L'Écho des savanes

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L’Écho des Savanes was a French comics magazine founded in May 1972 by Claire Bretécher, Marcel Gotlib and Nikita Mandryka. It featured the work of French and international authors and graphic artists in the mature genre of bande dessinée over the course of 34 years, but ended publication in December 2006.

Contents 1 History 1.1 1982 relaunch 1.2 Termination 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

The first issue of L’Écho des Savanes was published on May 1, 1972, and was the only issue that year, although popular demand caused it to be reprinted in several editions. All its pages (except for the cover) were in black and white, and exclusively contained the work of its founders, Bretécher, Gotlib and Mandryka.^[1] Marked as a publication for adults, it staked a different course than Pilote, the family friendly publication the founders had a long relationship with. Over the following two years, it served as a quarterly publication, and only near the end of this period, work by other creators began to appear, such as Alexis, Harvey Kurtzman, Jean Solé, and Moebius.

In 1975, the magazine adapted a bi-monthly schedule, and from 1976 it became monthly. Although no longer labeled "for adults", the usual cover imagery suggested nothing about the contents of the magazine had changed. During this period, contributions began to arrive from a variety of creators such as Neal Adams, Richard Corben, Robert Crumb, Dick Giordano, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jeff Jones, Gérard Lauzier, Jacques Lob, Georges Pichard, Jacques Tardi, Martin Veyron, Wallace Wood and Berni Wrightson.

From the late 70s, leading to 1982's suspension of publication, L'Écho continued a successful run, including frequent editions of L'Écho special U.S.A, and a side publication entitled Virus (5 issues in 1980-1981). The work by Bretécher, Gotlib, and last, Mandryka, stopped appearing, but notable additions to the pool of contributors were Jean Michel Charlier, Guido Crepax, Jean-Claude Forest, Carlos Giménez, Tanino Liberatore and Art Spiegelman.

[edit] 1982 relaunch

Purchased by publisher Albin Michel, L'Écho relaunched June 1 after a five month pause, making alterations to the image of the magazine. Among the new contributors were Baru, Will Eisner, Milo Manara, Frank Miller, Jean-Marc Reiser, Alex Toth, and Alex Varenne. In addition to "adult" comic strips, issues contained articles featuring photographs of semi-naked women (imagery echoed on the covers).

A weekly version, initially named L’Hebdo Écho des Savanes, and later L’Ebdo was launched in 1984 in place of the monthly magazine for a few months.

[edit] Termination

The December 2006 issue was to be the final release of L'Écho, after a decision by Lagardère Active Media to cease publication.^[2]

[edit] See also

• Franco-Belgian comics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• La mémoire de L’Écho des Savanes issue descriptions on BDoubliées (French)