Towards a New Modernism
in European Comics?
After the incredible developments in the ‘'comic story” during the late
sixties and early seventies, and the apparent consolidation of its new status and
prestige during the period 1975-1985, a deep crisis has affected the European (i.e.
continental') production. Collapsing sales rates, overproduction, the apparent
absence of new voices, and the endless repetition of well known schemes caused
the crisis to be so profound, that around 1990 even the economic survival of the
sector seemed in danger. If recent data allows for a more optimistic view of the
dynamism of authors and publishing companies (or at least of their capability of
resistance), an analysis of the data cannot mask the important mutations which
have taken place. Hence, a serious comparison between the situation of the European
comic strip in 1966 (when comics were still a minor genre in an emerging market)
and its current position (now that the genre has a new balance and possibly even a
new growth) can hardly be made.
Moreover, the solutions given to the problems caused by last decade’s
overproduction and creative exhaustion have not managed to restore the sector’s
artistic development- its dazzling variety. Rather, they have aimed at saving at all
costs the economic infrastructure which appeared in the seventies. The marketing
machine apparently still works satisfactorily, but the medium itself has undergone
such tremendous changes that the crisis of the “comic strip” has only been furthered.
The great expansion of the European comic strip from 1970 until the
mid- eighties was given a boost by the concurrence of three main developments.
The sudden diversification of production not only granted the traditional sectors
of pulp and didactic youth fiction a vigorous adult counterpart, but also managed
to open initially underground-inspired comics (for instance the famous “silly and
mean” humour of magazines such as Metal Hurlant and Circus) to a wide range of
mainstream narrative subgenres (e.g. those illustrated by A siiivre).
The development of a new economic environment led to the promotion
of new types of stories as well as new forms of sale and distribution (notable
exceptions here are merchandising and advertising exploitations). Both authors
and publishers became more professional and thus the creation of specialized shops
rose dramatically. Increasingly, more host mediums were conquered: newspapers,
weeklies, monthly magazines, albums (in hard back or paperback following the
national traditions), and finally “real books”, which some Anglo-Saxon critics began
to call graphic novels (this term is now well known in Europe too, although it has