The history of Dargaud

Georges Dargaud founded «Editions Dargaud» in 1943. Originally a distribution and printing group, Dargaud has diversified down the years.

In 1960 Georges Dargaud bought the magazine "Pilote", created a few months earlier by independent writers René Goscinny, Jean-Michel Charlier and Albert Uderzo.Pilote made the firm’s name, launching bestseller series like Asterix, Blueberry and Tanguy & Laverdure, which subsequently became the hit TV show Les Chevaliers du ciel. Continued here

The history of Lombard

Les Editions du Lombard was founded as a small publishing house by Raymond Leblanc in the wake of the Second World War. Leblanc teamed up with two friends, both just as enthusiastic as he was for the printed word. In 1945 the fledgling company set up in Brussels, where it occupied three modest offices close to the famous Grand'Place, at 55 rue du Lombard. Les Editions du Lombard kicked off its publishing activities with the launch of two popular magazines.

It was then that Raymond Leblanc undertook a daring enterprise, investing all of his savings in the launch of Tintin magazine. Eight Tintin albums had already been published and the diminutive reporter, created by Hergé in 1929, was a popular character. But it would be the first time that Tintin was the title hero and the host of a comic strip weekly. The magazine went on sale at Belgian kiosks and bookstores on 26 September 1946. Alongside Hergé with Tintin and Snowy in The Prisoner of the Sun, it also included E.P. Jacobs’s Blake & Mortimer in Le Secret de l'Espadon, P. Cuvelier’s Corentin Feldoë and Hassan & Kaddour by J. Laudy. Within two days every last one of the 60,000 copies had been sold! Continued here

The consolidation of the group and the audiovisual advance

Dargaud’s activities in the audiovisual sector confirm, more than ever, its desire to be a major force on the image market (co-production of the animation series Lucky Luke, Corentin and Blake & Mortimer).

In the comic strip sector, les Editions du Lombard was incorporated into the Dargaud Group in 1992. A year later les Editions Blake & Mortimer, Studio Jacobs and the JMC catalogue titles (Jean-Michel Charlier; new series Barbe Rouge and Blueberry) were also acquired. Continued here

Presentation of Dargaud-Lombard (Belgian site)