DSTLRY inks deal with Delcourt for French translation

David Steinberger and Chip Mosher‘s new publishing venture DSTLRY has come out of the gate hot. The publisher, which offers its founding creators an equity stake in the company, officially launched in mid-April, with the promise of physical and digital collectibles to come. Last month DSTLRY announced deals for distribution to direct market comic shops through Diamond and Lunar and to the bookstore market and internationally through Diamond. Now some non-English readers will have the opportunity to read DSTLRY’s offerings, as the publisher has entered into a foreign rights deal with Groupe Delcourt, who will have a “first look” option to translate the publisher’s titles into French.

In a statement announcing the deal, Mosher and Steinberger expressed their enthusiasm at partnering with Delcourt:

“Groupe Delcourt has remained an essential foundation of the French speaking comic book community. We’re overjoyed to partner with them so more readers can enjoy the upcoming slate of our graphic novels by some of the most acclaimed writers and artists in the United States, Europe, and beyond.”

Delcourt was one of the first foreign publishers to bring their digital backlog of titles to the U.S. via Comixology, and Groupe Delcourt was listed among DSTLRY’s group of initial investors when the venture was announced. In an interview with The Beat at the time of launch, Steinberger spoke about his prior relationship with Delcourt founder Guy Delcourt, and how Delcourt came to back DSTLRY:

“For Guy specifically, he became a mentor of mine during Comixology, the first French publisher to get on board with Comixology. I really learned a tremendous amount from him, and I have a lot of respect for the success as the biggest independent publisher of bande desinee. And frankly, he’s one of the first people I reached out to once Chip and I decided we were going to work together on this. We’re honored that he [joined] but there’s no contractual relationship there other than its investment.”

Look for DSTLRY’s first release, the one-shot anthology The Devil’s Cut, to release to English language readers digitally and in comic shops in August.