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One of the reasons for our break between 'seasons' of the podcast is my well deserved (even if I say so myself) annual holiday. I was lucky enough to enjoy the wonderful cities of Lille, in northern France, and Bruges, in northern Belgium. It's the second year running, after Japan last year, that I've visited a country where comics are not a niche interest, but just an accepted part of the arts and culture - and how refreshing it is to see! It's improved a lot in the US and UK over the last 20 years, but we still have a way to go.
The most obvious difference you first notice with their comics is the format. The long-established usual style is the 'album'. These are usually hardback books in the A4 (21x29.3cm) size, so larger and wider than the American format, and normally run to 48 pages. These albums can be one-offs, or part of a series - though they do ultimately conclude, so have more in common with manga than the never-ending superhero series from Marvel and DC. Also like manga, and increasingly American comics, a series is usually produced by one creator or creative team. It is unusual for titles to continue without the original writer or artist.
I've been visiting France's comic shops for about 15 years now, and around 10 years ago there was a definite shift with increasingly more American comics for sale. These are predominantly Marvel and DC, but other publishers such as Image and Dark Horse are also well represented. The bulk of these are collected editions translated into French (including editions not readily available in English), but there are also some stores that stock plentiful amounts of the monthly 'floppy' comics in English. Over the last 5 years or so, there has also been the same manga explosion that we have seen in the US and UK, and these Japanese comics have now overtaken sales of American comics - and are even more popular digitally than in print. Interestingly, one of the common arguments for manga's success in the US is that each series has a clear beginning and end in contrast to superhero comics (if you want to read Batman for the first time, where on earth do you start?), however that doesn't apply in France and yet the same popularity boom has occurred.
Lille is France's fourth-largest city, but you wouldn't have known it from the intimate streets lined with old buildings and the not-too-busy crowd that gives a much more laid back feeling than the hustle and bustle of Paris. Yet its size means it is well served with comic shops. There were a couple that were manga focused, so I didn't check those out as I was on the hunt for BDs this holiday. Our hotel concierge had helpfully pointed out to us the most important street in the city - the one with the best bars on it - so we headed out to it in order to get our holiday off to a proper start. Much to my delight, one of those bars was also a comic shop! Bd + café on Rue Royale, was a dream made real - comics and beer. Over two floors, the store stocked predominately French BD, with a decent sized collection of translated American comics, and a little bit of manga. The newer BD were upstairs, and the larger collection of past releases downstairs, which were helpfully organised by genre. There was a healthy selection of more experimental/avant-garde comics, which I didn't see as well represented at other shops. They also stocked comics related merchandise such as posters and models. The icing on the cake was the bar, which was well stocked with local beers, was decorated with comic art, and also had seating outside on the street. My wife was very happy to enjoy a pint whilst I lost myself in the comics!
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| BD + Cafe, Lille |
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| Posters and decoration at BD + Cafe |
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| The bar! |
If you enjoy more traditional fine art, then there is a wonderful gallery at Palais des Beaux-Arts, with some important and well known paintings. But whilst you're there, you can pop round the corner to AstroCity on Rue de l'Hôpital Militaire. As you may have guessed for a shop named after an Image Comics series, this store focuses almost exclusively on American comics translated into French. What was astounding was the length and breadth of their stock - pretty much every well known Marvel or DC storyline was available here in collections, but plenty of other publishers were here as well. The amount and variation would put many US/UK shops to shame. They also stocked English monthly comics - so it felt very much like a home from home!
A few doors down on Rue de l'Hôpital Militaire was BD Collections. Because of the deeper inclusion of comics in French culture, they have developed a special type of comic shop that we don't really see in the UK/US. They are akin to a combination of a second hand bookshop and an antique book dealer - for comics. So - as far as I could see - the comics for sale here were second-hand/used, but instead of just stocking tatty cheap comics, they focused on classic or high value items (first editions for example). Obviously, we have a market for rare and expensive comics (now including the 'slab' phenomenon), but I don't recall seeing a bricks and mortar shop exclusively dedicated to them. BD Collections is a relatively small store, but with a decent, well-organised collection. One comic that caught my eye was an 80's translated Watchmen comic, published under the name Les Guardians (which I guess gives us a twist on the iconic tagline - here it would be 'who guards the guardians'!) There was also an impressive array of comics posters that would look good decorating any home! I'd recommend a visit just to see a different side of the comic market in France.
Handily opposite our hotel was Bazar du Bizzare, which sold comics, games, and other geek-type stuff - it was basically a French Travelling Man for those familiar with the UK chain. The overwhelming majority of the comics were manga, but there was a quarter or so of the comics space given over to French and American comics, concentrating, as you might expect, on the most popular titles.
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| Bazar du Bizzare, Lille |
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| Bazar du Bizzare's games and collectables |
Probably the largest collection of comics was to be found at Furt du Nord, which is a 5-story bookshop located on the central square in Lille, Place General de Gaulle (named after the famous President of France, who came from the city), with a whole floor dedicated to comics. Half the space was given over to manga, which shows you how insanely popular it is now, with BD and American comics covering the rest. Interestingly, whilst the French BD focused on the mainstream popular titles, there were more translated independent comics from the likes of Drawn and Quarterly, Fantagraphics, Nobrow, etc. Situated in a large, bright, and airy building, in the busiest part of the city, it was a great reminder of how integrated comics are into French culture and society.
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| Furt du Nord, Lille |
45 miles north of Lille, over the border into Belgium, is the city of Bruges. It may be familiar to you from the classic 2008 movie In Bruges - and I can only agree with the description from that film that Bruges is a 'fairytale'. With the majority of the city made up of 16th - 18th century houses, and a series of canals that wind through the pebbled streets, it is certainly the most picturesque place I've ever bought comics!
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| The view outisde our Bruges hotel |
The comics' scene in Belgium is a bit more complicated, as it is a multilingual country. In the north they speak Flemish (a Dutch dialect), in the south French, on their eastern edge German, and in the capital Brussels (also the de facto capital of the European Union) pretty much anything goes. The French language comics are so intrinsically linked to France, that they are generally referred to as 'Franco-Belgian', tying the two scenes together.
I only tracked down two comic shops in Bruges - though like the rest of France and Belgium there are plenty of comics in bookshops, newsagents, and various other stores - however, to my good fortune it didn't involve much travelling between the two; they're in the same building! Stripweb was a well stocked shop on Katelijnestraat, just on the edge of the tourist area. It had a varied collection of Belgian, French, and American comics. One of the interesting things I noted here was that the Marvel, DC, and so on, translated editions were printed in the larger 'album' format to mirror the local comic sizes - this meant that the pages were wider that usual, but unfortunately I didn't pick one up to compare how that worked against an original in my collection. There was a signing area at the back of the shop which, although not in use on my visit, seemed to have events on a regular basis.
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| Stripweb, Bruges |
Upstairs at the same address was De Striep Promo, which appeared to sell mainly secondhand/used comics - mostly French and Belgium titles - so I was able to pick up a couple at a reasonable price. It was probably the smallest shop I visited on my trip, but as it didn't focus on new titles there were many comics here that I didn't see elsewhere.
Alas, that was all I was able to manage this trip (not too bad for a week's holiday, though!) Next time I will definitely be taking the Eurostar all the way to Brussels, not only to take in its multiple comic shops but also the wonderful Comics Art Museum. As I'm sure you can guess from my write-up, I would heartily recommend a visit to both of these magnificent towns; they are real gems and the deluge of comics available is just the cherry on top of the croissant! Au revoir!
Mike
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