The Best French Outdoor Sports Comics

Asterix, Tintin, Blueberry... you already know all these classics inside out. But did you know that nearly 5,000 new comic book titles are published every year in France? There is something for everyone and on every subject.

And outdoor sports are no exception. In recent years, writers and artists have created characters and comic book series on skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, climbing, skiing, mountaineering... Almost every theme of outdoor and board sports now has its own comic book(s).

But as these comics are often less known than the masterpieces of Uderzo or Hergé, we have prepared a small selection of comics to help you discover or rediscover the world and spirit of board sports in an often humorous way. It's up to you to choose your universe/sport, for yourself or as a gift to a fan of course. Have a good read!

Franky Snow

Created in 1999 by the Swiss cartoonist Buche, Franky Snow is a real rider. Snowboarding, surfing, skiing, skateboarding, BMX, rollerblading, extreme mountain biking, flyboarding... He practices all kinds of sliding or outdoor sports as long as the adrenaline is there, accompanied by his faithful sidekicks Ben and Zack. And all this while hitting on girls along the way if possible!

Reproducing the way of speaking, the style of dress as well as the names of the figures of the ride world, this comic is a rather realistic although zany representation of the ride world. Published by Glenat, the 13ᵉ album with the title "Digital detox" was released in 2017. Franky Snow even got his own cartoon

By the way, the main photo at the top of the article is an extract from the comic strip Franky Snow n°2 page 4.

In Silence

Published in 2012, "En Silence" is a comic book that tells the story of six tourists, a young couple and a family with two children, who go on a canyoning day with their instructor. The adventure includes diving, sliding, rappelling and sliding down slides. At the bottom of a remote gorge, the characters face dangers, learn their limits and find themselves.

The drawings of the creator Audrey Spiry are unusual and carry her very personal, pictorial and colourful style. With an intimate and sensitive tone, this comic book makes you want to discover sublime landscapes during a day of canyoning.

Full Mastery

Another Oudtoor-oriented comic book is Totale Maîtrise, created by Olivier Pont and Georges Abolin. We quote the publisher when we say, "between Les Bronzés and Pulp Fiction, don't miss the Joe Bar Team of Surfing"!

In the first album from 2001, everything starts when two Parisian slackers lose their jobs. They decide to meet their friend in a resort in Haute-Savoie. And it's off to off-piste snowboarding, raclette evenings, fractures and heavy flirting. And because you don't change a losing team, the three friends continue their adventures in the following albums in the Alps, Hawaii and Australia.

We like the drawing of the comic book Totale Maîtrise, as well as the zany adventures of these outdoor losers.

Ailefroide, altitude 3954

For all lovers and enthusiasts of mountains and mountaineering this is a must read. Published in 2018, "Ailefroide, altitude 3954" is an autobiographical comic book by Jean-Marc Rochette.

In this 290-page work, the author-draughtsman tells how, as a young man, he discovered the mountains and his passion for mountaineering. With the aim of becoming a mountain guide, he set out on a race to the summits, the ultimate goal of which was the ascent of the North Face of Ailefroide, a fascinating but very difficult mountain in the Hautes-Alpes/Isère.

Although this comic book tells the story of how the mountains can attract and fascinate a teenager, it does not hide the tragic aspects of mountaineering. After a number of accidents that he had suffered himself and those around him, Rochette decided to devote himself to comics.

Crazy Trip

Drawn by David Amorin, this gag comic is about three friends who are all passionate about surfing: Anastase on a longboard, David on a bodyboard and Stéph on a body-shortboard.

Surfing is their life, whatever the season. Crazy Trip has two albums. Released in 2004, the first one is called "22°C in the water" and tells about their surfing adventures in summer. In the second album with the title '11°C in the water', they try to indulge their passion in winter despite the bitter cold. For the real riders it's not only sun, beach and good life!

With Crazy Trip, David Amorin deconstructs all the stereotypes of surfing to make you want (or not) to go and feel the foam.

The Kratair Club

Another outdoor sports comic that cannot be missed in our selection is the Kratair Club. The paragliding enthusiasts among you surely know Kalvair, Kanadair, Molair and their friends, because every month they appear in Parapente Mag, the free flight magazine.

These monthly comics are now grouped together in an album. The Kratair Club is a concentrate of humour and derision on the life of paragliders, drawn by Jean-Christophe Serme.

Les Fondus de la Glisse

Les Fondus de la glisse is part of the comic book series Les Fondus. In each album Thierry, Karine and their friends from the association Les Fondus focus on a passion (or rather an obsession): the mobile phone, hiking, DIY, fishing or cheese. In our selection we are particularly interested in albums 7 and 12, which deal with skiing and snowboarding (but not only, snowmobiles, snowkites...). In both cases, this comic book promises unfiltered adventures and comical conversations, sometimes inspired by the gags of Les Bronzés.

Divers

Plongeurs, by Sébastien Salingue, is the reference comic book for all diving enthusiasts. In this series (5 volumes), you follow the divers (real tough guys) and the daily life of the Bulots diving club.

From training in the pool to technical dives, Plongeurs takes a humorous and often caustic approach to the world of scuba diving in all its forms.

Beyond the gags and humour, we particularly like Les Plongeurs for its finally quite precise description of the different diving disciplines, including the lesser known ones. And as the club's adventures unfold, we are taken on a tour of real diving sites: a quarry, Porquerolles, Marsa Alam etc.

Take me dry!

The last outdoor sports comic in our list is about climbing. In climbing vocabulary, the climber says "take me dry" to ask the belayer to stretch the rope (as opposed to "give slack"). You learn this and much more in this Climbing Guide. In this humorous comic you can follow the progress of Jean-Pierre's team, a bodybuilder trainer with tight muscles and a tight butt.

Published in 2011, it is both a comic book and a guidebook and will amuse all climbing enthusiasts, whether indoor or extreme, sportsmen and women or those who prefer the least effort.

The outdoor sports comics proposed above are meant to make you want to practice and re-practise the different sports highlighted. Discover all our outdoor sports in the four corners of the world to become riders, climbers and explorers just like the heroes of the comics proposed. For more information on the comics and where to buy them online, visit the Bedethèque.

And for those of you who don't like to read much, not even comics, we have three solutions so that you can still get your outdoor fix:

• First, take a look at our article on the best French outdoor sports podcasts. You will find among others the podcast Mordu which is aimed at all lovers of sliding and outdoor sports.
• Secondly, watch one (or more) of the top 10 surf movies, from the documentary Take Every Wave and the drama Blue Crush with Kate Bosworth to the classic Point Break with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.
• Last but not least, maybe it's time to watch Rocket Power again? Remember the cartoon with the four kids - Otto, Reggie, Twister and The Mollusk - who share a passion for sliding and fun sports?