Monday, November 23, 2009

BD Boum

This may be a surprise for some, and a redundancy for others, but well, I am a geek.  I never really got into a full lot of my geekiness until I hit college.  Before that, I did not have the resources to be a true geek.  There are some that say it comes from within, but well, I feel I am now at a state of geek maturity.  That title may have been mine, and probably my partner's when we were so depressed at the thought of losing our consoles that we actually took them in our carry ons across the ocean out of fear that they may be damaged too much if mailed.

So we forget about all that, I think/I hope, and we come back to a comic expo here in France.  There was a lot of different artists and styles.  the BD tradition here is a lot more organized, and you can still see remnants from earlier styles.  So of course, you see a lot of older American heroes like Batman or the X-Men.  However, the true kings of French BD are Asterix and Obelix seen here:  http://www.asterix.com/index.html.fr and someone that I didn't know about, but my Dad did, Tin-Tin seen here:  http://www.tintin.com/. 

There were two rooms available for entry, which was free, and that was nice.  The first we entered was where you could interact directly with the artists themselves.  You could talk shop with them, fanboy for a bit, and even purchase and have the book dedicated.  That was our initial plan, but there were so many people that it was really difficult to get around, and to the people we wanted.  So we thought we would go to the dealer's room while we waited for the other room to clear out.

It was just about as packed, and maybe a bit more than the other room, but there was stuff everywhere.  It was great.  My sister in law picked up Un Crayon Dans La Coeur, written by the incomparable Laurel.  I was hoping to see her there, but well, I had no idea of the schedule or any of that, so well, nuts to that.  She may or may not have been there.  Another guess.  But we picked up the book.  If you want to see some of her work, check out her site here: http://www.bloglaurel.com .  I think she's incredible, but it's my personal taste.  Salt grains, here we come. 

Myself, I decided to buy a couple of manga and pick up something for my partner.  Of course, everything I wanted to buy was a lot.  I had put myself on a strict limit of no more than 20 euros.  I had in the past spent way more than was not only proper, but also necessary at expos and sundry conventions.  I had my limit, and by god I was going to stick to it.  And.....I did.  I got my partner a small figurine from Saint Seiya (Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque) of Gemini (Gémeaux) because that's his favorite.  So he was set.  And for me, well.  I got the first two manga of Kenshin for 9 euros together.  I was very satisfied, and I have something new to read.  So yay!

It's good to know that geekiness is alive and well here in France.  If I could find a group for Dungeons and Dragons here, I would be set.  Yes, I am one of those.  I warned you.

On a side note, it did make me think of one event we had in Columbus when I was a Freshman in college.  I had to walk down to the fairgrounds, but it was totally worth it.  I went to SPACE back in 2003, which was really a lot of fun.  It's a lot of stuff I would never normally get to see.  It's a small press expo and it's pretty good really.  So if you are in Ohio and are interested, you may consider going.  Here's the address with more information.  http://www.backporchcomics.com/space.htm .  I don't know if it's really much help now that it's over, but here is also the address of BD Boum in Blois.  http://www.bdboum.com/.  It was a great event and I really have to say thanks to all the organizers, the vendors who came out, and everyone who came to see it.

And now, to Kenshin.....

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