The 46th Angoulême International Comics Festival opens Thursday. Some 200,000 festival-goers are expected for four days, with exhibitions on events dedicated to Batman , Tom-Tom and Nana , Richard Corben, and Jérémie Moreau, winner of the Fauve d'Or in 2018 with La Saga de Grimr . So many exhibitors who should have a smile, because the comics sector is doing well, very well even, since the year 2018 was the best in 15 years.

The indestrables. In 2018, 44 million comics were sold, one million more than in 2017, and five more than in 2016, according to the GfK Institute. Looking in detail, we note that it is mostly series, safe values ​​of the Ninth Art, which dominate sales. Of the ten most sold comics this year, nine are series: Lucky Luke , Black and Mortimer, The Arab of the future , The Old Furnaces or Dragon Ball . Only Marion Montaigne and his In the Combo of Thomas Pesquet are an exception.

>> From 5h to 7h, it's "Stand up friends" with Matthieu Noël on Europe 1. Find the replay of the show here

A breakthrough of manga and comics. Overall, the sale of Franco-Belgian comics is slightly down. These are the comics and especially the manga that boost the market, with an increase of 11% over one year, or 38% of comics in France. "There is a culture of manga that has come to France, and today, people who have been brought up with manga like Goldorak , Candy or Naruto have come to the publishing houses," says Benoit Pollet, director. Editions Dargaud. "They develop and ink this cultural genre in France".

On the comic side, the film industry has indirectly helped to boost sales in the past year. "Last year we sold 44% more comic books than in 2017. Why? Because there were ten superhero films that were released in the year," explains Europe 1 Thursday morning Didier Pasamonik, editor-in-chief of ActuaBD, the leading comic book site.

>> Find the interview of Didier Pasamonik, guest of Matthieu Noël Thursday morning:

More and more publications ... To multiply its sales, the comic book market also multiplies its publications. More than 5,000 comics come out every year, enough to reach all audiences. "There are young people with mangas, but there is also another phenomenon that is the graphic novel, with, for example, Riad Sattouf's L'Arabe du futur, and between the two, there are these comics for all of them. world that are, for example, Asterix and Lucky Luke ", details Didier Pasamonik.

.... and a profession that is precarious. As a result of this inflation, few authors can really live by their pen. More than half of cartoonists and scriptwriters earn less than the SMIC. But they can still hope to take advantage of the great spotlight brought by a reward won at Angoulême. "In 2017, they put as headliner the comics of two Belgian designers (Eric Lambé and Philippe de Pierpont for Landscape after battle , Ed .) The album multiplied by 200 sales," says Didier Pasamonik. "A Golden Fawn is a multiplier."