Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast
1971
Ivorian comics began in newspapers in the early 1970s.
The weekly Ivoire-dimanche ran the first non-commercial series from August 1971, then Dago in 1973 and Monsieur Zézé in 1978, which gave Abidjan readers local city characters. The satirical weekly Gbich!, founded in 1999 by Lassane Zohoré and Illary Simplice, turned comics into a mass-market press product and led to the Coco Bulles festival. The Ivorian comic best known abroad is Marguerite Abouet's Aya of Yop City (2005), which won the first-comic prize at Angoulême in 2006.
17
18
1971
1970s
Artists from Ivory Coast in the archive.
Comics from Ivory Coast in the archive.
Yapi, Yapo et Pipo, the earliest comic from Ivory Coast in the archive.
The decade when the most new comics from Ivory Coast began.
bande dessinée
Ivory Coast in 5 chapters
A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.
Ivory Coast.
5 chapters
Chapter 1
1971
to 1979
Ivoire-dimanche and the first local heroes
1971
to 1979
Chapter 01
Ivoire-dimanche and the first local heroes
Yapi, Yapo et Pipo by G. Ferrant started in Ivoire-dimanche in August 1971, and Jean de Dieu Niazébo became the first Ivorian cartoonist in the paper. Dago, written by Apollos and drawn by Maïga, began on 18 March 1973, and Lacombe launched Monsieur Zézé in October 1978 and the humour magazine Zazou the same year.
1980
to 1998
Chapter 02
Albums, press cartoonists and small magazines
Jess Sah Bi published Imbécile et heureux in 1984, and Benjamin Kouadio began John Koutoukou in Télé-miroir in 1989. Three Monsieur Zézé albums were published in 1989 and 1990 by Achka, the Gabonese house. Lassane Zohoré drew the humour cartoon Le sourire du jour for Fraternité Matin for more than ten years.
1999
to 2004
Chapter 03
Gbich! and the press boom
Gbich! was launched in 1999 with strips such as Cauphy Gombo and Tommy Lapoasse, reaching a print run of up to 25,000 copies in the early 2000s. The artists' association Tache d'encre was founded in 1999 and the first Coco Bulles festival was held in 2001. The 2002 political crisis then cut album publishing for nearly a decade.
2005
to 2012
Chapter 04
Aya of Yop City and Ivorian authors abroad
Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie's Aya de Yopougon appeared from Gallimard in 2005 and won the first-comic prize at Angoulême in 2006. Gilbert G. Groud's Magie noire reached a second volume in 2008, and Abouet's Akissi began in 2010.
2013
to today
Chapter 05
Recovery after the crisis
An animated film of Aya of Yop City was released in 2013. The fourth Coco Bulles festival was held in Grand-Bassam in 2017, the youth monthly Kilimanjaro started in April 2017, and Gbich! reached its 1000th issue on 10 January 2019.
The comics to know
- Dago1973 · comic stripApollos and Maïga. Breakthrough strip about a rural migrant in Abidjan, in Ivoire-dimanche.
- Monsieur Zézé1978 · comic stripLacombe. Strip about an Abidjan working-class man, which ran for about ten years.
- Gbich!1999 · comics magazineLassane Zohoré, Illary Simplice and others. Satirical weekly of humour and comics, still running in 2019 with its 1000th issue.
- Magie noire2003 · comic book seriesGilbert G. Groud. Album about sorcery, published by Albin Michel.
- Aya of Yop CityAya de Yopougon2005 · comic book seriesMarguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie. Best-known Ivorian comic abroad; Angoulême first-comic prize in 2006.
- Akissi2010 · comic book seriesMarguerite Abouet and Mathieu Sapin. Children's series by Abouet.
The people to know
- Marguerite AbouetComics writer, Born 1971Writer of Aya of Yop City and Akissi.
- Lassane ZohoréComics artist, Born 1967Co-founder of Gbich! and of the Coco Bulles festival.
- Benjamin KouadioComics artist, 1967 to 2019Creator of John Koutoukou and Petit Débrouyair (1967 to 2019).
- Gilbert G. GroudComics artist, Born 1956Painter and author of Magie noire.
- LacombeCartoonist, Born 1950Creator of Monsieur Zézé and the magazine Zazou.
- Illary SimpliceCartoonist, Born 1974Co-founder of Gbich!; creator of Tommy Lapoasse.
More artists from Ivory Coast
- Kan SouffleBorn 1978 · cartoonist
- Jess Sah Bicartoonist
- Karlos GuédégouBorn 1966 · cartoonist
- Jean de Dieu Niazébocartoonist
- Bertin AmanviBorn 1974 · comics artist
- Roland PolmanBorn 1988 · cartoonist
- Désiré AtsainBorn 1966 · comics writer
- MendozzaBorn 1964 · cartoonist
- Landry Anoï MessouBorn 1975 · comics artist
- Koffi-Roger N'guessanBorn 1975 · comics author
- Jean Thomas GbalinBorn 1969 · cartoonist
- Faustin Titicartoonist
More comics from Ivory Coast
All 18 comics- Gbichton2001 to 2002 · comics magazine
- Sergent Deutogo2000 · comic strip
- Petit Débrouyair1991 · comic book series
- Gbassmancomic strip
- Jo'Bleck1997 · comic strip
- Les aventures de Grégoire Kokobé1972 · comic strip
- Blolo Bian, l'amant de l'au-delà2003 · graphic novel
- Tommy Lapoassecomic strip
- Yapi, Yapo et Pipo1971 · comic strip
- Kilimanjaro2017 · comics magazine
- Zazou1978 to 1986 · comics magazine
- Imbécile et heureux1984 · graphic novel