Enter Bandes Dessinées: The Best-Kept Secret in Comics 

This is a re-uploaded version, due to a spurious copyright claim. I actually added some interview stuff, rather than simply cut. Godspeed, and enjoy!

Since Razor Fist mentioned a Conan comic that was more true to Robert E. Howard's stories I bought the first The Cimmerian. Now I'm 3 volumes deep and I love it. Hail BD and Hail the Iron Age!

I had no idea Heavy Metal comics originated in Bandes Desinées. Consider my mind blown and you've officially sold me on french comics dude. Going to try pick up whatever I can.

Got myself "The long tomorrow" and it's so beautiful, thank you Razör. BTW, we sold a SHIT TON of Bandes Dessinées (known as European Comics here in Argentina) in our Stand in Crack Bang Bum, the biggest Comic Event in the nation. People love them here, and in the last 3 years they got even more interested in them. Many of the great Argentinian comic creators were much more famous in France, Spain and Italy than here. Hugo Pratts lived 10 years in Argentina and we take him as ours, him and Manara are considered legends here (As Moebius and Jodorosky). We even sold a ton of Spanish Translated Metal Hurlants from the 80s and the many Argentinian and Spanish clones like Fierro and Totem or Cimoc magazines. LONG LIVE BANDES DESSINÉES!

Glad to see Moebius's work be shared to new viewers, may he rest in peace. The French comic has always been under-rated in America, even the Japanese seem to take more notice than we do, but I hope this ignites more people to the beautiful illustrations from France.

The comic book industry over here in Europe is vastly different than the US. Growing up in the Netherlands, outside of the odd Batman comic, the superhero genre was barely out there. Everything from comedy to sci-fi was being published here though. From the French juggernauts to Don Lawrence's Storm (A comic that still runs the same storyline since the mid 70's), and tons of other Belgian, Dutch, English comics. The variety of genres over here is much higher than in the US.

Screw you Razor, after watching this I bought one volume of the Cimmerian and now I'm down $250 from all the BDs I've bought since.

So glad Razorfists acknowledges how mature and good European comics are. And France is the most proud and prolific center of it. As for stellar French sci fi I can recommend Technopriests comics and the more recent Conquests (Jarry, Benot, Heban). As for stellar European comics: Storm (Don Lawrence) and Thorgal (Rosinski) are ABSOLUTE musts.

Yes, welcome to the Euro comics. We offer longer coherent stories, better writing, and infinitely better interior art that's also much more varied. And no fukkin spandex super heroes with world/universe/multiverse ending stakes. Cheers. :) Oh, and did I mention that the interior art is much better?

I’ll read anything you tell me once razor. After I listened to the Elric audiobooks, I was saddled to this channel for the long haul

When i was a child i saw a french science fiction comic an older family friend gave me. It was for adults and i sadly cant remember it. Also it was in french and im german, so i couldnt understand a word. But what i remember is that the art completely blew me away and probably kickstartet my love for comics, art and science fiction. I spend an eternity looking at all the details. I wish i could remember it...it would surely give me a nostalgia flash of epic proportions :)

Razor, I disagree with you a lot on Manga. I think they're some of the best comics I've ever read bar none. BUT thank you for broadening my horizons as I've added plenty of French comics to my shelves with more to be added in the future I'm sure.

Thank you Razor. You have just unveiled a whole new set of awesome for me to hunt down! It's about time other countries than Japan and America get noticed for their great stuff. As a Brit. I gotta give it to the French. You done something we couldn't do! Vive La France! I hated this false dichotomy of Marvel/ DC vs Manga, with anime and manga being the only alternative. I like a bit of both sides of those, but you're looking with tunnel vision if I also got looking in other places, mostly not comics in my case, but I gotta say you're my go to guy for what comics to get into man. I don't know how big BD is here in UK, but I gotta get these when I can scrap up the cash and time to read. I got a backlog and none of it is Marvel, DC or manga. I'm both surprised and amazed that Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Deus Ex all have a culture ancestor, and it's a French one! It's good to see Conan. I had no idea that France and Belgium did so much Westerns.

