Jean-Christophe Menu
Encyclopedia
Jean-Christophe Menu
Jean-Christophe Menu (born August 23, 1964 in France
) 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.
, Spirou
, Fripounet and Jade in the Franco-Belgian comics
world as well as Rip Off Comix and Weirdo in the United States. 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.
, David B., Patrice Killoffer
, Mattt Konture
, Stanislas and Mokeït) decide to launch L'Association
.
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).
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. L'Association
is also known for discovering and publishing Marjane Satrapi
's book, Persepolis, which later inspired a film of the same name.
In May of 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.
and finding work with many of mainstream publishers mentioned in its content.
and was awarded a doctorate
in Art and Art Sciences.
Jean-Christophe Menu (born August 23, 1964 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) is a French underground
Underground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, graphic designer
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and publisher best known for being one of the founders of L'Association
L'Association
L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, an influential comic book and art book publishing company from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
often regarded as one of the key figures in the independent comic movement around the world.
Beginnings
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. Soon, his work is found in various comic magazines like TintinTintin (magazine)
Le journal de Tintin or Kuifje , was a weekly Belgian comics magazine of the second half of the 20th century...
, Spirou
Spirou (magazine)
Spirou magazine is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company...
, Fripounet and Jade in the Franco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
world as well as Rip Off Comix and Weirdo in the United States. 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.
L'Association
In 1990, Jean-Christophe Menu and five other young cartoonists struggling to find an outlet for their work (Lewis TrondheimLewis Trondheim
Lewis Trondheim , born 11 December 1964, is an extremely prolific French cartoonist and one of the founders of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic La Mouche and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animated cartoons...
, David B., Patrice Killoffer
Patrice Killoffer
Patrice Killoffer, better known simply as Killoffer, is an writer and artist of comics. He was co-founder of the independent comics publisher L'Association in 1990, and has been a part of Oubapo since its creation in 1992.-Career:Patrice Killoffer studied at the School for Applied Arts Duperré in...
, Mattt Konture
Mattt Konture
Mattt Konture is a French underground comics author and musician. He is one of the founders of the French publishing house L'Association and is a forerunner of the French autobiographical comics movement.- Biography :...
, Stanislas and Mokeït) decide to launch L'Association
L'Association
L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
.
In 1992 Menu, along with Lewis Trondheim
Lewis Trondheim
Lewis Trondheim , born 11 December 1964, is an extremely prolific French cartoonist and one of the founders of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic La Mouche and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animated cartoons...
François Ayroles, Anne Baraou, Gilles Ciment, Jochen Gerner, Thierry Groensteen, Patrice Killoffer
Patrice Killoffer
Patrice Killoffer, better known simply as Killoffer, is an writer and artist of comics. He was co-founder of the independent comics publisher L'Association in 1990, and has been a part of Oubapo since its creation in 1992.-Career:Patrice Killoffer studied at the School for Applied Arts Duperré in...
and Étienne Lécroart
Étienne Lécroart
Étienne Lécroart is a French cartoonist. He is a founder and key member of Oubapo association, Ouvroir de BAnde dessinée POtentielle. He has composed cartoons that could be read either horizontally, vertically, or in diagonal, et vice-versa...
, founded the Oubapo
Oubapo
OuBaPo is a comics movement which believes in the use of formal constraints to push the boundaries of the medium. OuBaPo is styled after the French literary movement Oulipo , founded by Raymond Queneau and Georges Perec...
(Ouvroir de Bandes Dessinées Potentielles), which is inspired by Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...
and Georges Perec
Georges Perec
Georges Perec was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist and essayist. He is a member of the Oulipo group...
's Oulipo
Oulipo
Oulipo is a loose gathering of French-speaking writers and mathematicians which seeks to create works using constrained writing techniques. It was founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais...
(Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle).
One of L'Association
L'Association
L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
's most recognizable and experimental books to date is the black-and-white anthology Comix 2000
Comix 2000
Comix 2000 is an international one-shot independent comic book published by L'Association in November 1999 and distributed in the United States by Fantagraphics Books....
which features work from over 300 creators from 29 countries in one 2,000-page hardcover volume. L'Association
L'Association
L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
is also known for discovering and publishing Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
's book, Persepolis, which later inspired a film of the same name.
In May of 2011, after nearly six months of struggles within the structure, Menu announces his official departure from L'Association
L'Association
L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
and speaks in a public letter of a desire to start a new project elsewhere.
Controversy
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). The book coincides with three of the original founders and a few authors leaving L'AssociationL'Association
L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
and finding work with many of mainstream publishers mentioned in its content.
Recent career
Jean-Christophe Menu continues to work on his comics. On January 8, 2011, he presented his thesis "La bande dessinée et son double" at the Sorbonne in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and was awarded a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in Art and Art Sciences.
Comic books by Jean-Christophe Menu
- L'Accident de Meder, AANAL, 1986.
- Le Portrait de Lurie Ginol, Futuropolis, 1987.
- Les aventures de 1987, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
», 1987. - Meder, Futuropolis, 1988. Republished by L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2005. - Comix 2 Jours, Comix 2 Nuits, self-published, 1989.
- Moins d'un quart de seconde pour vivre, with Lewis TrondheimLewis TrondheimLewis Trondheim , born 11 December 1964, is an extremely prolific French cartoonist and one of the founders of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic La Mouche and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animated cartoons...
, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
,1991. - Dinozor Apokalips, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 1991. - Mune Comix 1, Cornélius, 1993.
- Mune Comix 2, Cornélius, 1993.
- Mune Comix 3, Cornélius, 1994.
- Mune Comix 4, Cornélius, 1994.
- Mune Comix 5, Cornélius, 1994.
- Omelette, L'Association, 1995.
- Livret de Phamille, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
,1995. - La Présidente with Blutch, Autrement, 1995 republished by L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
in 2010. - Gnognottes, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 1999. - La grande aventur de Vert Thépamur, Automne 67, 2001.
- Le Livre du Mont-Vérité, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
,2002. - Mini Mune Comix, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2003. - La Topographie interne du M., Les Requins Marteaux, 2007
- Lock Groove Comix N°1, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2008 - La Marraine des Moines, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2008. - Lock Groove Comix N°2, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2009. - Lourdes coquilles, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2009.
In English
- Dungeon: Monstres, Vol.1, The Crying Giant (with MazanMazanMazan is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.Mazan is one of the chateaus of the de Sade family. Today this chateau is a luxury hotel.[1]-References:**...
, Lewis TrondheimLewis TrondheimLewis Trondheim , born 11 December 1964, is an extremely prolific French cartoonist and one of the founders of the independent publisher L'Association. Both his silent comic La Mouche and Kaput and Zösky have been made into animated cartoons...
and Joann SfarJoann SfarJoann Sfar is a French comics artist, comic book creator and film director.-Life and career:Sfar was born in Nice. He is considered one of the most important artists of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics. Many of his comics were published by L'Association which was founded in 1990 by...
, NBMNBM PublishingNBM Publishing is an American publisher of graphic novels. The company specializes in non-superhero comic genres and has translated and published over 150 graphic novels from Europe and Canada, as well as several works by Americans...
, 2008.
Writings by Jean-Christophe Menu
- Plates-Bandes, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2005. - Corr&spondance with Christian Rosset, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2009. - La bande dessinée et son double, L'AssociationL'AssociationL'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït, who left soon thereafter...
, 2011.