Mission: Comics’ Post-Angouleme Report!

Katsuhiro Otomo’s Poster for the 2016 Angoulême International Comics Festival

Every year France is host to the biggest comics event in the world: the Angoulême International Comics Festival. With over 200,000 people attending every year (almost 50,000 more people than San Diego Comic Con, the festival takes over the entire city of Angoulême for five days. Not only are there massive, convention-sized tents, museums and huge gallery spaces, but all of the local cafes, book stores, restaurants, and even beauty salons and corner stores open their doors and host comic book related events throughout the week.

The most immediately striking aspect of the festival is how involved the actual city of Angoulême is in the process. The city government actually commissions famous comic artists and illustrators to paint some of the most fantastic street murals I’ve ever seen. It was wonderful to see a city government support the arts - comic arts, no less - so strongly and publicly.

Apologies in advance for my terrible photography.

Above: Philippe Druillet’s Mural in Angoulême   

Above: Moebius’ Glass Relief on the Moebius Building

Above: Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese Statue

Despite all the admittedly infuriating controversies surrounding this year’s festival, Angoulême is perhaps the most culturally diverse comics event that I’ve ever attended.There were comics, creators, and publishers France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Iceland, Poland, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, India, Pakistan, Egypt, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Russia, England, Australia, New Zealand, and more. The only notable absence was, interestingly, American publishers.

This year’s Angoulême Grand Prix winner (a lifetime achievement award given by the festival in which there recipient becomes the next year’s honorary festival President and curator) was Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of Akira. Arguably one of the most important and influential manga artists all time, Otomo gave a 2+ hour talk and Q&A session to a sold-out crowd at the Angoulême Opera Theater.  

Above Photo: Otomo’s Talk to a Sold Out Opera House

One of the coolest topics Otomo discussed (among so many fascinating insights historical tidbits) was his relationship with the legendary French artist Moebius. Otomo recounted how, on a trip to visit Moebius’ home in France, Otomo was able to use Moebius’ favorite drawing pen, one Moebius hand-made out of a branch from Moebius’ favorite tree. Otomo recounted how beautifully it handled and how smooth and thin a line it marked, calling it “the most amazing pen in the world.” Moebius gifted the one-of-a-kind pen to Otomo, engraving it with the words, “Moebius for Otomo.” Otomo went on to use that pen to draw Akira.  

Above Photo: Moebius’ handmade pen, later gifted to Otomo

Just let that sink in. Akira was drawn in part with Moebius’ pen.

The Moebius building (yes, there is a Moebius building!) was host to many of the more indie and experimental comic books. My favorite exhibit there was focused on Risograph printers and independent comics, where two dozen creators -including people like Michael DeForge & Simon Hanselmann- drew pages for a massive, oversized international zine-comics anthology made by Breakdown Press, that they were printing and assembling there and then, right in front of you.

Above: Assembly and sale of the final bound Angouleme Risograph Anthology

Above: The Risograph Comics Anthology Insane All-Star Roster

Also on display in the Moebius building was an interactive exhibit for Ilan Manouach’s absolutely brilliant system of comics for the blind. It is one of my greatest regrets of the festival that, like a fool, I left my exploration of this exhibit until the festival’s final hours, which left me only a few short minutes to explore this astounding work.      

Above: Ilan Manouach’s comics for the blind

There were too many galleries to detail in this post, but I have to show some photos of the two show-stealing galleries on display at this year’s festival.

The first was Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese Art Gallery. Easily one of the most important comic book creator’s of all time, Pratt is relatively unknown to American audiences. The man was a brilliant literary mind, and spent his time traveling the world and hanging out with people like Rudyard Kipling, Ernest Hemingway, Jorges Luis Borges, and Umberto Eco. Pratt was making intelligent, literary comics decades before anyone almost else. Umberto Eco once famously stated: “When I want to relax, I read an essay by Engels. When I want to read something hard, I read Corto Maltese.”

Above 4 Photos: Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese watercolor concept designs 

If you haven’t checked out the long-overdue english translations of Pratt’s Corto Maltese graphic novels, go check them out immediately. You’ll be glad you did.

The second show stealer was the Tribute to Otomo Art Gallery, where on display were original tribute pieces to Katsuhiro Otomo from 42 master artists from around the world.

Above: The Otomo Tribute Gallery

Above : Room 2 of 3 in the Otomo Tribute Gallery

Above: Otomo’s new Akira piece for his tribute gallery

Above: Olivier Ledroit’s Otomo Tribute Piece

Above: LRNZ’s Otomo Tribute Piece

Above: Dilraj Mann’s Otomo Tribute Piece

Above: Ludovic Debeurme’s Otomo Tribute Piece

I could go on about this festival for pages and pages, but I’ll spare you the rest. It was wonderful, overwhelming, inspiring, and exhilarating in equal measure. There is a lot that the American comic book culture & industry can learn by taking a good long look at the vibrantly diverse international comic book communities that are all on full display at the Angoulême every year.