Considering France also revolutionized horror with the Grand Guignol, this is not even surprising to me. I really need to read Elric of Melnibone now

Travis Charest moved to France and did weapons of the metabaron. I love the idea of an artist taking a year and releasing long form volumes of BD over comics. That’s what I’m trying to accomplish myself

Just want to say I feel blessed to have found this video.....

I know this is kinda late... I just got my first Cimmarian book and, wow. Absolutely beautiful. They will live on my Judge Dredd complete case files shelf. Thanks for the recommendation.

Stories inked by Moebius in Heavy Metal in the late '70s spoiled me. Probably why I look at a lot of entertainment today (all media forms) as crap. Didn't know it originated in France. Thanks for expanding my understanding of the magnificent stuff I was reading back in the day.

Interesting, I posted some of work (very manga influenced) and one of my Japanese followers mentioned that my style looked similar to French style comics. I am interested in checking them out.

I didn't know about this stuff until i heard it mentioned in an episode of Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san.

24:40 I first saw jean louis trintignant in an Italian film called 'il sorpasso' with Vittorio gassman. A brilliant film about a nervous dude meeting up with a loud mouth 'alpha' type who takes him away from his apartment in Rome. Great buddy movie.

I rate this video - but its a re-upload. I hope for much more of this content. Thanks RazorFist!!!

Yeah the French kick ass when it comes to comics Anyone who lives in Europe is aware of this fact

if i remember correctly Luc Besson tried to bring french comic books onto hoellywood a few years ago with "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", i really liked that movie, nice video man, take care

Being from the Netherlands I basically take it for granted that popular french comics end up in our comic stores as well and so before this video I never knew just how spoiled I was.

I've seen this video too many time. Shame it has not so many views. Moebius is the absolute GOAT!

I have already bought two Conan the Cimmerian. (In French) I also have a collection of Heavy Metal 🤘I also have a comic collection which has Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan. Also King Conan. Thanks for sending in this direction it is totally worth it!

Since you're here already, check out Fumetti comics as well

"With a story that moves like a greased turd down a slip n' slide." Gotta love Raz0r's discriptive powers lmao. 😂😂

That,s really cool dude you wanted the work translated no one was doing it so you did it yourself I give you alot of crap sometimes but you wanted to see something done and you made it happen I Respect that .

MAN i was hoping more recomendations and not a re upload

I give you…”Blacksad” wonderful noir detective thrillers.

I was collecting the series XIII (Treize) in French but I haven't finished picking up the set at the moment due to having other expenses at the moment. I knew of the Heavy Metal animated movies but was not familiar with the where the original material came from. I'll have to look at picking up some Métal Hurlant BD's down the road for the collection.

I thought 'the incal' was one of a kind. I mean, it is in a way, but I'm glad there's infinitely more

As I said in the last version of this video, I *really* need to track down an English copy of _"Chroniques de la Lune Noire,"_ *if* for no other reason than due to it's loose connection to _Dungeons & Dragons'_ "World of Greyhawk" campaign - considering the series' author, François Marcela-Froideval, once worked for TSR and had collaborated with Gary Gygax. He even dedicated the series to him! _"Cette série est dédiée à E. Gary Gygax, le premier grand rêveur, l'inventeur du jeu de rôle, celui sans qui l'heroïc-fantasy et la science-fiction ne seraient à l'heure actuelle qu'un genre mineur presque oublié. À ce géant discret qui a fait rêver des millions de joueurs._ _À mon maître, à mon ami. Puisse-t-il éternellement vivre dans les univers qu'il a patiemment tissés._ _In loving memory."_ _"This series is dedicated to E. Gary Gygax, the first dreamer, inventor of the role-playing game, without whom the heroic fantasy and science-fiction genre would only be today a minor, almost forgotten genre. To this quiet giant who made millions of players dream._ _"To my master and friend. May he live forever in the universe he so patiently built._ _In loving memory."_

Being Australian we got FA comics like this. It was only select comic stores that were usually in the city could you get stuff like. But for a short lived time in my home town in the late 90s we got such a comic store. And it was there I discovered Heavy Metal. The art, the strange abstract out of this world stories, the titties, everything just blew my teenage mind. Sadly I was too young to buy them but what I got to read was awesome. And yes I got to check out the movie once I turned 18. So in regards to this video I really gotta check out Metal Hurlant.

