Olivier Cadic, the owner of Cinebook, sold his electronics-related companies just over two years ago and invested the proceeds in acquiring the English language rights to some of the most popular Franco-Belgian graphic novels.  Cinebook’s offerings include the Lucky Luke series, which has sold over 250 million copies worldwide; Edgar P. Jacobs’ Herge-influenced Blake & Mortimer adventures, which have sold over 12 million copies; as well as Thorgal and Largo Winch by Jean Van Hamme (creator of XIII).

 

First released in England, the Cinebook titles are now available in the U.S. via the National Book Network.  Cinebook published 12 volumes in 2007, plans to release 36 titles this year, and to issue 40 graphic novels a year starting in 2009.  There is no doubt that Cinebook will have plenty of material to release—there are some 72 Lucky Luke adventures (the best of which are the nearly 40 volumes written by Rene Goscinny of Asterix fame), over twenty Blake & Mortimer books, and 30 volumes of Thorgal. Cinebook is also offering additional series such as Yakari, the saga of a young Sioux boy who can talk to the animals; and IR$, a thriller by Desberg and Vrancken for which a new volume will be released every April 15th.

 

While the Franco-Belgian comics that Cinebook is publishing have racked up stupendous sales (the 29th volume of Thorgal sold 280,000 copies in France and Belgium alone in 2006), they have yet to break through here in the U.S. particularly in the comic shop market (see retailer Steve Bennett’s excellent analysis, “Confessions of a Comic Book Guy—Think Globally, Act Locally”).  However, prospects in the bookstores (particularly those in urban areas and near college campuses) could be better, if Cinebook get its titles on the shelves.  The Cinebook line as currently constituted has a nice mixture of books for all age groups, including plenty of excellent titles for younger readers.