Small Format Comics

The Petit Format comics represent an important chapter in the history of French comics. Appearing in the late 1940s, these publications are characterized by their reduced format (generally 13x18 cm), their affordable price, and their often black and white printing. The first notable small format, 34, was published by the Vaillant Editions in 1949, followed by the famous Super Boy from the Impéria Editions. Their golden age extends from the 1950s to the 1980s, during which publishers such as Lug, Impéria, Aventures et Voyages and Semic popularized iconic series such as Blek, Akim, Zembla or Michel Vaillant. These affordable booklets allowed an entire generation of young readers to escape into worlds of adventure, westerns or science fiction. With more than 18000 titles recorded between 1948 and today, this collection testifies to the richness of a format that has marked the French collective imagination.