I thought you skipped over The Lost Ages until you featured it at the end, I need to give it another gander.

I’m very much looking forward to David Fincher’s adaptation of a French Comic called The Killer by Luc Jacamon and Matz

I like Junji Ito for manga because that horror stuff he does is right up my alley. Razorfist's enthusiasm for these French titles is pretty contagious. I'll check some out for sure because there's not a chance in hell I'm ever buying DC/Marvel or any other American agitprop. That stuff needs to be sent straight to the landfill.

South america : Argentina,chile, brazil also has some very good comic writers/artists

Read the Airtight Garage, it's Mœbius' masterpiece. My other favorite illustrators are Richard Corben and Winsor McCay

I am still clueless on what part of the manga being woke, but thank you for introducing me to these French comics

I’ve heard of it, I was a huge fan of “Sillage/Wake” before they discontinued the English translations for whatever reason. I ought to learn French, but…

was great watching this first time, still great watching it a second time.

Depending on how they set up the deals, having many teams do their own stories of a single IP (intellectual property) isn't a bad thing, as a lot of new content gets created, and later on with the right deal made, meshing together what works and dropping or changing what didn't work on a later project could make a trueley epic product!!!

As a Dutchman I say 'Yesh du-uh!' 🤣 I grew up on French/Dutch comics (les bandes-dessinées if you will), but somewhat later also with translated American superheroes. Later heavily into American comics as they became very available and much later I got into Manga as a grownup middle-aged man.....American comics generally suck now...for some 12 years already....a nice thingie here and there. European comics are still great as is Manga. Only Americans overlook European comics as comics of the West. 🤣

Needs more advertisement. Ive heard of it but it isnt readily available

The baguetes sure do draw pretty.

I'm wondering what you think of The Incal and the related Bandes Dessinées in that universe.

Hey. Hey. Cel-animated Requiem Chevalier Vampire, 100% comic storyboarded. No changes.

Reminds me of Knights of Sidonia, great sci fi manga series.

France's comic and animation industry is probably the most overlooked media in the world.

I keep trying to spread the word fo this. Read Valerian! Magnetic Press keeps putting out great kickstarters of euro-comics too. Europe's got the best comics by far.

I really like that Razor still tries to turn people on to good storytelling, and entertainment. Actually trying to suggest new things to get into. A lot of people get so caught up in drama, and the culture war. They forget to actually try and help people get away from it.

Thank you Razörfist for recommending pulp, noir and bandes dessinees from France.

Okay, I gotta admit, Razor, you did get me interested in checking out French comics (provided I can find them in English or my native language since I don't understand French). Checked out your recommendations and I wasn't disappointed. I hope to see you cover more of them in the future.

I was watching the Bakuman anime, one character wanted to be a manga artist, while his parents wanted to pack him off to Paris so he could study to be a fine artist. If only he'd known, eh?

Timeline for convenience: 00:00 - Intro 02:53 - #5 ~ 'The Long Tomorrow' 08:51 - #4 ~ 'Servitude' 11:34 - #3 ~ 'Undertaker' (+ 'Blueberry') 17:33 - #2 ~ 'Conan: The Cimmerian' 22:12 - #1 ~ 'Durango' 26:05 - Outro

Razorfist makes a 26-minute video where he makes a couple of jabs at manga in the opening minutes and then spends 24 minutes talking about how good bandes dessinées is. The worst of Otaku on twitter : REEEEEEEE, HOW DARE HE SHIT ON MANGA.

