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L'Épatant was a former magazine of humorous comics created on April 9, 1908 by the Offenstadt Publications, a publishing house run by the Offenstadt Brothers, which ran until August 24, 1939. L'Épatant was a weekly magazine published every Thursday.
History edit
The first issue was a free supplement to the Petit Journal, consisting of sixteen pages. In the early years, the magazine cost five centimes; its price began to increase regularly from August 9, 1917, reaching thirty centimes in 1920, a price it maintained until 1936. The magazine contained news, serialized novels, and illustrated stories, the latter being presented in the form of drawings accompanied by text (narration or dialogue) placed below.
It was in issue 9 of L'Épatant (June 4, 1908) that Louis Forton first published his famous comic series Les Pieds Nickelés.
During World War I, the magazine strongly emphasized patriotism and the valorization of French fighters, particularly through the antics of the Pieds Nickelés.
In his autobiographical work Les Mots, Jean-Paul Sartre mentions his attraction to the magazine: "I invented a difficult and deadly universe – that of Cri-Cri, of L'Épatant, of Paul d'Ivoi".
In the 1960s, the Société parisienne d'édition was absorbed by Publications Georges Ventillard.
Several attempts to revive the title were made. The first lasted from April 19 to November 22, 1951, with 32 weekly issues of 8 pages featuring series such as Les Pieds Nickelés (drawn by Pellos), Bibi Fricotin (by Pierre Lacroix), and Les Aventures préhistoriques de Tétar-Zan (by Mat and Lortac). A second relaunch was attempted from March 2 to November 2, 1967 (36 weekly issues of 28 pages), and a third from December 1967 to June 1969 (twelve monthly issues then bimonthly in pocket format). However, these new formats failed to compete with the strong competition from weeklies offering higher-quality comics, such as Spirou and Tintin, joined from 1959 by Pilote.
In 1981, the magazine Marius, also owned by the Ventillard group, changed its title to L'Épatant Marius for eight issues before being absorbed by Le Hérisson, which ceased publication in 1994.
Further reading edit
- Jean-Louis Touchant, La Fabuleuse Histoire de L'Épatant, dossier paru dans le magazine le Rocambole n° 52-53 Les illustrés pour la jeunesse, 2010
External links edit
- Presentation of l'Épatant magazine on the BD Nostalgie website.
References edit