LYON (AFP).- A group of artists in the central French city of Lyon broke the record for the world's longest comic strip Saturday with a 1.6 kilometre-long artwork, organisers said.

The feat brings the figurative medal for the longest comic strip back to Lyon from New York, where a group in 2014 stole the French city's 2011 record with a 1.2-kilometre (0.75-mile) sequence of drawings.

"We have recorded a 1,600-metre-long comic strip, or 1,625 metres to be precise," said Mathieu Diez, director of Lyon's comic festival, about the black-and-white cartoon that lines the wall of a tunnel in the city.

Drawn by art students from Lyon and Barcelona, the comic tells the story of a 16-year-old girl named Lea who travels in time with the help of a magic pen from the Ice Age to the year 10,000.

Festival organisers hope to have their feat approved by a Guinness World Records committee within the next few months, they said.