Bonjour, Beat readers, after two days of travel and jetlag, I’m pretty much embedded here in the Rights Center at Angouleme, with free wifi and free Nescafe.

I haven’t had a chance to see most of the Festival yet, but that will take several days as the entire town has been taken over by the world of bande desinée.

In lieu of lengthy analysis, we’ll go with a few pictures.

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My flight mamtes Frank Santoro, Callista Brill and Dash Shaw, all spunky and energetic after the red eye. Damn them all.

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The RER station at CDG is a cold, desolate place at 8 am.

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The first of many photos of the fixtures at Le Chateau de la Mothe, an 18th century chateau where I was the VERY FIRST GUEST ever.

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Look, mom, I’m at Angoulême!

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Another shot of our Chateau. We are living all these Downton Abbey fantasies only with a French Accent.

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Here I am insanely jetlagged by perky before dinner.

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This is the Hyatt bar of Angouleme.

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For dinner I had some kind of grilled Camembert cheese with a bit of balsamic. This could already have been a highlight of the trip except the trip is only 24 hours old.

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DInner conversation with various folks.

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My dinner looks a bit strange but tasted divine.

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A little touch of…home? Sigh.

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The Hyatt bar is filling up!

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Angouleme at night! It’s hard to convey how magical and beautifully lit everything is.

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Front door locks of the 18th century,

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The Publisher Weekly booth! Come by! We are RL05 in the rights center!

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After arriving, our guide Ivanka took myself, Brigid Alverson and Brigid’s hubby George on an early morning tour of the show. Evern though the sun was shining it was raining. Magical!

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This is the mall, which is right next to the rights center.

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Magical misty sun/rain Michael Mann shot of the main tent.

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Line to get in!

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As we walked down the main street every other store front had an art exhibit or a poster referring to the show.

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Despite the sun/rain it was a beautiful morning.

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Another art show, this one celebrating Phillipe Druillet

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Franquin graphitti

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Town Hall, cite of the professional and pro registration

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One of the focuses of this year’s show is an anniversary tribute to Le Journal du Mickey, the long running children’s magazine.

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Inside the press lounge.

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Inside the Place New York, the SPx portion of the festival, with independent publishers from France and beyond.

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Oliver Lamden, Sally Anne Hickman and Francessca Cassavetti at the Dessinators booth.

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Sean Azzopardi

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Golo Zhao signs Yay

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A shelf at the L”Association stand. What a history.

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Pate Maresca of Sunday Funnies

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Alec Longstreth and Max De Radigués at L’Employe du Moi

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Another beautiful building from around.

10 COMMENTS

  1. The photos and captions are great. Please continue! Would love to be there and spend all my money. Also enjoy the fixtures at Le Chateau de la Mothe, we don’t have those kind of cool fixtures, we have knobs. Thanks.

  2. Enjoy Heidi! This is making me so homesick… Love the fixtures :) I attended Angoulême every year from 1987 to 1997 – why in the hell did I move to Missouri?

  3. Fantastic photos! What a cool atmosphere in which to talk comics and share experiences. What an unusual image of the line up, where one man’s face has a black bar over it! And the Phillipe Druillet exhibit, wow, that would be fantastic to see. More, more!

  4. Amazing to see how much public funding is spent there every year. You all be thankful to me the french taxpayer ;)

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