The ACBD, an association of comics industry journalists in France, published this year’s annual report on comics publishing, which was translated by Bleeding Cool. The most interesting part to us was the run down on which French translations of American comics were the bestsellers and how those sales numbers compared to manga from Japan and to France’s own comics. It turns out the country still enamored with Jerry Lewis also has taste in comics that could be described as… eclectic? Sure. Eclectic.
The top three best-selling translated issues were, not surprisingly, The Walking Dead, with 100,000 or more copies of each issue sold. But the list gets stranger from fourth place on down. Several of the top spots go to Les Simpson, Bart Simpson, and Bartman, three comics based on The Simpsons. Two top spots went to Garfield, because of course France hates Mondays.
But here’s the big upset: Batman Renaissance was just slightly edged out by Bartman. Yes, Bartman beat Batman in France. ¡Ay, caramba!
Rounding out the translated American bestsellers were La Grande épopée de Picsou — which is a frou frou way to say Scrooge McDuck — and Kick-Ass 3.
It’s also interesting to note how poorly the American comics sold compared to French and Japanese comics. The best-selling issue of Walking Dead still sold fewer copies than the 16th bestselling domestic comic and the 8th bestselling manga. Popular manga included Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail, L’Attaque des titans [Attack On Titan], Bleach, King’s Game, Seven Deadly Sins, Black Butler, Les Gardiens du Louvre [The Guardians Of The Louvre], All You Need Is Kill, King’s Game Extreme, Assassin’s Creed Awakening, Soul Eater, Pokémon, Gunnm Last Order, Darwin Game, Area D, Bakuman, and Übelblatt.
And if you’re wondering why we listed so many manga titles there, it’s because they all sold more copies than Batman. So many things are flying off the shelf faster than Batman…