RU-vid is asshole. But American comics do nothing for me. You would think you would dive into Superman rescuing a bus veering off the edge of the queensborough bridge due to Dr.Gell cutting them off. But no! It's now about Superman's son boinking his partner under said bridge.

Razor, if you haven't already done so, definitely check out the Blacksad series. Not sure if it counts as Bandes Dessinees because it is written by two Spanish creators, but it is published by a French company in both Spanish and French. An English translation of the series is available. It's a pulp noir series set in the 50s where the characters are all anthropomorphic animals, but it's not a "furry" comic or "cutesy," it's hardcore, hardboiled pulp. Extremely well-written with gorgeous art.

Fortunately growing up in Quebec means I've been around BD all my life. I really hope it takes off more in English North America. Thank you Razorfist for this fantastic video :)

Being from Quebec,i grew up reading those.And there was so much stuff to choose from. A serie that was good was "Alix".It's the story of a young Gaul slave in the time of Jules Cesar.He then gets 'adopted' in a roman family.40 books. Another one is "Yoko Tsuno",a young Japanese engineer.This one is sci-fi.30 books.And some of them have been translated in english. There's the usual,Lucky Luke,Asterix,Tintin,Spirou.

I have fond memories growing up reading all the Asterix & Obelix and Adventures of Tin-Tin books.

Funny enough, I grew up reading Asterix and Tintin, I started reading DC and Marvel when I reached my teenage years. Yes I like manga, but discarding bande dessinée is borderline foolish because some mangas were, influenced by bande dessinée, mainly Moebius' work, your welcome Nausicaa Valley of the wind, Akira and panzer dragoon

Yep. I was blown away the volume and quality of comic book stores in Paris.

Been a big fan of BDs and the Franco-Belgian comics for ages. The French and the Belgians have a really refreshing POV both from story lines and art style. Digging "Once And Future", a very dark twist on the Arthurian legends, but also love the classics like Moebius (Airtight Garage, Arzac, the John DiFool books, etc) and others like Aldebaran, Wake (Sillage in the original French) and Chronicles Of Ythaq, etc.

Great introduction to the legendary French comic book scene. Having been born and raised in a European country (Greece), French and Belgian comics have been translated and sold here since the '60s. The market for BDs was bigger than for American comics. Hell, I even started learning French by reading BDs! 🤓 The quality of art and stories and the variety of genres is staggering. As usual, the French have taken a popular form and elevated it into high art. A lot of these panels belong to art galleries. I highly recommend Americans look into BDs. It's a rabbit hole that will lead you to a real Garden of Delights 😀

One thing I learned from listening to the French creators, they are passionate and true to the books they’re working on. Two things that American comics do not have

For another great comic/graphic novel check out Shakara. It's about the last member of a supremely advanced and violent race of killer robots traversing the galaxy avenging his fallen species, killing everyone responsible. It's badass.

Heavy Metal grabbed me as a teen boy looking for Savage Sword of Conan and more "Adult" stuff. I learnt of Julie Strain, Druuna and Manara stuff and boy as it nothing like anything on the American side. This was no Tin Tin...this was my introduction to Erotica. Also I became a Metalhead at the same time lol!

My absolute favourite BD artists is André Franquin. His Spirou, Gaston, Marsupilami and Idées Noires are works of genius.

Merci RazorFist ! Vive la BD Franco belge ! Salut les ricains !

Requiem by Olivier Ledroit is my favorite series from France. It’s fookin’ awesome.

