Figures et lieux de l’alternative : un état des lieux

When critically exploring alternative comics, the various actors participating in the processes of legitimization of the form—including print and broadcast media, festivals, scholars and the critical community—often privilege a handful of people (Sfar, Trondheim, Ware, Satrapi…), a small number of publishers (especially L’Association), a few particular formats such as the “graphic novel,” emblematic genres (the memoir and autobiography), or certain geographical areas such as France and/or the United States. In fact, the phenomenon of alternative comics may take a multitude of forms and is resolutely international in scope. Despite this diversity, alternative comics worldwide nevertheless share common objectives. They notably include a challenging of two of the most common critical stances directed against a multitude of “traditional” publishers of the form, namely: their inclination towards ethnocentricity and their cultivation of amnesia. Far from sweeping away the history of the form, alternative comics artists and publishers alike attach great value to the past of the medium and generally embrace it.