L'Association
L'Association is a French publishing house which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït. As of 2012, of the original founding members, only Konture continues to be affiliated with the company. L'Association is one of the most important publishers to come out of the new wave of Franco-Belgian comics in the 1990s, and remains highly regarded, having won numerous awards at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. They were among the first to publish authors such as Joann Sfar and Marjane Satrapi , and also are known for publishing French translations of the work of North American cartoonists like Julie Doucet and Jim Woodring. "Lapin" is the group's magazine, which showcases many talents from the European alternative scene. History. L'Association was founded in May 1990 by seven young cartoonists struggling to find an outlet for their work: Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït (who left soon afterward). They named their venture "Atelier Nawak" (later the "Atelier des Vosges"), with the publishing branch being L'Association. One of L'Association's most distinctive works was the seminal  black-and-white anthology "Comix 2000" which includes work from over 300 creators from 29 countries in one 2,000-page hardcover volume. In addition to L'Association's founders, notable contributors to "Comix 2000" included Jessica Abel, Edmond Baudoin, Nick Bertozzi, Émile Bravo, Mike Diana, Julie Doucet, Renée French, Tom Hart, Dylan Horrocks, Megan Kelso, James Kochalka, Étienne Lécroart, Brian Ralph, Ron Regé, Jr., Joann Sfar, R. Sikoryak, Chris Ware, Skip Williamson, and Aleksandar Zograf. By 2005, many of L'Associations founders and creators had begun also publishing in France's "mainstream" industry. That year co-founder Menu published "Plates-bandes", a  diatribe against what he perceived as the co-optation and wholesale copycatting of the alternative comics aesthetic by France's mainstream comic book publishers looking to corner what had suddenly become a lucrative market. Literally meaning "flowerbeds," the title is a pun involving part of the word for comics ("bande dessinée," or "drawn strip"), a concern that independent comics are headed for blandness and platitude ("plat," literally flat or insipid), and a gauntlet thrown down to mainstream publishers for encroaching on indie territory (the colloquial expression "trampling someone’s flowerbeds" means to step on someone's toes). The book coincided  with three of the original founders and a few authors leaving L'Association: David B. left the group in spring 2005; Lewis Trondheim left in autumn 2006, followed shortly after by Stanislas and Killoffer. (At that point, L'Association's "editorial board" was dissolved, since it was originally composed of the company's founders.) In May 2011, after nearly six months of debate Menu announced his official departure from L'Association, leaving only Mattt Konture from the original group. Shortly afterward, co-founders David B., Killoffer, and Trondheim returned to the publishing house.