Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Angoulême, chris geary

Three Days In Angoulême- Day Three, They've Even Got Comics In The Pub

Three Days In Angoulême- Day Three, They've Even Got Comics In The Pub, as Chris Geary wraps up his epic international adventure

Three familiar British comic book creators, Chris Geary and Simon Lewis of Flesh And Blood and Skin And Bone graphic novels, and Joshua Spiller of Protean Masks, went to the Western world's biggest comic book festival last week, the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Chris Geary reported in with what he found, with photos to match. Here is what was waiting for them on Day Three. Read more from Angoulême here…

Angoulême Day Three – Saturday 01/02/25

"In regard to pitching and talking, this was a very slight day.  Most publishers had left the International Rights Market, seems that was mostly a Wednesday to Friday part of the Festival and the Le Monde Des Bulles was in full Saturday at a Convention mode, and was bonkers level busy. As was the Indie section.  It reminded me of old school Thought Bubble the year before it moved from the Royal Armouries into the Centre of Leeds.  Anyone who had been to the couple of Thought Bubbles that were there, will have an idea of what Angoulême is like. Angoulême is a lot bigger. In the mid-afternoon, we spent some time at the Musée de la Bande Dessinée. A great place to see a wide variety of Original Art, and the main foyer/hallway section was set up to display an exhibition of (what I believe) were local Children at various ages showing the world what they can do,  Looks like there's a lot of great Artists ready to take over the world. Unfortunately didn't make it to the Manga section, which I was told was equally as massive and amazing as the rest of the Festival. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to visit again in the future. After another meeting at 4pm we decided to call it a day, and then retreat to a local watering hole, which turned out to be our regular for the time spent here, then to another place just for variety, and then went to the local Food Market to eat. Also, if you think it would be useful – I'm thinking of doing a "Creator's Guide to  Angoulême" to help anyone in the future hoping to get there." 

I think it would be very useful indeed, Chris! He also gives us an afterword, "Overall thoughts – Amazing.  I'm not the first person to say that, but I think it's worth saying.  Everyone that puts on a Convention of any sort needs to look to Angoulême as a successful template and do whatever they can to replicate it. What I think is amazing about the Festival, in comparison to the types of conventions that we have in England, is that this is massive, and it's 100% comics. No Celebrities, Merchandise-only vendors, or anyone selling fan-made trinkets and prints, etc.  We absolutely need more of these.  (like we didn't know this already…) It was also an event that included whole families, even the whole town, and there is enough, ore than enough, selection of Comics for everyone.  A true celebration of the Art form. I know there is the Lakes, and unfortunately, I've not had the chance to visit there at the moment. Hopefully, soon, I'll be equally impressed. Also, from a creative point of view, all of the publishers were represented by Editors, or the Publishers themselves and were open to looking at work. Whether it was a portfolio or a finished book, they gave feedback and said to email a follow-up if they felt the need.  This is pretty much non-existent in British conventions.  We used to have them. Way back when I showed my work to Editors from both Marvel and DC when they were just sitting at their tables.  We as an Industry need that to come back.  It's the only way for it to truly grow and have more events like this over here… I think that's it."

Catch up with the rest of the show on the Angoulême tag…

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