| Jean-Christophe Menu | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 23, 1964 Amiens, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer |
| Awards | Arts PhD |
| Official website | |
Jean-Christophe Menu (born August 23, 1964 in France)[1] is a French underground cartoonist, graphic designer, writer and publisher best known for being one of the founders of L'Association, an influential comic book and art book publishing company from France often regarded as one of the key figures in the independent comic movement around the world.[2]
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Jean-Christophe Menu starts his careers as a comic artist and as a publisher simultaneously when he launches fanzines Le Lynx à Tifs and Le Journal de Lapot in 1981. In 1984 he starts working for Psikopat, where he introduces the character Meder.[1] Soon, his work is found in various comic magazines like Tintin, Spirou, Fripounet and Jade in the Franco-Belgian comics world as well as Rip Off Comix and Weirdo in the United States.[1] Futuropolis publishes his book Le Portrait de Lurie Ginol and a new magazine called Labo which only lasts one issue but brings the desire to later-on create the magazine Lapin, which is still being published to this day.[2]
In 1990, Jean-Christophe Menu and five other young cartoonists struggling to find an outlet for their work (Lewis Trondheim, David B., Patrice Killoffer, Mattt Konture, Stanislas and Mokeït) decide to launch L'Association.[3]
In 1992 Menu, along with Lewis Trondheim François Ayroles, Anne Baraou, Gilles Ciment, Jochen Gerner, Thierry Groensteen, Patrice Killoffer and Étienne Lécroart, founded the Oubapo (Ouvroir de Bandes Dessinées Potentielles), which is inspired by Raymond Queneau and Georges Perec's Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle).[2]
One of L'Association's most recognizable and experimental books to date is the black-and-white anthology Comix 2000 which features work from over 300 creators from 29 countries in one 2,000-page hardcover volume.[4] L'Association is also known for discovering and publishing Marjane Satrapi's book, Persepolis, which later inspired a film of the same name.[4]
In May 2011, after nearly six months of struggles within the structure, Menu announces his official departure from L'Association and speaks in a public letter of a desire to start a new project elsewhere.[5]
In 2005, Jean-Christophe Menu publishes "Plates-bandes", a diatribe against the co-optation and wholesale copycatting of the indie, avant-garde, experimental, or 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).[3] The book coincides with three of the original founders and a few authors leaving L'Association and finding work with many of mainstream publishers mentioned in its content.[2]
Jean-Christophe Menu continues to work on his comics.[2] On January 8, 2011, he presented his thesis "La bande dessinée et son double" at the Sorbonne in Paris and was awarded a doctorate in Art and Art Sciences.[6]