Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics

Franco-Belgian comics

Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...

, specializing in comic books and children's literature

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

. The company is based in Tournai

Tournai

Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.

Founded in 1780, Casterman was originally a printing company and publishing house. In 1934, Casterman took over the Le Petit Vingtième

Le Petit Vingtième

Le Petit Vingtième was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle from 1928 to 1940. The comics series The Adventures of Tintin first appeared in its pages.-History:...

 editions for the publication of the albums of The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...

, from the 4th album of the series, Cigars of the Pharaoh

Cigars of the Pharaoh

Cigars of the Pharaoh is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero...

. From 1942, Casterman published reworked versions and colored versions of the previous Tintin albums.

Strengthened by the success of Hergé

Hergé

Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...

's comics, shortly after Casterman proposed new series with new authors such as Jacques Martin, François Craenhals

François Craenhals

François Craenhals was a Belgian comics artist best known for the comic series Chevalier Ardent and Les 4 As.-Biography:...

 and C. & V. Hansen

C. & V. Hansen

C. & V. Hansen is the name used by the Danish couple Carla and Vilhelm Hansen to sign their Rasmus Klump comics .-Biography:...

. From 1954 on, Casterman published children's books as well, including the successful Martine

Martine

Martine is the title character in a series of books for children written in French by the Belgians Marcel Marlier and Gilbert Delahaye. and edited by Casterman...

books by Marcel Marlier

Marcel Marlier

Marcel Marlier was a Belgian artist and illustrator. He was born in Herseaux, Belgium. When he was 16, he enroled in decorative art at Saint-Luc de Tournai. He finished his studies in 1951 with the greatest distinction. He returned as a teacher two years later.The Belgian publisher La Procure à...

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Keen to appeal to a more mature market, Casterman decided in 1973 to publish the first albums of Corto Maltese

Corto Maltese

Corto Maltese is a comics series featuring an eponymous character, a complex sailor-adventurer. It was created by Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967...

by the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 author Hugo Pratt

Hugo Pratt

Hugo Eugenio Pratt was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as Corto Maltese...

. Furthermore, in 1978 Casterman established its monthly magazine A Suivre

À Suivre

or was a Franco-Belgian comics magazine published from February 1978 to December 1997 by the Casterman publishing house....

, which was to have an impact on the comics revival of the 1990s. Casterman ceased the publication of A Suivre in 1997.

Casterman is now part of Groupe Flammarion

Groupe Flammarion

Groupe Flammarion is the fourth largest publishing group in France, comprising many units, including its namesake, founded in 1876 by Ernest Flammarion, as well as units in distribution, sales, printing and bookshops . Flammarion became part of the Italian media conglomerate RCS MediaGroup in 2000...

, which in turn was bought by RCS MediaGroup

RCS MediaGroup

RCS MediaGroup S.p.A. , based in Milan and listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, is an international multimedia publishing group that operates in daily newspapers, magazines and books, radio broadcasting, new media and digital and satellite TV...

 (formerly Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera) of Italy.

Casterman's manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series are published under the imprint Sakka

Sakka (publisher)

-Published titles:* Astral Project – Tsuki no Hikari * Bakegyamon* Blade of the Immortal* Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo* Chō Sentō Inu Blanca* Eagle* Gon* Kodoku no Gurume* Mirai Nikki* Shin Chan* Skip Beat!* Toudo no Tabibito...

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