Glénat Éditions

• 1. Introduction

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  Glénat Éditions began not in a boardroom but in the imagination of a student named Jacques Glénat, who in 1969 launched a comics fanzine called Schtroumpf, borrowing the French-language title of the series that would later become The Smurfs. Three years later, at the age of twenty, he turned that passion project into a fully-fledged publishing house. What happened next is a story about a small operation in Grenoble growing into the second largest comics publishing group in France. How did a student's fanzine become home to series selling tens of millions of copies? And what does a 17th-century convent have to do with any of it?

• 2. A Student's Gamble

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  Jacques Glénat was twenty years old in 1972 when he registered his publishing house. The first two books he put out came from Claude Serre and Claire Bretécher. Within two years, the Angoulême International Comics Festival named him best publisher in France. That recognition did not arrive after decades of patient work; it came while the company was still finding its feet. To keep up with demand, Glénat opened warehouses in Orly, near Paris, and launched a flagship store in the capital. The 1974 Angoulême award was early proof that the industry was paying close attention to what was happening out of Grenoble.

• 3. Magazines and the Graphic Novel Shift

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  Circus, a comics magazine Glénat introduced in 1975, ran until 1989. During those years, the company was quietly moving away from traditional juvenile Franco-Belgian comics and toward the longer, more literary form of the graphic novel. Historical series by François Bourgeon and André Juillard anchored that pivot. A second magazine, Vécu, launched in 1985 and dedicated specifically to historical comics, kept that focus alive until 2004. The two magazines together covered nearly three decades of publishing, giving Glénat durable platforms to develop a distinct editorial identity well beyond the conventional children's album.

• 4. Mountains, Manga, and Titeuf

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  From 1980 onward, Glénat expanded into non-fiction, building a catalogue around mountain climbing and the sea. The company also acquired the publisher Vents d'Ouest, adding another catalogue to its holdings. In 1991, manga entered the list. Dragon Ball eventually reached 17 million copies sold through Glénat's French editions. But even that figure was edged out by Titeuf, the series by Zep, which moved 16 million copies and became one of the bestselling French comic series of any kind. Titeuf generated its own magazine, Tchô, and an animated series, multiplying its presence well beyond the printed page.

• 5. The Shape of the Business

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  As of 2009, comics accounted for half of Glénat's annual turnover, with manga contributing another 20 percent and books a further 15 percent. The book division alone held a catalogue of more than 4,000 titles and published around 400 new books each year, producing roughly 12 million volumes annually. Holding about 20 percent of the French market placed Glénat second only to Média-Participations among French comics publishing groups. Glénat Benelux, based in Brussels, commanded 13 percent of the Belgian comic shop market, while the Swiss subsidiary operated out of Nyon. On the 5th of October 2011, Glénat yielded all of its stake in the Spanish subsidiary to Joan Navarro and Félix Sabaté, the two heads of that former operation, closing the Barcelona chapter.

• 6. A Convent in Grenoble

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  The company's head office occupies the former Convent of St. Cecilia in central Grenoble, a 17th-century structure that had once housed a theater before Jacques Glénat decided to restore it. The restoration took five years to complete. Today, 100 employees work inside the building. The archives, library, and private collection housed there are open to the public, making the headquarters something more than an office. The building is a working institution in the city, connecting the daily business of publishing to centuries of Grenoble's own history.