dargaud
Genres: Humor 

Pico Bogue is the eldest child of a normal family, and when we say “normal,” we mean quirky and occasionally stark-raving mad! Along with his little sister Anna, Pico goes through life with as many certainties as he has questions, making the kind of pertinent observations that only children are capable of. Sometimes challenging, always lovable, there’s no end to Pico’s mischief, much to the amusement, exasperation, and surprise of his long-suffering parents!


 
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Léonard

Génie Vidi Vinci! (50)

By Turk & Zidrou

Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Humor 

Leonardo is a genius. At least that’s what he thinks! A hilarious caricature of the famous Leonardo da Vinci, a man best known for his portraits of ladies with enigmatic smiles…! But he spends most of his life inventing the most incongruous machines which he then tests on his poor Disciple – a young man who dreams only of a peaceful life, but always ends up covered with cuts and bruises… The series has been turned into an animated series, more information here 


Compilations & special editions

COMPILATIONS AND SPECIAL EDITIONS

 
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Niourk

Niourk (Complete Color Compilation)

By Wul & Vatine

Mainstream Comics
Publisher: Ankama
Genres: Sci-Fi 

This science-fiction series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has regressed to a primitive stage after a nuclear catastrophe. The oceans have all dried up and chimera have appeared, with some tribes surviving in the wild. Among them black child lives, rejected by his own people. When the old wizard of his adopted tribe is condemned to death, the black child begins walking to Niourk, the city of the gods, where there remain only ruins and strange mechanisms: relics of 20th-century civilization. A gorgeous new color compilation of the entire series has just been released in time to be nominated for a 2019 Eisner Award!


 
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Boule & Bill

Bon anniversaire ! – Hors-collection spécial 60 ans

By Roba

Children's & Family
Publisher: Studio Boule et Bill
Genres: Humor 

Billy is a normal 7-year-old growing up in a normal family in a normal town. His best friend is a cocker spaniel named Buddy, who is not so normal: he can communicate with humans without words and can also talk to other animals. Buddy’s best friend is the family’s tortoise, Caroline. Together, Billy and Buddy get up to all sorts of mischief, frequently tormenting all those around them. This duo’s pranks are guaranteed to make readers of all ages roar with laughter.


 
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Intégrale IR$ All Watcher

IR$ All Watcher (Compilation 1)

By Mutti, Koller, Queireix & Desberg

Mainstream Comics
Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Action & Adventure, Crime & Mystery 

All Watcher, “he who sees everything,” is the wealthiest man in the world. The IR$ has noticed money vanishing without understanding how. They call it the “black hole” phenomenon. The album Antonia takes place just after IR$ 10, The Assassins’ Guild, and brings that story to a resolution. It is a bridge between the series IR$ and the series All Watcher. In the previous album, Antonia kills a man who will later turn out to be All Watcher’s son. In 8-page sequence Larry and Mia Mai, two other IR$ agents, plot to use Antonia as bait to trap All Watcher. They pursue her, and find themselves in a large room, confronted with nine people. Any one of them could be All Watcher…


 
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Le Génie des Alpages – Intégrale

Le Génie des Alpages (Compilation 1)

By F’Murrr

Graphic novel
Publisher: Dargaud
Genres: Humor 

F’murr’s characters live high up in the mountains in that space between heaven and earth, just under the clouds. This is a world where sheep talk — and actually have a pretty high IQ! Athanaseus the philosophical shepherd and his sheepdog Romuald attempt in vain to instill a little order into this unruly herd. A masterpiece of charm and total nonsense.


 
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Intégrale Thorgal N/B

Thorgal black & white (Compilation 4)

By Rosinski & Van Hamme

Mainstream Comics
Publisher: Le Lombard
Genres: Action & Adventure, Fantasy & Esoteric 

In the midst of a sea storm, a Viking expedition discovers a baby in a small skiff. The child is given the name Thorgal. He grows up to be a gifted archer and a fierce defender of freedom and justice. He’ll go to any lengths to protect his loved ones and live a peaceful life. But his is the story of a man that the gods have decided to put to the test. Perhaps, through his trials and adventures, he will one day solve the mystery of his origins.