2017 was an anniversary year for the Bande Dessinee (comics) Festival at Angouleme...
http://www.bdangouleme.com/
It was the 10th birthday for "le Fauve" .. the festival's mascot, created in 2007 by artist Louis Trondheim. He was the Grand Prize winner at Angouleme in 2006.
There's an annual outdoor art display near the "Hotel de Ville" city center...
Below right is one of the ticket booths for the Festival...at the foot of the "Hotel de Ville"
The "Hotel de Ville" is not an hotel... it's a former castle. Now a city government building.
Another view of the "Hotel de Ville"
Large, substantial tents are erected around town to house the exhibitors...
The Para-BD tent ......
Inside the Para BD tent....
This tent is near the city's central "Halle" market building
On the other side of the "Halle"... an actual Phone Booth!
Many of the local offices and business decorate their windows for the festival. Here "Lucky Luke" is on a bakery window...
There are also small exhibits inside stores and buildings...
It's a nice walk through the city from the Para BD tent to the Champs des Mars...
Below right is the glass enclosed "Champs de Mars" ... an underground retail shopping mall.
The entrance to the "Champs de Mars" tent is on the left.
Lines above and below --- attendees waiting to get inside the Champs de Mars tent...
Each tent has two entrance lines ... one for exhibitors and festival guests... another for general attendees...
Inside this tent ... where most of the large publishers set up...
Below is a demo by renowned animal artist Frank Pe!
Lines at the large booths for the big publishers are common... and usually indicate a signing going on by artists of the publishers books.
At the booth for publisher Casterman...
Stuart gets in line for a quick visit with artists from "Last Man" ...
http://stuartngbooks.com/lastman-1-the-stranger.html
Colorful posters are a hallmark of the publisher booths!
And of course... a comics festival is a pop culture exchange!
Stuart spends most of his time at the festival going back and forth between the tents.
Yes.. it's January. Yes.. he's wearing an aloha shirt. He's internationally famous for his mega-watt smile... and his high metabolism that keeps him warm in the winter temps!
Stuart's trip to Angouleme is as close as he gets to a vacation all year -- since at this show he's there to attend, enjoy the festival...
and see friends. Artist Pierre Alary (below left) is a frequent guest of publishers at the festival.
These free balloons (below) were a hit with kids...
and kids at heart....
But many also escaped to the rafters!
And while it's all in fun... there's also changes from previous years. Increased security these days. Bag checks at every tent entrance...and this year... these posters inside the tents and around town...
So with caution... and courage... life and art goes on...
Below left is the entrance for the "New York" tent....
"New York" is the longest of the tent structures....
Street view at the far end of the "New York" tent....
Below is the large statue ...
just across the street from above view of the New York tent... that is a familiar landmark for Festival attendees...
The area around the statue is popular for photo ops....
Impressive to see large buses navigate streets in a town that dates to the middle ages!
So yes.. the Festival occupies a lot of the town... but there are also lots of little paths to follow and get away from it....
Just down the street from the "New York" tent is the entrance of Le Musee d-Angouleme
http://musee-angouleme.fr/
It's a fantastic city gem.... with treasures like this gold Celtic Helmet...
Also rooms of paintings and decorative arts...
Painting above is view of Angouleme from the river...
Below right is painting of a young cow by Rosa Bonheur.....
The street view of the road up to the museum entrance...
View from across the street.....
Looking from the museum end of the street towards the large statue (below left) outside the "New York" tent area....
Is there Cosplay at this festival???
There have been rumors... but few sightings...
Do light up shoes count???
Cut-outs like these are also around the town...
So yes.. the Festival occupies a lot of the town... but there are also lots of little paths to follow and get away from it....
An important part of the experience of Angouleme is going out and exploring the city!
Stuart doesn't get to do enough of that....
But at least his walking brings handy access to those yummy baguette sandwiches!
On the train ... on his way to Paris... back at work on his computer!... Those Stuart Ng Books newsletters get written every week --- and they don't write themselves :)
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