Dargaud

Société Dargaud, doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud, publishing its first comics in 1943.

Initially, Dargaud published novels for women. In 1948, they started Line, a "magazine for elegant women", as well as a French edition of the Belgian Tintin magazine.

In 1960, Dargaud bought the weekly Pilote magazine from René Goscinny, Albert Uderzo, and Jean-Michel Charlier, and the same year they published their first albums. Goscinny continued as editor of the magazine, and Charlier was album editor for a period.

In 1974, Dargaud wanted to diversify, and Pilote became a monthly magazine, and spawned another two monthly magazines. The new magazines were Lucky Luke Mensuel (a Western themed magazine around the series Lucky Luke) and Achille Talon Magazine (a humor based magazine around the series Achille Talon). However, both of them were unable to sustain a readership and folded within a year. The comics from these two magazines were put back into Pilote.

In 1988, Dargaud was acquired by Média-Participations.



Selected titles

 * Asterix - Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny
 * Barbe rouge - Jean-Michel Charlier, Victor Hubinon etc.
 * Black Moon Chronicles - Olivier Ledroit and François Marcela-Froideval
 * Blacksad - Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido
 * Blake and Mortimer - Edgar Pierre Jacobs etc.
 * Blueberry - Jean-Michel Charlier, Jean Giraud etc.
 * Djinn - Jean Dufaux and Ana Mirallès
 * Lucky Luke - Morris, René Goscinny etc. (on Lucky Comics, joint venture between Lucky Productions and Dargaud)
 * Philemon - Fred
 * Tanguy et Laverdure - Jean-Michel Charlier, Albert Uderzo, Jijé etc.
 * The Vagabond of Limbo - Christian Godard, Julio Ribera
 * Valérian - Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières
 * XIII - Jean van Hamme and William Vance