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| Parent company | Média-Participations (2004–present) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1922; 103 years ago (1922) |
| Founder | Jean Dupuis |
| Country of origin | Belgium |
| Headquarters location | Marcinelle,Hainaut, Belgium |
| Distribution | France, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada |
| Key people | Claude de Saint Vincent |
| Fiction genres | Comic albums and magazines |
| Official website | www |
Éditions Dupuis S.A. (French:[dypɥi]) is aBelgian publisher ofcomic albums and magazines.
Based inMarcinelle nearCharleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comicalbums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now publishes numerous editions in both theFrench language andDutch. Other language editions are mostly licensed to other publishers.
Dupuis was founded in 1922 byJean Dupuis (1875–1952).
The growth of Dupuis towards becoming the leading comic book editor of Belgium started in 1938, when Dupuis added to its portfolio a men's magazine (Le moustique [the mosquito] in French,Humoradio in Dutch), a women's magazine (Bonnes Soirées [good evenings] in French,De Haardvriend [the hearth's friend] in Dutch) and the children's comics magazineSpirou.[1] The latter was originally only in French, and contained a mixture of American comics (e.g.Superman,Brick Bradford, andRed Ryder) and new creations (Spirou et Fantasio andTif et Tondu). A few months later, a Dutch edition calledRobbedoes followed.[2]
After some difficulties during the war (mainly because of the scarcity of paper towards the end of it, but also because American comics weren't allowed to be published anymore), Dupuis started to grow quickly.Le moustique became one of the leading magazines with information on radio and (later) television programs in Belgium, andSpirou was one of the two leadingFranco-Belgian comics magazines (together withTintin magazine).[3]
Dupuis started publishing some books as well, but had real success by republishing the comics that had appeared as serials in the magazine, collected asalbums afterwards. Sometimes these wereone shots, but mainly they came in series. Dupuis has some of the best-selling European comic series, includingLucky Luke,The Smurfs,Gaston Lagaffe andLargo Winch.[4] Many of these comic albums have been reprinted constantly for thirty or forty years, thereby generating constant revenue for the editor.
In the early sixties, Dupuis started with other activities, including the merchandising of its comic series (puppets, posters, etc.), and the making of animated movies. Most of these weren't very successful but further raised the visibility of their comics. Still, towards the end of the 1960s, the golden age of Dupuis seemed to be over. Some of the magazines were struggling, the merchandising activities were vastly reduced, and the movie studio did not seem to be producing any successful movies. But the core business, the comics and the main magazines, continued to be hugely successful, with a comics catalogue of more than 2000 titles available in French. Many of the series were turned into animated movies in the 1990s, includingPapyrus andSpirou et Fantasio, and are being sold as movies and comics throughout Europe. Dupuis has also started producing computer games.
In June 2004, Dupuis was bought byMédia-Participations, which now owns almost all major European comic book publishers, includingDargaud andLe Lombard,[5] More recently, in 2015, Dupuis joined with twelve other European comics publishing actors to createEurope Comics, a digital initiative co-funded by the European Commission'sCreative Europe program.[6]
In March 2013, Dupuis who owned a minority stake inMarsu Productions announced that they're buying out and taking full control of publishing house Marsu Productions along with their catalogue, thus bringing their publishing activities and the Marsupilami franchise back to their original publisher Dupuis.[7]
In January 2019, Dupuis announced that they've launched their first European webtoon production subsidiary and platform dedicated to European and African authors named Webtoon Factory.[8]
In January 2024, Dupuis announced that their manga publishing imprint Vega Dupuis had joined forces with Japanese manga publishing companyKadokawa to launch a joint venture business named Vega SAS to publish Japanese and Korean comics for the French language markets alongside Kadokawa's own titles which will be their focus with Kadokawa acquiring a 51% stake in Dupuis's imprint Vega Dupuis whilst Dupuis retaining the 49% stake in the imprint.[9][10]
This is a selection of magazines and comics series originally or mainly published by Dupuis. Some titles later changed to a different publisher.
This is a selected list of comics series, ordered by year of first publication by Dupuis, with main authors given. Many series were also continued or temporarily taken over by other artists and writers. Some of the series have been taken over by other publishers.
Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel is a French animation production division of the comic book publishing house Dupuis that is dedicated to their adaptations of Dupuis' works into animated series. It is also one of the production labels that is part of Ellipse Animation.
In 1959 six years before Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel was established, Dupuis had another production house when Dupuis and Charles Dupuis the son of Dupuis' founder Jean Dupuis had launched their own animation studio named TVA Dupuis which became famous for producing their first animated series in black and white based on the popular comic seriesThe Smurfs, which was their first adaptation.
In June 2022 during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel alongside their parent company Dupuis and its ownerMedia Participations announced that their bringing their French animation production labels (which were Dupuis Edition & Audiovisuel,Dargaud Media andEllipsanime) under one umbrella group named Ellipse Animation.[11]
| Title | Years | Network | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Gordon | 1996–1997 | Canal+ France 3 Syndication (United States) Channel 4 (United Kingdom) YTV (Canada) | co-production withLacewood Productions,Carrere Television, Mediatoon andHearst Entertainment Based on thecomic strip of the same name byAlex Raymond |
| Spirou & Fantasio | 2006–2009 | M6 RTBF | co-production with Araneo and Fantasia Animation |
| Little Spirou[12] | 2012–2015 | M6 Teletoon+ RTBF | co-production withLuxAnimation and Araneo |
| Little Furry | 2017–2021 | Piwi+ OUFtivi (Belgium) Ketnet (Netherlands) | co-production withDargaud Media and Belvision |
| Roger & His Humans[13] | 2020–present | YouTube/Animation Digital Network | |
| The Smurfs[14] | 2021–present | TF1 La Trois (Belgium) Ketnet (Netherlands) Nickelodeon (International) | co-production with Peyo Productions |
| Living with Dad[15] | 2022–present | M6 Canal J Gulli La Trois | co-production withEllipsanime Productions and Belvision Based on the comic book seriesDad by Nob |
| Title | Release date | Distributor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zombillenium[16] | October 18, 2017 | Gebaka Films | co-production with Belvision, Maybe Movies and 2 Minutes |
| Yakari, A Spectacular Journey[17] | August 12, 2020 | BAC Films (France) Leonine Distribution (Germany) | co-production withDargaud Media,Le Lombard, Belvision, BAC Films Production, Leonine Production, WunderWerk, Gao Shang Pictures,WDR andFrance 3 Cinema |
Spirou andTintin dominated European comics into the 1950s and beyond
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