I’m a firm believer that you should do what you enjoy doing in your target language, even as a beginner French learner. Maybe you love to read comics? So what about reading French comics for beginners?
Here are a few ideas that you should consider.
Author : Marie Drouvin
Salut! Je suis Marie and I'm on a mission to make learning French simple. You can find me on Youtube, or here, on this blog. And if you want to know more about how to learn French, take a look at my book.
If you enjoy reading, download this list of French books you should read depending on your level of French.
Tintin, 1929-1976
The adventures of a young, smart journalist, his little dog and his grumpy sailor friend. Tintin is a classic, and a good one for either children or adults. I especially love Dupont and Dupond, two very bad detectives; and Tournesol, the crazy inventor.
The story are quite complex and very detailed. If you enjoy modern history, this is the comic for you.
Boule et Bill, 1959-
Boule, a little boy, and Bill, a lively cocker spaniel, are inseparable. They play with their friends, they fool around, and have quite normal adventures in the suburb where they live with Bill’s parents.
It’s quite a lovely comic, simple too. A good choice is you want short stories.
Astérix, 1959-
“The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely… One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders”…. And in this village live Astérix, a fierce little soldier, and Obélix, his big friend.
Their incredible resistance is mostly due to the magical potion their druid cooks. But they are going to need plenty for all the adventures they are going to live.
And if you enjoy the universe, Astérix has features in several movies.
Gaston Lagaffe, 1960-
Faire une gaffe = to make a blunder. And Gaston Lagaffe is the king of gaffes.
Gaston works at Le Journal de Spirou (which we’ll talk about later again). Work is a bit of a stretch though. Gaston is simply… extremely lazy. And any task he is given has a tendency to linger.
But Gaston is not completely useless. He is in fact, a brilliant inventor. Even if not many people understand his inventions.
Bécassine, 1905-1962
A comic for young women? Published in 1905? Now that’s unusual! And so is Bécassine.
She is a bretonne (someone from Brittany), obviously. See her traditional costume and hat. She’s a farm girl. But well well she’s not your traditional farm girl. She reads and write, she even gets her driving licence at some point!
The character of Bécassine is still very popular. And you’ll find quite a few derived products with her figure.
Titeuf, 1992-
At 8, girls start to be interesting. And Nadia is especially interesting to Titeuf. Of course, video games, friends and doing stupid things are also on the program.
When I was 11 or so, this comic was all the range. The author also wrote a book about becoming an adolescent, which must have been the most check outed book of the library!
La Marsupilami, 1987-
The Marsupilami is a weird creature. And all we know about him is that he lives in the forest of Palombia, and that is tail is extremely long, and surprisingly strong.
This Marsupilami is a family man. His wife and him have three little marsupilamis : Bibi, Bibu and Bobo. Which constantly get in trouble. Mind you, it doesn’t help that, if capture, those ones would be worth a fortune…
This comic is an especially good one to start with if you are a very beginner, as the Marsupilami doesn’t speak. Well, not in words anyway.
Spirou & Fantasio, 1938-
Spirou is a magazine. Le Magazine Spirou. And it’s where most of the comics on this page have been first published.
But Spirou is also the name of a character: a brilliant journalist (a bit like Tintin). In the comic series, he is investigating mysteries with his grumpy friend Fantasio and his pet squirrel.
The series shares quite a few similarities with Tintin: investigations, grumpy friend and mad inventors. Although the tone is completely different. Tintin is serious, Spirou is quite goofy.
You’ll also meet the Marsupilami in Spirou’s adventures.
L'élève Ducobu, 1997-
Ducobu is a bad boy. He has zero intention of ever learning anything his teacher is talking about. And why would he? He is sat right next to the most intelligent girl of the class. He only needs to copy her answers, without her noticing of course. And he is quite resourceful in that matter. But his genius plans never quite end up being perfect.
Maybe you will recognize yourself in this comic? If not as Ducobu, as Léonie Gratin, the most brilliant girl in the class.
Lucky Luke, 1946-
The most belgian of the cow boys, his smart horse Jolly Jumper, and his stupid dog, Rantanplan; is here to enforce the law on Western bandits, especially on the notorious Dalton Gang.
This western comic will surely steal your heart if you are a fan of adventures, gangsters and hero who can fire faster than their own shadows.
If you ever score a French man, ask him what was on his wallpaper when he was a kid.. Probably will be Lucky Luke.
Where to find those French comics for beginners
You can find most of those French comics on Amazon.
If you liked this list of French comics for beginners, try this list of books to read according to your level
