Mourad Boudjellal, a businessman who had just relaunched a comic book publishing house, broke with the Editis group to join competitor Madrigall (Gallimard, Casterman), he said on Tuesday.
"
After ending his collaboration with the Editis group, Mourad Boudjellal is proud to announce the creation of his comic book publishing company and the entry into his capital of Madrigall
", said this group in a press release. .
The financial terms and in particular the breakdown of capital were not disclosed.
Asked by AFP about the departure of Mourad Boudjellal, former president of the Toulon Rugby Club and now involved in football in Hyères, Editis declined to comment.
The businessman had founded a first publishing house in comics in 1989, Éditions Soleil, sold to Delcourt in 2011. He returned to the profession in February 2022, within Editis with Mourad Édition.
A single title appeared in March
ÉlyZée
by screenwriter François Durpaire with Farid Boudjellal, brother of the publisher, drawing it.
The name of the new publishing house has not been revealed, but Madrigall suggests that the project will be ambitious, with "
more than fifty major authors in their field
" having signed.
"
Part of the editorial program to be published in 2023 and 2024 will be unveiled at the next
Angoulême Festival" at the end of January, said Madrigall.
Read alsoMourad Boudjellal at the head of a new comic book publishing house
In the editorial team hired are cited the names of two authors, Barbara Canepa and Jean-Luc Istin, and comic book editors, Clotilde Vu, Nadia Berkane-Nesme, Aymeric Jeanson and Laurence Istin.
Mourad Boudjellal had previously worked with Madrigall boss Antoine Gallimard in 2004.
The Madrigall group then launched Gallimard BD in 2005, and bought Casterman, the publisher of Tintin, in 2012. Editis belongs to Vivendi but must be sold in 2023, the latter having acquired its rival Hachette Livre.
This group has multiplied the creations of comics houses in recent years: Philéas (comics and graphic novels) in 2020, then Black River (comics) and Kotoon (webtoons) in 2022. For manga, Kurokawa was founded in 2005.
