Editions Lug was a French comic book publisher created in 1950 which was based in Lyon, hence the name (Lyon was called Lugdunum by the Romans). Lug published the first translations of Marvel Comics in France, in a magazine entitled Fantask (1969), which featured Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer. Unfortunately, due to problems with French censorship, Fantask was cancelled after only six issues. The following year, editor Marcel Navarro re-launched the Marvel characters in a magazine called Strange which was to be far more popular and durable and which introduced notably X-Men, Iron-Man and Daredevil to french readers. After the success of the Marvel Comics translations, Marcel Navarro decided to create his own brand of French super-powered characters. The first of these was Wampus (1969). Then, in 1972, Lug launched the magazine "Futura", which featured several characters such as Jaleb the Telepath, Homicron, The Time Brigade, The Other, Larry Cannon, Jeff Sullivan, etc. It was followed by the short-lived "Waki" (1974) and "Kabur" (1975). But none rivaled the success of the Marvel material. Navarro then tried a new magazine "Mustang" (1980) a full-fledged super-hero comic (or "Sup’Heros" as they were called). The magazine was soon to reveal two new french stars to the readers: Cyrus Tota with Photonik, and Jean-Yves Mitton with Mikros. Unfortunately, "Mustang" was not profitable enough and was cancelled with issue 70 in 1981. In 1993 the company was sold to the Semic Group, a Scandinavian comic book publisher, and later became a French company, Semic Comics. In 2000, Semic decided to create new stories and revamp its old characters. Some series have been drawn by talented French newcomers, such as Chris Malgrain on The Bronze Gladiator. Born in November 1970, Christophe (Chris) MALGRAIN published his first professional work for SEMIC (by drawing the Tarzan-like "Zembla"). More recently, he achieved his childhood dream when working with Stan LEE on "Stan Lee's Alexa". After Semic went out of business in 2004, a group of former Lug writers and artists reclaimed the rights to their characters and reorganized under the banner of Hexagon Comics.
I wanted to pay homage to Editions Lug's superheroes and asked Chris MALGRAIN to re-interpret the famous cover of Justice League of America #21.
For those unfamiliar with the french characters depicted here, please read the following informations. They are excerpts from Jean-Marc LOFFICIER's excellent website: http://www.coolfrenchcomics.com
01: HOMICRON Homicron is an alien from planet Alpha, whose inhabitants have the power to turn into energy beings to explore the cosmos.
02: JEFF SULLIVAN L'HOMME D'AIRAIN (= The Man of Brass) Jeff Sullivan is the modern-day descendant of a mutant family that has latent superhuman powers. Following an electrical accident, Sullivan finds himself transported into a parallel Earth where the Allies lost WW II and the Japanese rule America.
03: LE GLADIATEUR DE BRONZE (= The Bronze Gladiator) The Bronze Gladiator is Mike Logan, truant officer by day, superhero by night. Mike lives with his sister Lorna, the only being on Earth who knows that he is in reality an alien justice officer from another planet.
04: OZARK Native American Ozark is given a sacred amulet that grants him super-powers. He, a cosmic-powered horse called Mustang and the Magic Circus troupe fight the extra-dimensional entity Typho, the mad Dr. Kain and the alien invaders Gronz.
05: PHOTONIK Taddeus Tenterhook, is a lonely, alienated, hunchbacked teenage orphan who becomes accidentally transformed by the explosion of a "luminotron" drevice into the golden, super-powered "Man of Light" -- Photonik. With the help of neuropsychologist and super-powered mentalist, Dr. Nazel D. D. Ziegel and the street urchin nicknamed Tom Thumb, Photonik fights a variety of colorful super-villains.
06: MIKROS Mikros features three Harvard entomologists and Olympic athletes, Mike Ross (Mikros), Priscilla Conway (Saltarella) and Bobby Crabb (Crabb), who are unwillingly mutated into insect-sized humanoids by the alien insectoid race called the Svizz.
07: STARLOCK Starlock is a super-powered alien stranded on Earth who shares bodies with astronaut Nick Thaler. He becomes hunted by the U.S. government and the evil organization S.P.I.D.E.R. led by Madame Tarentula.
08: PHENIX Phenix is the secret identity of Chicago socialite Patricia Hope. As the masked, leather-clad, bike-riding Phenix, Patricia fights drug dealers, terrorists and other kinds of urban menaces.
