Semic Comics

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Semic Comics is one of the leading comic book publishers in France, also known as Semic S.A. Along with French comics, the company publishes the official translations of products produced by DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics and Top Cow Productions, among others.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Editions Lug

Main article: Editions Lug

In 1950, writer/editor Marcel Navarro and Auguste Vistel founded Editions Lug. At first, the company only reprinted old French and Italian comics. But soon, Navarro decided that his company needed some original characters. He enlisted a number of French and Italian studios to create new series. Although many of them invoked characters featured in American comics, they had enough differences to make them unique.

In 1969, Editions Lug began publishing licensed translations of Marvel Comics in a magazine called Fantask. That year also saw the creation of Wampus. But French censorship forced Editions Lug to cancel both of these magazines after six issues.

In the next two decades, Editions Lug continued to expand, thanks to its growing program of French editions of Marvel Comics, which began to include Conan the Barbarian. Many new magazines and series were added to their French line. A shared universe began to emerge, although not nearly as tightly integrated as the Marvel Universe.

In the mid-80's, Auguste Vistel died. Eventually, Marcel Navarro chose to retire. The company was sold to the Semic Group, a Scandinavian comic book publisher.

[edit] Semic Group / Semic S.A.

After Navarro's departure, the Semic Group continued to publish French editions of Marvel Comics, but discontinued the creation of original material. The half-dozen original Lug titles that remained became reprints-only.

During the late 90's, the Semic Group transferred all of its French business to Tournon, their French distributors. Tournon soon broke up from the Semic Group and created their own company, Semic S.A.

In 2000, new editor-in-chief, Thierry Mornet decided to publish new stories that featured Edition Lug's old characters, under the freelance editorship of Jean-Marc Lofficier. Semic's writers and artists were faced with the herculean task of combining over 200 characters and their contradictory backstories into a single integrated continuity. At the same time, they had to account for what happened to those characters during the time when their adventures weren't published. The writers decided to kill two birds with one stone. Lofficier wrote a Crisis on Infinite Earths-style, company-wide crossover.

In addition to tying up the loose ends of the 1969 Wampus storyline, it allowed the company to alter many established continuity elements. Some of the characters' histories were rewritten or moved to different time periods. Concepts that had become quaint were updated for modern times. Similar groups and organizations were merged into complex hierarchies. Many unsuccessful, second-string characters got a second chance as members of the supporting casts for the more popular characters. Some characters were allowed to grow and have families. Others became friends. While some continuity changes were superficial, others fundamentally altered the essence of the character. To help tie the new universe together, another batch of characters (both modern and historical) were created. The Semic Universe was born.

The new stories enjoyed a measure of success. In 2002, thanks to a special agreement, Image Comics published the English translations of Strangers, a series that starred alien superheroes from the Semic Universe. Also Top Cow Productions published Blood Oath, a book in which Witchblade teamed up with Phenix and Sibilla. It was supposed to be a prelude to Semic Invasion. However, things didn't work out that way.

[edit] Hexagon Comics

In late 2003, Semic decided to cancel its line of B&W books, effectively terminating the Semic Universe. Taking advantage of European copyright laws, a group of former Lug/Semic writers and artists got together and reclaimed the rights to most of their characters. They reorganized under the banner of Hexagon Comics. They are currently publishing a series of paperbacks that contain old and new stories.

[edit] External links

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