French edition of Line January 1957	British Girl comic
Article from Girl Comic November 1955
French Album Belle of the Bellet	French Album Wendy and Jinx

The generally accepted view in France (and Belgium) is that two publishers, Dargaud (Paris) and Leblanc (Brussels), decided to create together a comic paper for girls in 1954. They "came up" with the format that would become the highly successful publication Line, which was published weekly in both capitals simultaneously. 

Line ran from 1954 until 1963, by which time it had mutated into a pop culture magazine with articles on the popular icons of the day. It is also true that a character called Line was developed by Françoise Bertier - a typical teenage adventuress - but this was very much after the fact. 

I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but take another look at the Line logo (far left), and what you will see is the logo of Girl Comic (near left) - 1951-1967. In fact in the beginning you would be forgiven in thinking that Line was the French language version of Girl. This is obviously what the editors of Girl themselves thought judging by the picture, at left, taken from the Adventure Corner feature of the November 1955 issue. (Click on the left) 

In fact when Line started it featured such favourites as George Beardmore's Belle of the Ballet (Belle du Ballet), Ray Bailey's Mad and Gloria (Wendy et Jinx), and John Ryan's Lettice Leaf (Charlotte). Other UK features were Three Sisters called Kat, Vengeance of the Incas and a wonderfully (in)correct translation under the generic title Nos Histoires Vraies (Our True History) which featured, amongst others, "our" Dickens and "our" Great Fire of London, etc. 

Line was also distributed in Switzerland and Canada and was available as hard bound editions (and occasionally in softcover) comprising of 20 or 26 consecutive weekly issues.  

Several hardcover Line albums were also produced based on the Wendy & Jinks and Belle of the Ballet stories;

Mad et Gloria (Wendy and Jinks) : Adventure sur la Riviera (1958)

Mad et Gloria (Wendy and Jinks) : Le Mystère de la Patinoire (1959)

Mad et Gloria (Wendy and Jinks) : Le Trésor de la Ferme aux Douves (1959)

Belle du Ballet (Belle of the Ballet) : Scandale a la Cour (1958)

Belle du Ballet (Belle of the Ballet) : Le Secret de la Ballerine (1959)

These quite excellent albums were produced by Casterman / Dargaud S.A., Paris, in a glossy hardcover, and in full colour.

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