The Comic Book fair

I got a few questions about why the HECK I was going to a comic book fair. Clearly, I heard the statement: "I didn't know you liked Comic Books!!" Well, here's the thing. In the US, the comic books are about Superheros and Science Fiction. Here in France, there are stand alone boutiques filled with nothing but comics. I've seen at least 3 on school: "Les Profs" (of which I own two or three) "Le Cancre" "Les Cancres" (by different people but both focused on being the dunces or the class clowns). There's "Les Cyclistes" there's the ones on parenthood: just starting out and how you're kids make fun of you because you're too old..... There's the ones on history ("Maus", "I killed Hitler", "J'ai découvert Lascaux" etc.) and my favorites, though I haven't gotten any yet: the ones that take literature or poetry and redo them in comic form. They're beautifully ornate and very amazing to look at.

I did have a very nice afternoon wandering essentially what is an outdoor mall. It reminded me of visiting April in California or the mall where the maternity boutique is in the most recent season of Weeds.

I was suprised to see that people wait for quite a long time to get an autograph from these comic writers. It didn't make much sense what the hold up was until I got a glimpse of what was going on. They actually take your book and do an extensive drawing on the inside cover. I am not sure this is the best picture but hopefully you get the idea of what you're seeing.
Another fun thing about the afternoon was "meeting" this man. Each tent had 4-5 artists in it. I was walking around this one and I hear, "Bonjour collegue d'anglais."

Well, first, even though I'm here, I am not quite used to being addressed. Second, I am still getting used to being an English teacher. And third, colleague??

Yup, this is a man that teaches at my school. I was delighted to talk to him and to see his comic book. It is about Redheads, the special group of which I'm proud to be a member. (I know Pam will defend me, even if we're always coloring my hair!) He explained to me that he teaches his 15 hours and does this with his free time. There is something to be said for this schedule since it allows for some real dedicated time to other hobbies, other things than school. That's not such a bad thing. Sometimes I work so much that by the time I get home, I can barely read a blurb in my Time magazine!