L'Association

The forerunner of the association was founded in 1984 as "Aanal", or Association pour l’Apologie du 9e Art Libre. Various other structures were set up by the founding members, and in 1990 they decided to return to an independent organisational structure, based on Aanal.[1] At the time, the comics industry dominated by a number of large publishers who did not publish comic books exclusively. Similar to alternative comics in North America at the time, L’Association focused published works based on reality-based, and exclusively in black and white.[2]

L’Association (à la Pulpe) 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[3][1] (who left soon afterwards to follow a fine art career, returning in 2009[2]). They named their venture "Atelier Nawak" (later the "Atelier des Vosges"), with the publishing branch being L'Association.

The first major hit published by L'Association was Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, published from 1999-2004.[2]

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.

Other creators published by L'Association included Dupuy and Berberian, Lewis Trondheim, Joann Sfar, Blutch, Anke Feuchtenberger, Emmanuel Guibert, François Ayroles, Jochen Gerner, and Guy Delisle.[2]

By 2005, many of L'Association's 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-opting 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).[3]

The book coincided with three of the original founders and a few authors leaving L'Association:[4] 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.) This left Menu as sole director of L’Association. Although he had been the driving force, there had been dissatisfaction with his lack of collaborative approach. Konture remained loyal and stayed on, but was not involved in operations. It was managed by Menu and a board of directors who had been in place since 1993: Patricia Perdrizet as president, Isabelle “Zab” Chipot as secretary, and Laetitia Zuccarelli as treasurer.[2]

In May 2011, after nearly six months of debate Menu announced his official departure from L'Association,[5] and Stanislas also left, leaving only Mattt Konture from the original group. Shortly afterwards, co-founders David B., Killoffer, and Trondheim returned to the publishing house, as president, secretary, and treasurer respectively.[6] A new editorial committee was created, comprising Konture, David B., Killoffer, François Ayroles, Jochen Gerner, Étienne Lécroart, Lisa Mandel et Jérome Mulot, with Céline Merrien as president.[1]

In 1992 L'Association launched a magazine/anthology called Lapin (referencing Menu's Lapot), initially a bulletin reporting on internal information about the organisation. It appeared quarterly from issue 9 in October 1995, and then continued to appear erratically over the years, publishing a variety of experimental graphic works.[7] It was resurrected from a period of dormancy in 2007 as a platform for emerging authors, which gave exposure to people such as Lisa Mandel, Nine Antico, and Matthias Picard.[2]

In September 2013,[7] Lapin was relaunched as Mon Lapin, and was published under this name until November 2014.[8] In 2017, it was relaunched as Mon Lapin quotidien (MLQ) as a large format (41 cm (16 in) by 58 cm (23 in)) magazine, in its sixth series, starting with issue 1. Its appearance follows that of an ordinary mainstream newspaper, but its title is misleading: it is not published daily (quotidien), but quarterly.[7]

L'Association has won numerous awards at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

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.[9]

• Official website