Repeating the recommendations and remarks on the previous upload, with an addition. First, keep in mind the BD industry is not exlusively French, but has strong ties to Belgium, both the Flemish and Wallonian side of things. That's Dutch-speaking and French-speaking, but culturally considered distinct from the countries they border. That's not a slight, but a remark, in that Walloons and French aren't quite the same, and that may show in their art or themes. Anyway, with that in mind, a repeat. Not sure if they're available state-side, but if you ever go on a trip to stock up, maybe this'll excite you. Le grand pouvoir du Chninkel. Basically what would happen if Tolkien wrote the New Testament and set it in Mad Max. Yes, really. Graphic novel (quite graphic in places), hardcover, black and white goodness. Reynaert de Vos, the version by Marc Legendre and Rene Goens. The story is an old one with many versions, like the Greek myths, but this is the Flemish one rendered in properly Medieval-looking painterly artwork and a translation that respects both modern rules of grammar and old tone. To give you an idea of how big this story was: vampires aren't called Draculas. Pegasi are named after the singular legendary Pegasus. This story's main character is (allegedly) why the French call foxes 'renards.' If you're going to study Dutch or Flemish history, you're going to run across this story at some point or another. It was also part of the inspiration for Disney's Robin Hood, at least for the choice of animals. For those looking to shop locally in Antwerp or Ghent or Malines, there's plenty of stuff to choose from, but recently Dupuis (Google them, big publisher) started releasing 'Integraal' comics, which is a re-publishing or even a first-time publishing of every story in a certain series. Since a lot of the material was initially meant for magazines and varied in length, some stuff was just never in stores until now. Notable examples include Johan en Pirrewiet, which is the original series the Smurfs made their first appearance in. Yes, The Smurfs were side characters originally, they only got their own series *after* they'd been established and hinted at some popularity. Another notable example, though smaller in scale, is "Aurora and Ulysses: Centaurs". So far only the first half has been released, but it is highly recommended if you like your more 'kiddy' comic books to still involve guns and harsher themes. Think Hannah Barbera cartoon with Don Bluth's brand of cruelty mixed in, along with a recurring thing about redemption. More generally, for those looking to learn a new language: French has got you covered with BD in general, and the French-Canadian cartoons will help a lot in getting comprehension down. Some of the old Asterix films are on RU-vid, and they hold up well, so it won't be too much of a slog. If you want the same for Dutch, there's 'Als je Begrijpt Wat ik Bedoel,' which is the first Dutch animated film ever, and also based on a comic book. Bronies, especially, will recognise a few things straight-up lifted out of that movie. Beyond that, there is Jan Zonder Vrees, which is based on a children's novel and not a bad one at that. The source material is available for free online, the author's name is C. de Kinder. Easiest way to describe would be... A Saitama precursor in medieval Antwerp, told with the same sort of prose style as King Solomon's Mines. Lots of descriptions, long tangents to really set in the mood, acquired taste but great if you're into that sort of thing.

One of the side effects of learning about bandes dessinées is that in learning to identify the French style of sci-fi, I realized that one of my favorite Sci-Fi movies, The Fifth Element, is _ridiculously_ French. Honestly, I probably would be reading this stuff if it was even a quarter as ubiquitous in the USA as manga is. I remember I used to like Heavy Metal before it started getting all Current Year.

I learned about french comics back in the day when i was like 11 and would get my mom to buy me Heavy Metal Magazine (circa 1992). Since then its inspired my art and opened up a whole new world of crazy foreign arthouse storytelling in various formats that definitely rival what we would consider masterpieces here . Check out "On the Silver Globe" from 1987, its a strange dune esque masterpiece with a wild production history.

Tintin, Astérix, Léonard, Lucky Luke... all BDs from my childhood. I think we can still buy those in Quebec, Canada.

I like both manga and BD. I think both have their merits, some are the same and some are different. But they both blow american comics out of the proverbial water. I may not agree with you on the subject of Japanese media, but you get a resounding GOD FUCKING SPEED from me either way Razor!

I've been reading this stuff for decades. Make me happy to see French comics getting some love by Razor. Metabarons/Incal are obvious choices.

Thanks for pointing me this way. Awesome video and great recommendations.

Question? How come comics/literature like Valerian and Elric don’t receive that much attention or love in the US despite how influential they are on American IPs like Bladerunner and ASOAIF

Thank you for this. I now have a good reason to get my girlfriend, a French speaker, to help me read French. All wile getting her to read comics starting with Blueberry.

