Initially, Dargaud published novels for women. In 1948, it started Line, a "magazine for elegant women", as well as a French edition of the BelgianTintin magazine.
In 1967, Dargaud entered the animation production services by launching a division named Dargaud Films with the movie Asterix the Gaul. Subsequently, the company produced or co-produced several Asterix, Lucky Luke and Tintin feature films. By 1972, Dargaud along with American production and distributor United Artists produced the movie Le Viager which was directed by Pierre Tchernia
In 1974, Dargaud wanted to diversify. Pilote became a monthly magazine and spawned two other monthly magazines. The new magazines were Lucky Luke (a Western themed magazine around the comics series Lucky Luke) and Achille Talon (a humor based magazine around the comics series Achille Talon). However, both magazines could not sustain a readership and folded within a year. The comics from these two magazines were put back into Pilote.
In 1988, after Georges Dargaud retired his company Dargaud was acquired by Média-Participations. Two years later, it sold the weekly gardening and do-it-yourself magazine Rustica to Média-Participations as well.
In 1992, the publisher Le Lombard became a part of Dargaud, followed in 1993 by Les Éditions Blake et Mortimer. Over the course of the 1990s, Dargaud subsequently acquired several audiovisual production companies, including Citel in 1994, Marina Productions in 1997, and Millésime Productions in 1998. The latter two, specialized in television animation, joined in 1999 to create Dargaud Marina, later renamed Dargaud Media.
At the end of the 1990s, Dargaud created manga publisher Kana, followed by Lucky Comics, centered on the series Lucky Luke.
In 2003, Dargaud acquired the production studio Ellipsanime, holder of one of the most extensive catalogues of European cartoons (including Tintin and Babar).
In 2008, Dargaud founded the foreign rights agency Mediatoon Licensing, and in 2015, it joined with twelve other European comics publishing actors to create Europe Comics, a digital initiative co-funded by the European Commission's Creative Europe program.[3]
_by_Erling_Mandelmann.jpg)
