Benin.
Benin
1990
Beninese comics grew out of press cartooning after the return of a free press at the end of the 1980s.
Hector Sonon, who began publishing drawings in 1987, brought out the self-published album Zinsou et Sagbo around 1990 and became the best-known Beninese comics author. In the late 1990s he and colleagues formed the association Bénin-dessin, and in 2013 the Zinsou Foundation in Cotonou gave him a retrospective described as unique in black francophone Africa.
8
8
1990
1990s
Artists from Benin in the archive.
Comics from Benin in the archive.
Zinsou et Sagbo, the earliest comic from Benin in the archive.
The decade when the most new comics from Benin began.
bande dessinée
Benin in 2 chapters
A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.
Benin.
2 chapters
Chapter 1
1987
to 1999
Free press and first albums
1987
to 1999
Chapter 01
Free press and first albums
Independent newspapers appeared in Benin only after the late 1980s, and Hector Sonon began publishing drawings in the press in 1987, first in La Gazette du Golfe and then in the satirical Le Cafard enchaîné. His first album Zinsou et Sagbo, about twin brothers, followed around 1990, and Bénin-dessin, a group of caricaturists and comics authors including Sonon and Constant Tonakpa, formed in the late 1990s.
2000
to today
Chapter 02
Exhibitions and publishers abroad
Hervé Alladayè (Hodall Beo) wrote the comic Les zémidjans protest in 2000, and in April 2006 the French Cultural Centre of Cotonou showed an exhibition on the heroes of Beninese comics with ten cartoonists. Sonon's graphic novel Toubab or not Toubab appeared with a European publisher in 2012, and the Zinsou Foundation held his retrospective in February 2013.
The comics to know
- Zinsou et Sagbo1990 · comic book seriesHector Sonon. Self-published album about twin brothers, regarded as the first Beninese comic; sources date it 1988 to 1990.
- Les Couleurs de la Mémoire1996 · comic stripHector Sonon. Series in the magazine Inter Faces between 1996 and 2000.
- Les zémidjans protest2000 · comic stripHervé Alladayè. Humorous report in eight comic strips on the motorbike taxis of Cotonou.
- Toubab or not Toubab2012 · graphic novelJean-Claude Derey, Mathias Mercier and Hector Sonon. Graphic-novel adaptation of a novel, published by Rivages/Casterman/Noir.
The people to know
- Hector SononBorn 1970Best-known Beninese comics author; first drawings in 1987.
- Hervé Alladayè (Hodall Beo)Caricaturist and comics author; second prize at the Yaoundé caricature festival in 2002.
- Florent Couao-ZottiBorn 1964Novelist and comics writer, editor of satirical papers; wrote Adéfèmi with Sonon.
- Constant TonakpaCaricaturist and comics author, member of Bénin-dessin.
- Didier ViodéBorn 1979Artist and comics author of Beninese origin, living in France.