Romance imprint Avon makes its first foray into webcomics to print with the initial volume of Dutch cartoonist Janine Janssen’s webtoon Les Normaux (Feb. 2025). Cocreated with S. Al Sabado, the gently unfolding series presents a boy-meets-vampire tale set in a fantastical version of France and “literalizes the magic of a Parisian romance,” per PW’s review.
What was the inspiration for Les Normaux?
My first project was a big fantasy epic—I had no clue how to make it, and I was stuck. One Halloween, I did a livestream where I drew a trio of monster couples. I thought, these are cute, and I like cheesy romance. So why don’t I make little scenarios with them in Paris, the stereotypical romantic city?
How did you get started making webcomics?
I’ve always made comics. When I was little, I would stack copy paper and staple it. When I found webcomics, it really did something to my mind. Before that, I thought that if you wanted to do comics, you had to have a book. And I couldn’t have a book—I was only 15! But I could have this. And I want to encourage people to make their own comics. In the Netherlands, the comics world is small and dominated by old-school comics and older men, and we need more voices.
The cast is very diverse. How do you establish diversity in a fantasy world?
I don’t think about it too much, honestly. Early on, one critique I got a lot was that it was unrealistically diverse, like a checklist. But that’s always been weird to me, because if I look at my friend group, it looks like the cast of Les Normaux. Everyone’s different; no one’s straight. I’m one of two white people. It is real life—if you look around Paris, that’s what Paris is like.
What do you have planned for the future for these characters?
In the current season, the two lead characters are in a relationship, and that’s very new to the main character, Sebastién. I want to explore those feelings, and also go into demisexuality, which is not covered a lot in media. All the characters are going through the feeling of not knowing where you are in your late 20s and early 30s. It’s the kind of self-discovery story that’s usually written for teenagers but for a somewhat older audience—though I think it’s good for younger people to read that you don’t need to have everything figured out when you’re 21.
Do you have a favorite scene so far?
It’s an episode where Sebastién and his friends are sitting at a skate park. He’s mulling over his feelings with his friends. And then they start analyzing texts from the other lead character, and it turns into something funny. It’s a scene that a friend helped me write, and it feels like a friend moment I would have. Someone left a comment saying, “This feels like a memory, even though I wasn’t there.”
