The best 60000 in booth are sold in a few days

The traveller who arrives in Brussels on arrival by the Midi station is not the Miss. The effigy of the reporter Tintin with his faithful spot, overlooking the building of the Lombard editions, has long been part of the landscape of the Belgian metropolis. Since its installation in 1958, the year of the universal exhibition, it symbolizes the top of its five metres, the adventure cultural and industrial of one of the most famous publishers of Franco-Belgian comic strip, whose history is intimately associated that mythical log "Tintin". The next restoration of this advertising sign, heritage of Brussels-capital region, should thus be a point of organ at the events that the Publishing House has proposed throughout this year 2006 to celebrate son sixtieth anniversary.

The origin of the Lombard publishing dates back to September 26, 1946. That day the editor Raymond Leblanc, with its past of resistant, launches with Hergé, that he was out of his purgatory where it had plunged to charges of collaboration, the first issue of the journal "Tintin". The success is explosive. The best 60,000 in booth are sold in a few days. Today, the House Publishing, past in 1988 under the control of the Média-Participations group, take always the image of Tintin, well that she has never edited the albums of the adventures of the little reporter published by Casterman and that the magazine "youth from 7 to 77 years" has ceased publication in 1989 after the heirs of Hergé recovered rights.

"The current team is very proud to work for a home to the prestigious past, explains Yves Sente, the Editorial Director." "But the fact that we are sometimes related to our history we just annoys, because we are as much, if not stronger than young publishers", provides. Program set up to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary invites therefore not only to return to the past six decades. Of course, development of this prestigious past through the collection "Vintages", which brings together 12 great classics of the catalogue (Blake and Mortimer, Michel Vaillant, Corentin, Modeste and Pompon, Chick Bill...) in a close form of the mythical first editions published from 1950 with a canvas back and fourth famous dish of coverage to the Green and yellow diamonds. Produced throughout this year, at a title per month, they can be met in December in a box set replicating the building Brussels society with its famous sign, with a thirteenth album summarizing all of the covers of albums published since the original. At the same time, the House makes a tribute to its prestigious founder, now aged 91 years of age, with the release of a biography written by Jacques Pessis (1) and the creation of the Raymond Leblanc Foundation, to preserve the cultural heritage that it constituted the editions of the Lombard, of the newspaper "Tintin", animated belvision Studios studios and advertising agency Publiart.

Countering the wave of manga

But the House also wants to show that it is oriented towards the future. "The secret of our longevity, is our ability to us question, both from a point of view editorial in the apprehension of the market", says Yves Sente. Not less than twelve new series are thus launched this year, including three in the collection "Portal", apparent this re-entry. The latter, the loose-fantasy, science fiction and worlds virtual, real or alternative-oriented is not considered as a response to surging Japanese, which the company is facing, as publishers of Franco-Belgian comic strip. "This collection responds to a need for copyright," said Editorial Director.

Exceptional year requires, the Lombard will be published this year 47 news. It is many, few at a time. If it has significantly increased the number of its releases in recent years, the editor remains infinitely less prolific than his colleagues. This selectivity, pledge of quality, to benefit. The Lombard owns 8.5 of the French comic market (7.35 France) with only 2.5 of the total production of the sector. "We want to continue to do little, though, what will be the best response to the wave of manga", provides Yves Sente. It has therefore remain on a rate of releases reasonable over the next years (around 55 titles per year), by exploiting more systematically a Fund of some 800 titles rich catalogue, while attracting new talent that will contribute to further evolve the image of the company.