• TOURNESOL comic magazine series
• HISTOIRES DU JOURNAL TOURNESOL series

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TOURNESOL comic magazine series

The Christian comic magazine series Tournesol began in October 1960, published by Ligue pour la Lecture de la Bible (LLB) in Valence, France. At first it was a pocket-size publication, 130mm x 180mm, 48 pages, with a 2-color cover and black and white interior.

French Terms: 'bande dessinée' (or 'BD' or 'bédé,' pronounced bay-day) = 'comics' 'bande dessinée chrétienne' = 'Christian comic' 'Tournesol' = 'sunflower'

During the 1990s Tournesol was listed, at various times, as being for ages 7-11, 7-12, or 7-14-years-old. It was also a monthly magazine of 32 pages.

Currently Tournesol promotes itself as a comics magazine for children from 7-years-old and upward and is published 6 times a year. The current editions are 160mm x 230mm, 24 pages, in full color.

Christian Comics Pioneer Philippe Hochet, a contributor to the magazine since 1978, now heads the Tournesol publication team following the retirement of Swiss Christian Comics Pioneer Jefko (Jean-Frédéric Kohler), who also drew the Marc Alban comic album series for LLB.

Although Sunday PIX in the USA began earlier (1949), it is no longer a primarily comics-driven vehicle. The same is also true of PLUS+ in the UK which began in 1966. Therefore Tournesol appears to be the longest-running Christian comic published on a regular schedule today.

Click here to visit the home page of the Tournesol website (in French).

Tournesol is also available in North America through LLB in Québec, Canada.

HISTOIRES DU JOURNAL TOURNESOL Series

The Ligue pour la Lecture de la Bible (LLB) in France has also published a number of comic book paperbacks in an Histories du Journal Tournesol series, some of them illustrated by Christian Comics Pioneer Philippe Hochet.

The first titles were Terres glacées ("Frozen Ground") in 1992, L'évangile en Chine avec Portes Ouvertes ("The Gospel in China with Open Doors") in 1999, and Inis: le prix de la paix ("Inis: The Price of Peace") in 2000.

More recent titles include L'apôtre Paul: L'homme mis à part ("The Apostle Paul: The man set apart"), Au temps des Juges ("In the time of the Judges"), and SYLF: Un mystérieux vagabond ("SYLF: A mysterious vagabond").

It is still possible to order some of these books from LLB.

Click here for the home page of the Tournesol website.