Actually if you want a batshit crazy thing from France it’s actually a mature animated show called Crisis Jung. It’s essentially French Fist of the North Star but also, well, let’s just say exotic type.

To add to the beautiful and sophisticated world of French Bande Desinees, there is another world of comics that even fewer people have heard of; Italian comics! They seem to take inspiration from Hollywood or yore (don't worry guys, back when Hollywood was great!) but have gone their own way - Dylan Dog a paranormal investigator - brilliant artwork! But also historical stories, romance, hard boiled detective stories and if you haven't read any Corto Maltese stories, go and get yourself one! Well worth your time to do an episode on this!

Hey Razor! Don't hesitate to recomand some more BD's in the future!

REUPLOAD! God speed this week rageaholics. I'm reading Jericho and lonesome.

Holy shit the details and style on those graphic novels. EDIT: just ordered the Conans

The artwork for The Long Tomorrow reminds me of a graphic novel by Frank Miller and Geof Darrow called Hard Boiled; a futuristic story about an insurance investigator with amnesia who tries to find out who he really is. I wonder which story came first?? 🤔🤔

Really digging the Cimmerian, Undertaker, and Durango. Thanks for the recommendations!

European comic albums and comics are the real deal. Asterix and Obelix, Kajko i Kokosz, Lucky Luke, Tin Tin, Requiem, 2000 AD...those are the good stuff. There are also American comics that are good and aren't capeshit, but you will have to dig for those.

Other than their immigration policy theirs not much to dislike about France, and that's coming from a Brit.

Other recommendations are Vicente Segrelles Mercenary and the work of Enkil Bilal, which were also featured in Heavy Metal in the past. If you are into less gritty and more stylish suspense/sci-fi stories I can also recommend the Yoko Tsuno series by Roger Leloup and the works of Paul Gillon and Jean Claude Forest. Do not forget Jean Claude Mezieres a good friend of Giraud who did Valerian, which was a huge inspiration to George Lucas (just like the work of Giraud).

I've always felt that the French have had a very unique and sometimes quite intense animation and art scene for a very long time. I can hardly ever find any of it over here in the states though. When I saw this video, I knew I had to check it out to see if this rage machine couldn't correct that for me.

Sad that this had to be re-uploaded. RU-vid and it's copyright system sucks. That being said, if it wasnt for you i would have missed some great BD's just because i never gave the french a chance, thanks man.

I remember doing an English as a Second Language course in Paris back in 2006 and how funny it was to walk into comic book stores that had anime figurines and so many genres of books, both black and white and color and to see so many business dudes in suits reading them. Then contrast that with the typical audience you see in your own country.

If you guys want more Fantasy Bande Desinees, check out Soleil's ''Elves'', ''Dwarves'', ''Orks & Goblins'' & ''Mages'' series. They take place in a shared universe, the Tolkienesque Fantasy world of ''Arran'' and feature epic storylines and great art. If you like classic High Fantasy ala Tolkien, but with a more mature style (as in: lots of blood & nudity), this is for you. Sadly, the english translations have been put on a hold for over a year. Another, fun Fantasy comic, is ''Black Moon Chronicles'' which is much more dark fantasy, but with a hefty dose of humor thrown in for good measure, alongside all the blood, guts & nudity. P.S. ''Servitude'' is in deed great, unfortunately, they only have translated the first 2 issues in english and that was years ago.

My big brother had Heavy Metal & Omni when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I didn't understand it, but I read those books over & over. Heavy Metal became the most sought-after magazine (and movie) ever & I didn't hear about it again until about 1992, when HM was re-released. The Gray muff segment was pretty popular with my friends😂

I was an avid collector of Heavy Metal in the late 80s and throughout the 90s. It had some of the best stories I've ever read. Well worth picking up old issues if you can find them. 👍

Come on Americans make good comics too, Hellboy and 30 days of night are amazing