Bandes Dessinées Trois-Rivières
| Bandes Dessinées Trois-Rivières Three Rivers Comics | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type | Private Company |
| Slogan | |
| Founded | 1920 |
| Location | Saint-Louis, Louisianne |
| Key people | Gauvain Maillard (CEO) |
| Employees | >500 |
| Industry | Publishing |
| Products | Comics, Graphic Novels |
| Revenue | |
Bandes Dessinées Trois-Rivières (formerly Bandes Dessinées des Découvertes et Mystères), and more popularly known as Trois-Rivières Comics or Trois-Rivières is a Louisiannan publisher of comic books. They are the publishing house responsible for the Graphic Novel series for Space Voyage 2245 and widely popular series Kaumodakí, set in the Pentapolis of Ter Mair.
BDTR is an active participant in Black Sheep Comics.
History
Trois-Rivières began publishing in 1920 in Saint-Louis, as Bandes Dessinées des Découvertes et Mystères and initially published pulp serial detective comics. With the increase of cross-border comics from the NAL-SLC, in particular, Millennium Comics. Because of the increasing popularity of the superhero genre, Trois-Rivières was forced to re-invent itself to remain a competitive force in the Louisiannan market.
In 1955 Sergeant Louisianne was introduced, and had a short three-year run. Most critics viewed it as a cheap-imitation of Khoroshij Polkovnik. A number of short-lived superheros were introduced, which kept the publishing house moderately solvent through the 1970's, until hard times struck.
In 1970, Trois-Rivières was completely insolvent, but still managed to pay enough of their bills to avoid dissolution by their creditors. An active redevelopment was sought, and partnership was also brokered with TSW. Sergeant Louisianne was revamped as were the other short-lived superheroes in an attempt to compete with Millennium's Legion of Light under the title Les Six Superbes, and within Louisianne, they were largely successful. In the 1980's each of these superheros was tentatively transitioned to their own series, but when most of these failed, they were "re-united" in 1995.
In 1990, while the Six Superbes were waxing and waning, Trois-Rivières returned to their roots of policier and mystère types. Many of these centered around interactions with Deseret and Tejas, and most of these were one-shot comics.
In 2000, TSW approached Trois-Rivières about creating a graphic novelisation of Le Voyage aux Étoiles by Eugenio Roddenberry, however this plan was shelved when Space Voyage 2245 was developed into a television series.
Current Projects
While Trois-Rivières continues to produce one-off policiers and mystères, as well as the quadri-annual Six Superbes title, Trois-Rivières has seen marked success with Kaumodakí, and expect the same with the graphic novelization of Space Voyage 2245. Kaumodakí has garnered a noticeable following in the North American League and the wider Commonwealth, and Space Voyage 2245 is expected to do the same.
Characters of BDTR
While there are a large number of minor characters for the Trois-Rivières comics company, and many crossovers, the primary heroes covered in the main-line series are as follows.
The Six Superbes
The Six Superbes began as their own individual comic strips. When the six were united as a crime-fighting group, they were ret-conned to have a more mystical bent, generally speaking. Prior to this change, they were both technologically or mystically inclined, varying from character to character.
Depending on the artist and writer the size of each hero varies. While it's universally accepted that the Bête des Bayoux is tallest, the other members change relative size to one another as time passes, in part dependent on the focus of the story arc, but also, the whims of the artists. This has caused some great frustration amongst fans. The latest iteration has remained much more rigid and seems to be following the stylings of Millennium and Chicago more closely, with greater success in the world market.
Sergeant Louisianne
The original Sergeant Louisianne was begun shortly after Khoroshij Polkovnik was created for SNORist audiences. Originally a pastiche on The Good Colonel and others created by Millennium Comics, Sergeant Louisianne evolved from a somewhat madcap string of comics into a more serious format. The current format features a revival of the character with a more mystical bend.
André Ouvrard was an archaeologist from Louisianne visiting France and excavating ancient Celtic sites. After the others had gone home for the night he continued to work on the artifacts the day's excavations had uncovered. As he opened what appeared to be a jar that would have contained some kind of food, it shattered under his hands. Cursing himself for his clumsiness, he begins to carefully move the pieces away, to uncover the war axe of Vercingetorix, great leader of the Celtic armies who fought, but ultimately lost against Caesar. As he touched the axe for the first time, a strange energy filled his body, and he lost consciousness. He awoke near the ruins of Gergovia, near Clermont-Ferrand, to find himself changed, and facing the spectre of Vercingetorix himself.
Vercingetorix greeted him as a son and urged him to carry on the fight of the Gauls, protecting the gaulic peoples from invaders and infidels, and keeping the traditions of the people alive. Since that time, André Ouvrard has shown a decrease in his aging, and has outlived many of his fellows. While to others he seems to have aged, he becomes young again upon lifting the war axe in defense of Louisianne, France and New Francy.
The latest iteration has renamed him Maréchal de la Louisianne.
L'Homme d'Affaires
Alain DuPrès was a canny business man in Lyons-sur-Mizouri when he ran afoul of the local political machine. Attacked in his dye factory, he fell into a vat of dye tainted with a strange chemical from Paraná for the color. The dye changed his skin tone permanently, and the mysterious Amazonian chemical infused him with an invulnerability and super strength. Duprès now fights political and corporate corruption.
In later episodes, it is discovered that the Amazonian chemical actually derives from biological material that arrived in meteorites that were blasted away from Mars, which landed on Earth and began imbuing the local flora and fauna with the longevity and strength of Martian organisms. Because Alain DuPrès was exposed to it in the chemical bath of dye, it was able to permeate his being and fuse with his DNA, making him the superhero he became.
