Comics (1964–2024)

A brilliantly illustrated survey of the international comic book landscape over the past sixty years. Published to accompany a major exhibition at Centre Pompidou, Paris in May 2024, this is a timely reframing of the international comics landscape over the past six decades. For the first time, this survey establishes a dialogue between the three leading regions of comic book culture - Europe, Asia and America - and offers an immersive odyssey of the medium through its development over the decades, ranging from the explosion of the twentieth century underground scene to the most abstract contemporary styles.

Beginning in the 1960s, when comics were still viewed as entertainment for children, an emerging sophisticated graphic style aimed at an adult audience came into focus: in France, the magazine Hara-Kiri provided new terrains for graphical humour, while the adventures of Jean-Claude Forest's Barbarella were published in albums by Éric Losfeld; the launch in Japan of Garo in 1964, an avant-garde monthly, presented the concept of auteur comics; and the release of Robert Crumb's Zap Comix in 1968 established his reputation as the leader of the underground comics movement in the United States. Built around twelve themes which encompass the multiple worlds of the international comic book scene, the catalogue features work by artists such as André Franquin, Gotlib, Claire Bretécher, Osamu Tezuka, Mœbius, Edmond Baudoin, Alison Bechdel, Ulli Lust, Art Spiegelman, Marjane Satrapi and Chris Ware. Each theme is introduced by an authority of the medium, and also includes an interview with renowned cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco.