The French manga Pink Diary has come up in the comments and it sounds kind of interesting, so I’m linking to this review (in French) so you can see the cover and sample page. The manga/not-manga debate is raging over there as well; I’ll translate (roughly) the relevant graf:
Even before its appearance, this series had stimulated a debate on the name “manga” for non-Japanese comics that use the conventions and formats of the genre. Remember that this work is not the first French “manga” and that “L’Autoroute du soleil,” for example, has had some success.
I don’t think anyone would mistake this for Japanese manga; the landscape shot in the sample page is unmistakeably French, and the cover reminds me of the Babysitters Club more than anything else. But if global manga is going to grow as a medium, that’s what it’s all about—everyone bringing something new to the party. Pink Diary sounds like doesn’t stray too far off the manga reservation—it begins with a girl waking up in bed with a guy she detests, who soon learns that her secret crush is going to the same school as her. There’s the difficult twin brother and the shrinking-violet friend. So we’re definitely in the shoujo genre. I wonder if Tokyopop will license it?
Fun fact: The review notes that Jenny worked on storyboards for Totally Spies.
UPDATE: I just found this interview with Jenny, which includes another page of her art and some interesting comments on manga and comics. I’ll translate it if people are interested.
For what it’s worth, I just remembered the name of the fourth (relatively) current french manga: “Sentai School”. Actually the first two volumes seem to have been published in 2003/04 by Semic, but the series was recently picked up and republished by Kami, with three volumes out now. That’s the edition I remembered seeing recently.
http://www.mangajima.com/manga/fiches/sentaischool.htm
http://sentaiprod.free.fr/
http://www.mangakami.com/catalogue_series.php?serie=Senta%EF%20School&id=
I didn’t even think of “L’Autoroute du Soleil” because a) it’s quite a bit older (1994/95), b) it actually appeared in Japan first, IIRC in Morning, and c) it (probably intentionally) doesn’t look like any of the mainstream mangastyles and (at least to me) weird even compared to the few indy mangas I’ve seen.
http://www.airsoftconsulting.com/baru/Album.aspx?page=7&album=autoroute
http://www.airsoftconsulting.com/baru/PagesAlbum.aspx?album=autoroute&page=1
~Althalus
On the topic of French “Manga”, this might be of some interest to you guys.
http://www.boilet.net/am/nouvellemanga_manifeste_1.html
Is it just me or I actually think the “manga” posted had a strong influence from Jiro Taniguchi (who is also in turn influenced by french BD).
I’m quite envyous of the French manga market, lots of works published over there that would never see the light of day over here, (unless scanlations count). I would hope that fan artists would in turn produce higher quality work becuase of the diversity of foreign material published there there.
“I’m quite envious of the French manga market, lots of works published over there that would never see the light of day over here”
I’m french, and it even surprises me! I went to a library I used to go and their manga shelves were 10 times bigger than 2 years ago. With titles I’ve never heard/seen on the net!
Well, almost every 20/30 years old was a fan of Candy Candy, Grandizer or Captain Harlock in his childhood.
This is pretty amazing. Being a French person I can’t wait to get this when I visit France again! Anyway, another thing you probably haven’t mentioned is that Jenny is from Madagascar. I thought it was interesting because I’m from Madagascar too and I’m excited that she is getting some recognition! Anyway, best of luck to “Pinky Diary”. ^^