Alex de Campi: Gojira!

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WHO

FILM & TV

COMICS & BOOKS

1.2.05 Fair Warning:

If you show me your portfolio at any point in the next few weeks, this is what I am likely to say to you:

Click for bigger version. From the awesome website of manga-ka Robert de Jesus.

I'm only resurfacing after a trip to Angouleme, aka Comic Heaven. I survived; I spoke French; people didn't laugh at me. I bought lovely comics. It was all good.

Well, it was mostly good. On the first (Thursday) morning, Simon and I had a meeting with a high-powered agent. We were swept back into the VIP area of Delcourt, one of my favourite French publishers, passing by all the poor souls queueing for portfolio reviews. After a great meeting where we met some of the Delcourt senior editors, Simon and I fairly strutted out of the VIP area, feeling pretty damn good about ourselves. The folks in Portfolio Purgatory glared at us. We continued to grin, and stepped over the velvet rope separating the VIP area from the rest of the stand...

...and the back of my heel catches on the rope.

WHA-BAM!

I fall flat on my face. In front of EVERYONE.

Even better, I had managed to rip the rope out of the wall. Go, girl.

Aside from my seemingly unavoidable tendency toward property damage, the rest of the con went really well. My European editor mentioned the magic word "contract", so I'm a happy bunny. Angouleme is both more low-key and more amazing than San Diego. Killing time while waiting for an editor (something any freelancer does, a lot), I was wandering around one of the two big publisher tents, where I saw a small, old man signing books. "Huh," I thought to myself. "Dude draws just like Sergio Toppi." Blink! Dude was Sergio Toppi. FANGIRL MOMENT! And the comics! Boy, do European indie comics crap all over what we do from a very great height. I'll have an article in Ninth Art next week on some of the amazing alternative stuff coming out of Europe. Meanwhile, if you speak French, buy this book.

Big shout to Ed, Nick, Paul, and Simon for babysitting the Angouleme newbie.

( 10:32 AM )

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