His favored weapons are his dagger-pens and his briefcase of justice. He has an off-again, on-again love affair with La Korrigane. His business leanings more often than not irritate the Bête des Bayoux.
Républimec
Jean Bastilliard was born on the 14 of July, 1989, in Yonne, Louisianne. When he was at his 15th birthday party, watching the fireworks of Paris-sur-Mizouri he was involved in a terrible accident that left him burned and partially drowned, and he spent the next three years recovering. Part of the recovery process was spent with Michel Caillaud, who was the original Républimec. Caillaud, also born on the 14th of July had suffered a similar accident, but through his rehabilitation process come to understand his body and use it to his advantage. He had also found a mystic talisman dating from the time of Jeanne d'Arc that imbued him with powers in the defense of France, and by extension, all French-spirited peoples, everywhere.
Giving this training and the talisman to Bastilliard, he passed on the legacy of Républimec. In the original series Républimec had not so much focused on the powers imbued by the talisman, but on the physical prowess that Caillaud had built up in his rehabilitation process following the accident. This is a significant departure from and re-imagining of the lore surrounding Républimec.
La Bête des Bayoux
Cyprien Lagnet was the youngest son of a Bayoux plantation family, and was the only one of his family that hadn't left for New Orleans, Baton Rouge or the other cities of Louisianne. One day, while seeing to his family's land, he slipped out of the bog-craft only to be infected by a bio-chemical released from a factory in Mobile. He immediately fell ill, and it wasn't until days later that he was brought back to consciousness.
As the weeks followed, he felt himself growing, but becoming very muscular, and with an intense connection with the animals of the Bayoux and nature in general. After months, he had attained his very muscular status, and had begun dreaming of those that would harm that nature of the Bayoux. He began to be a vigilante, fighting against the evil companies that destroyed the Bayoux, and exerting pressure on those corrupt leaders that would allow the decimation of the precious region of Louisianne.
He is known for his ability to slip silently through even the most treacherous places to reach his goals, and despite his large (2.5 meters) height, he is surprisingly agile.
The most recent round of renewal has given the Bayou Beast a new side-kick, Le Serpent, who is Cyprien Lagnet's half-brother, Giraud Lagnet. He was also changed by chemicals released into the bayoux and has taken on a more serpentine look as his body acclimatized to the mutagenic chemicals.
La Korrigane
Lisette Capron, daughter of Brehun immigrants to Nouvelle Navarre had returned home from Brest to her parents home in Montargis, following their deaths in a tragic landslide. As she sorted through her family's affairs, she discovered an amulet that had been passed down from her grandmother to her mother, and it was promised to her. As she put it on, she feels the presence of her mother, and takes it off, searching the house, thinking that she had heard her mother call her name.
As she cannot find her, she tries putting the necklace on again and finds that the amulet is a connection to her female ancestors, who are in truth korrigans, protectors of the Earth. She learns that her mother had been killed by a scheming mineral development company, and sets out to right the wrong that killed her parents. She finds that the amulet is merely the key to unlocking her nature, and that she must have a daughter to carry on the line, else the chain will be broken and the powers lost forever.
After the first series run she had avenged herself on the perpetrators of her parents murders. Subsequent issues attempted (somewhat unconvincingly, according to many readers) to portray her uncovering deeper and deeper corruption leading to the halls of power.
Janette d'Arc
Marie-Lydie Avenier, an orphan raised in Domrémy-la-Pucelle, France dreamed of being like Joan of Arc, and righting the wrongs she saw in the world. As the dreams began to consume more and more of her life, she visited the museum to Joan of Arc in the town, and was inadvertently locked in the museum at night. It was there that she heard St. Joan speak to her, and discovered that she had, in herself the powers of Joan and all the French patron saints. At first she doubted, thinking it a trick of the light. She reached for a decorative torch in a wall-sconce only to find that this would be the source of her power. As she waved it in the air, an amulet appeared, and it is this amulet that keeps her connected to the mystical powers of the torch.
Many critics find the Janette d'Arc storylines to be as unoriginal as those of the early Sergeant Louisianne, and the complaints remain true to this day, although much greater care has been made of the whole series by TSW since the early 2000's.
Complaints
While most critics will agree that the Six Superbes have improved since their original inception, they are far from the most gripping or innovative storylines. Most critics would suggest that they are good reading for those who don't otherwise read comics, but for those more fully participatory in the art form, they are rather basic and undesirable.
Kaumodakí
Kaumodakí is written by Divyanshu Sandiep. Sandiep originally marketed Kaumodakí to the larger Millennium Comics and Chicago houses, but was refused. Taken in by BDTR, Kaumodakí has proven to be a success throughout much of the world.
Sandiep was recently asked how long Kaumodakí would run, and he said, "until they claw the pen from my dying hand or it feels time to retire our brave hero...but probably the former rather than the latter."
Setting
The setting for Kaumodakí will feel subtly strange to most denizens of the Pentapolis, as it incorporates elements of the cities as they were originally planned but never completed.
Storyline
Heath Pradesh is the son of Mam̃baínese immigrants to Ter Mair. Attending University at Georgetown, Heath begins to honestly try to understand his roots, and begins exploring his Hindi spirituality. As he begins his studies, he begins to find that he has strange powers. In the series, we first encounter his ex-girlfriend Madelaine, who becomes the first real test of his powers.
αλεπού/Renard
Set in the 1900s, just after the turn to the 20th century, and set in the wilds in and around Asimoupoli, Alepou, le Renard, or The Fox (depending on the publication) is a thorn in the side of both the law and the lawless, defending the poor and indefensible. It's based on stories of vigilantism as it existed in and around Lago Grande. A Castilian publication was recently announced at the 2015 Congrès des Bandes-Dessinées à Zarahemla, with the first issue to be released sometime in 2016.
