French critics association ACBD announces Prix Comics 2025 shortlist

French comics critics association ACBD has announced their 2025 Prix Comics shortlist, recognising work translated from English. The sixth edition of the prize which began in 2019. 

The winner will be announced in late October during Quai des Bulles festival weekend, following the conclusion of ACBD member voting on September 7. All eligible books were published in France between August 2024 and July 2025, and had to have first been released in English.

This year the finalists are the usual eclectic mix. Filling out the local taste for graphic novels/les roman graphiques, we have Craig Thompson‘s Ginseng Roots (with Casterman; English by Uncivilized Books/Pantheon) alongside James Sturm & Joe Sutphin‘s Puffin adaptation of Watership Down (with Monsieur Toussaint Louverture). Becky Cloonan & Tula Lotay‘s acclaimed DSTLRY book Somna (with Delcourt) joins James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco and Jordie Bellaire‘s Image series Worldtr33 (Urban Comics) to appeal to the genre BD crowd. Meanwhile Juni Ba & Chris O’Halloran‘s DC Black Labele series Robin: The Boy Wonder (Urban Comics) holds down the fort for superheroes in France.

Both The Boy Wonder and Ginseng Roots had their English language collections debut this year, marking them as the quickest turnaround of the bunch. The other titles were released in English in 2023 or 2024.

In the honourable mentions list there are some surprises. Robert Morales & Kyle Baker‘s 2003 Marvel miniseries Captain America: The Truth (aka Truth: Red, White and Black) seems to have only been published in French recently – likely helped by the Captain America: Brave New World movie. This marks it as the oldest backlist item to make its French-language debut on either list, only followed by Ales Kot, Tradd Moore & Heather Moore‘s Image series The New World which was first published in 2018. These were published in French by Panini Comics and HiComics, respectively.

The French market is a very different place when it comes to the comics medium (locally called ‘bande dessinée’/BD). Translated work from the English language is a niche category, shelved separately as ‘Comics’ much as we do ‘Manga’ for Japanese and East Asian material. English-originated material comprises around 4% of the French BD market, while manga holds around 50%. What appeals to French sensibilities might not match those at home so it is always fascinating seeing what the critics like.

The Association of French Comics Critics and Journalists (Association des Critiques et journalistes de Bande Dessinée) is a group representing all those who cover comics in French language media. Not limited to France, it also has representatives from Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium. Aside from the Comics Prize, they also have a prize for French-translated work from across Asia (Prix Asie), from Quebec/French Canada (Prix de la BD Québécoise), a prize for kids titles (Prix Jeunesse), and its grand critics prize (Grand Prix de la Critique). Last year’s recipient of the Prix Comics ACBD was Will McPhail‘s In (Mariner Books, 2021), which was published in French by 404 Graphic as Au-dedans.

Prix Comics de la Critique ACBD —- Shortlist

• Ginseng Roots, by Craig Thompson; translated into French by Laëtitia Vivien, Frédéric Vivien and Isabelle Licari-Guillaume (Casterman) — originally serialised by Uncivilized Books from 2019-2023, collected by Pantheon April 2025
• Robin: The Boy Wonder, by Juni Ba and Chris O’Halloran; translated into French by Benjamin Viette (Urban Comics) — first published as The Boy Wonder by DC Black Label, single issues in 2024, collected 2025
• Somna, by Becky Cloonan, Tula Lotay, Dee Cunniffe and Lee Loughridge; translated by Hélène Remaud-Dauniol (Delcourt) — first published by DSTLRY, single issues 2023-2024, collected 2024
• Watership Down, by James Sturm and Joe Sutphin, based on the Richard George Adams novel; translated into French by Pierre Clinquart and Hélène Charrier (Monsieur Toussaint Louverture) — first published by Puffin in 2023
• W0rldtr33 volume 1, by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco and Jordie Bellaire; translated into French by Maxime Le Dain (Urban Comics) — first published by Image, serialised and collected 2023

—-Honorable mentions:

• Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, by Patrick Horvath; French translation by Margot Negroni (Ankama) — first serialised by IDW 2023-2024, collected 2024
• The Bus [Le Bus], volume 3, by Paul Kirchner; French translation by Patrick Marcel (Éditions Tanibis) — originally serialised in Heavy Metal in the 1980s, this is the second collection of brand new Bus strips from Kirchner published in English and French by Tanibis
• Captain America : La Vérité [Captain America: The Truth], by Robert Morales & Kyle Baker; French translation by Benjamin Viette (Panini Comics) — first published by Marvel as Truth: Red, White and Black in 2003
• Friday, book 3, by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin, and Muntsa Vicente; French translation by Basile Béguerie (Glénat) — first serialised digitally by Panel Syndicate, print edition published by Image Comics in 2024
• L’Île aux orcs [Orc Island], by Joshua Dysart, Alberto Ponticelli & Matt Hollingsworth; French translation by Florent Degletagne, Loup Salles (Bliss) — first published by Bad Idea 2022-2023
• Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound [Miles Davis et la Quête du son], by Dave Chisholm; French translation by Philippe Touboul (Glénat) — first published by Z2 Comics in 2023
• Sacrifice [The Sacrificers], volume 2, by Rick Remender, Max Fiumara, André Lima Araújo & Dave McCaig; French translation by Benjamin Rivière (Urban Comics) — arc first serialised and collected by Image in 2024
• The New World, by Ales Kot, Tradd Moore & Heather Moore; French translation by Nadège Gayon-Debonnet (HiComics) — first published by Image, serialised in 2018 and collected in 2019