François Hercouet, the Editor-in-Chief of France’s Urban Comics (the publisher of DC Comics and assorted Image, Dark Horse, and BOOM! titles in the country), joins the show to talk about the French comic market and his work at Urban. Hercouet discusses connecting American comics with French readers, the essence of Urban Comics, emphasizing creators, production value, the France comic market, his path to running Urban, making superhero comics easier to read, working with retailers, curating a publishing line, having an art-centric approach, cover art, the evolution of comics in France, his view of the American market, and more.

You can find Hercouet on Urban Comics’ Substack and his work in its comic releases.

You can download the episode directly here on Libsyn.

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Thanks to the sponsor of this week’s podcast: Zoop! July continues the fully funded Stardust The Super Wizard Anthology, featuring an all-star creator lineup including Mike Allred, Francesco Francavilla, Jeff Parker, Pete Woods and more, the fully funded La Borinquena Volume 1 Hardcover from Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, as well as new projects from Glenn Bray, Paul Allor, Stacked Deck Press, Tripwire Magazine, and coming later this year, Howard Chaykin’s first foray into crowdfunding! Head to Zoop’s website to support the live campaigns and sign up for launch alerts for what’s next. Also, Zoop is taking submissions! So creators, reach out at hello@wearezoop.com to learn more!

Also, thanks to the other sponsor of this week’s podcast: Bad Idea! They’re headed back to Kickstarter for The End from David and Maria Lapham, Scorpio Steele, Bill Crabtree and Dave Sharpe, with this being a digital comic that will see them squaring off with Amazon for supremacy of that market. Keep up with them at their website and on Twitter for all the latest.

Also, big thanks to my patrons, including – but not limited to – Cancel Comics, Scott Place, Travis Gibb, Darcy Van Poelgeest, Kevin Bides, Tom Evans, Natalie Mokry, Reid Beaman, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Max Wood, Jeremy Lambert, Brian, Chris Doray, Nir Levie, Dennis Hoffman, Jason Hussa, Kieron Gillen, Jonathan Kent-Uritam, Henry Johnston, Django Bohren, James Tynion IV, Chris Lankford, Jason Wood, Tom Peachey, Ben Damstedt, Ram V, Nick Walker, Patrick Coyle, Isaac Orin, Scott Carpenter, Rentnarb Studios Comics, Capes and Tights Podcast, Klaas Van de Ven, Brian, Submet Industries, Jack Mulqueen, Kyle, Karl Kerschl, Robert Masella, Elsa Charretier, Luc Nakashoji, Dr. Luke, Scott Haselwood, CanadianByProxy, Bradley Roeder, Carl Choi, Brandon De Pillis, Patrick Brower, Declan Shalvey, Dan Gearino, Atom Freeman, Ben Wild, Brian Klein-Q, Nick Bennett, Daniel Whitfield, Susana Polo, Reed Hinckley-Barnes, Mario Tiambeng, Andrew Kurita, Matt Mahoney, Stefan Hull, Phillip Maira, Chris Bachalo, Torunn Grønbekk, FuzBubbles, Christopher Ta, Transmitterdown, Walt’s Comics & Books, Akil Wilson, Alex Dimitropolous, Terry Dodson, Wesley Gift, Shawn Kirkham, Julio Anta, Brett A. Schmidt, Jason Goodmanson, Paul Reinwand, Vita Ayala, Akylle, Phillip Sevy, Al Ewing, Ryan Alcock, David Kelley, Nick Poleto, Matthew Groom, Jason Nassi, Adam Bogert, Matthew Taylor, Nick Pitarra, Jacob Sareli, Ford Gilmore, David Baroldy, Nick Hall, Bjorn Basen, John Hendrick, Steve Anderson, Ian Maxfield, Cliff Chiang, Colin McMahon, Scott McGovern, Nathan Fairbairn, Adam Highfill, Fiona Staples, Mark Abnett, Michael Shirley, Tom Barnett, Jim Demonakos, Norbert, Nick Lowe, James Kaplan, and Mission: Comics and Art in San Francisco. You’re all the best.

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Header photo is from Filipe Andrade’s cover art for The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #1. Off Panel’s opening theme music is Vulfpeck’s “Outro,” used with permission from the band (and thanks for me for them doing so!), with the rest of the music being an original track by custom music agency Upright T-Rex Music, written and performed specifically for the podcast. A huge thanks to Ross and Cody from Upright T-Rex Music for putting the track together!