French culture, dead? This announcement made to the world by the American "Time" provoked immediate reaction with references to; contemporary art (Sophie Calle), music (Pierre Boulez), theatre (Chereau), cinema (Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert) architecture (of Portzamparc, Andreu) design (Starck), and street arts (Royal de Luxe) e.t.c. However, it is most strange that those defending the vitality of French culture did not think to mention a field which wonderfully illustrates the fertility, richness and diversity of French creation: Comics.

Ask Chihoi Lee, a young up and coming figure of Chinese comics who recently received an award from the retrospective exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, who his main influences were. Question the Corean editor Kim Dae-Joong, a pioneer in his country at the helm of an original and demanding publishing company, Sai Comics, what gave him the desire to publish. Read the interviews of Taiyô Matsumoto, a major Japanese manga author for adults, evoking the images and artists who directly influenced his conception of comics. Ask the Canadian author Seth or the American Craig Thompson who they admire most. And then lets ask ourselves why a film director such a Steven Spielberg chose, out of all the possibilities, to adapt the works of a certain Hergé...

All writers and artists will quote French comics, its authors, its albums, its editors, its audacity, its innovations, its experiments. There are no limits to type, style, subject or generation, it is continual French artistic learning curve; from Bilal to Blutch or Lewis Trondheim, from Moebius to Dupuy-Berbérian or Marjane Satrapi (the list is long). This is not just self acclaim but a clear, calm and proud declaration of the vitality of a particular culture. For over twenty years French comics have been reinvented and evolved with new forms and themes, and with new narratives and content. But, most importantly, it has excelled above the rest for over two decades, shaping and influencing comics worldwide.

As an answer to the "Time" let us remind them that the 35th Angoulême International Comics Festival is about to take place and the program from the 24th to the 27th of January is more than ever concerned with the promotion and the defence of authors, in the most creative way possible. Without creating controversy, this whole profession and network can firmly assume its talent and imprint.

Now all we have to do is convince, not the whole world, but certain of our closest partners.... When will it be fully accepted that comics are, to the same extent as literature, an integral part of our living heritage and that they are an asset and an ideal way of transmitting French culture? Please excuse us for personalising this debate but remember that the International Angoulême Comics Festival is a referential event for all comic creators, an event where renowned authors, such as Art Spiegelman and Katshuro Otomo, come to receive compliments and acclaim from their peers. So while the "Time" claims the death of French culture, is it not time to double efforts to reinforce public and private synergy therefore increasing the export of French culture, as the Japanese and Americans do?

French culture, dead? Your joking! Come along to the Comics Festival at the end of January where the world of comics is waiting to prove the contrary.

Franck Bondoux & Benoît Mouchart
(general delegate and artistic director of the International Angoulême Comics Festival)