Paul in the Airport {Angouleme: Day One}

Hey, Peg and I are running late and we run into Michel Rabagliati at the airport. So we stop to have a drink and almost miss the plane. OF COURSE!!

Hours later after suffering through a soundless Eat Pray Love on the airplane (as well as a listening to an excited teen tell a stewardess that the fluid used to de-ice the plane has the same chemical make-up as urine), we arrive in Paris. Twenty minutes in the airport and we bump into Dash Shaw. Everyone is on the same train to Angouleme so we figure we'll slowly gather the others.

Here he is--Marc Bell. Our meetup fell through but sure enough he was waiting in the train station. Marc and Dash are guests of the festival and evidently will be speaking to a class of high school students on Thursday. {Nobody has had any sleep at all at this point.}

This is where I start failing with names. Second from left is Rich Tommaso and next to him is part of the German contingent is cartoonist Ulli Lust (and not pictured, her pal Kai Pfeiffer.) Again apologies if I get a name wrong.

"The Germans" as we call them. Second from left is Dirk Rehm (and next to him Sebastian). Dirk runs Reprodukt and is known to North American alternative cartoonists as letterer extraordinaire, but also publishes many of our books in german, as well publishes wonderful cartoonists of their own. You may have seen his work in our pal books and as one of the letterers in Julie's 365 Days (along with Chris Ware and Rich Tommaso!!). Here, we're all waiting for the train to Angouleme.

We arrive in Angouleme and catch our car out to our accommodations. We're located 30 kilometers from the festival through small towns and twists and turns and roads that can only safely fit one car. At the end of a long bumpy dirt road to donkeys. And geese. {Addition: The place is called Le Logis de Puygaty and out host Max was amazing! He would drive us into Angouleme if the wait for a car was too long.}

Peg and I will go on and on about this place. It's a 15th century farmhouse that the owners reclaimed 6 years ago and refurbished into the nicest hotel I have ever been in.

Here's Peg entering our room.

And here she is in the lobby. Remy Martin was doing some kind of brainstorming session there on Thursday so out of shot there was something like $40,000 of top-line cognac sitting around.

Night shot as we get ready to head back into town after an hour to ourselves. Off to meet Cornelius for dinner.

While killing time we walk into a small storefront converted into a gallery for the festival. I got the feeling this was a small press pop-up kind of event. Not sure what was going on. There were American style Zombie comics on the wall and books on strings everywhere.

Hey, CCS kids, this is France. Step it up!!

Of course, there's going to be the small street alley cobblestone shot of Peggy. We are tourists. Expect plenty more (especially when we hit Paris, post-Angouleme.)

Dinner with Cornelius in a converted wine cellar Italian restaurant. Emilie, Marc, and Tom waiting for the waitstaff. Nobody is in a hurry here. Take it easy, Tom. Slow down!!!

Names are starting to fail me. I will update later. I believe the gentleman on the left runs the main museum here (he had many Crumb, Spiegelman, and Gilbert Shelton stories.) {Update: Paul Karasik informs me that his name is Jean-Pierre Mercier. Great dinner companion.} And on the right is Jean-Louis, the genius force behind Cornelius. I (Tom) would be lying if I didn't say that when I started publishing and designing I stole a lot of tricks from this man. Cornelius has always had beautifully designed books with impeccable editorial.

After this, Peg and I call our car and head home to the farm. THE FARMHOUSE!!! (more pics later.)

Posted in: