Comicsfestival in Angouleme 2014

If I would be French, I wouldn't dare to write this blog entry. French children are educated from early on, not to make mistakes. Before they would speak in broken English, they would rather remain silent. I am Austrian. But I'll keep the report short.

This year was the first time with a German embassy at this biggest Comics festival in Europe: a booth with comics by artists and publishers living in Berlin.

Stand operators Jens Meinrecken and Stefan Neuhaus study the menue at the airport restaurant during transit from Paris to Angouleme. The food wasn't bad.

The food was excellent: The festival hasn't started yet, that's why we got a table in this wonderful little restaurant, which will be overcrowded from tomorrow on. It's allready crowded on tuesday. Paul Karasik came late and had to wait outside. While Gert Jan Pos, the Fox, had made a reservation (How did he do that? The phone of the restaurant was off the whole week before the festival. We tried.) 

Sorry to say: this year I've made very few fotos in gemeral, but a lot of my boyfriends new hairstyle.  It's "temporar" he says. 

Jen Vaughn from Fantagraphics was here to write for the Comics Reporter. 

Also Heidi MacDonald has withdrawn periodically to write her reportes about the Festival.

Birgit Weyhe and Joanna Hellgren, signing their french books at Editions Cambourakis

Kai Pfeiffer, Peter Blegvad, me, Paul Karasik in Front of the Berlin stand

Dash Shaw, Frank Santoro, Joff Winterhart at the stand of Editions çà et là
(Frank wrote a blog report, too.)

Kai Pfeiffer and Joseph Lambert, in the back çà et là publisher Serge Ewenczyk. Joseph's Book "Annie Sullivan & Helen Keller" was in the Selection for the Prizes of the Festival. 

Joff Winterhart was doing portraits of passengers during the signings. 

This guy didn't have to while away the time during signing hours, Derf Backderf, signing "Mon Ami Dahmer" and "Punk Rock & Mobile Homes"

The little girl is passing the time in front of me while her father waits for a signature by Derf, and starts reading my dirty not appropriate for children comic. 
I'm on the signing table next to Derf, reading the wonderful Comic of Joff Winterhart, which I can warmly recommend. The original version in english is called "Days of the Bagnold Summer" (Random Houlse UK).

The father was waiting long,  and surprisingly the girl continued reading very concentrated.
I am not sure, how much she really understood, and breathed on, when her father picked her before she started reading the scene in the brothel. 

Derf really earned his "Prix de Revelation", which he got on Sunday evening. 

Here I meet my cartoonist colleague Olivier Texier for the first time, allthough we are working together at www.electrocomics.com since years. I love his work! And his hairstyle!

Same with Pina Chang, formerly known as Lorelei Herrera. Met her for the first time in person, but was to dull to make a photo. Edition Na published a collection of her short stories in "Visiter tous les pays". Some of them you can find in english language at electrocomics, like a story, which is called "An old story" but secretly I prefer to call it "Mammita". As Pina might remain Lorelei in my mind. 

Now I regret, not to have pulled the camera out of the bag all the time, because there were so many amazing people on this festival! So Sorry!

It's sunday night, the tends are getting build down, but one artist is still signing: Herr Sele got a Prize for the best Reprint: "Cowboy Henk" at Fremok,