Squid Row

The stuff’s all packed up… books, t-shirts, magnets and the like… It’s time to head up to “the city” and hopefully sell some Squid stuff. If you’ve not been to The Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, you’re missing a fun comics gig.

My first visit to APE was back in 2003. My cousin, Tess,  invited me up to check out the con. She’d flown in from Texas and suggested a get-together. Tess is a fan of Jim Mahfood, and she wouldn’t miss an opportunity to visit his booth, and buy some of his original art.

I had me a good time at that first APE and wished I’d come up earlier! The next time I visited was 2007, then again in 2008. Each and every time it rained! This time, now that I’m going to booth it, there’s no rain in sight! Yee ha!

I, of course, will post pics and a review of the weekend’s event when I return!

… CBBD is secret code for The Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels, Belgium. They are celebrating 20 years of being. And I congratulate them!

I visited CBBD last year… it was a fascinating visit! The building itself, created by Victor Horta in 1906, is an Art Nouveau treasure. Inside, there were framed original artworks from all sorts of comics I’d never seen before! I was unfamiliar with les bandes dessinee francais (french comics) and enjoyed the hours of investigation.

There was also a large section devoted to Tin Tin with colorful walls and a large cartoon reproductions and commentary (thankfully translated)…

I am embarrassed to say that I didn’t know that Tin Tin was of Belgian orgin… as well as The Smurfs! In fact, I didn’t know much about Tin Tin in general! The Smurfs (created by Peyo) I was rather familiar with, having collected many of the plastic figures as a kid. However, seeing the “smurfy” original artwork and hand-drawn panels was a treat!… and they were in French! (I couldn’t read them then, but now that I’m in a French class, I’m deciphering!)

My only criticism of the museum was that there was little attention paid to the advances in comics over the past 10 years. In fact, the museum seemed to have stopped inserting new materials ten years prior to my visit (save the revolving exhibit, which was “50 Years of Smurfs”).

But overall, I was not disappointed with my trip to CBBD. …the trip was an eye-opener… I found a new world! I found not only French comics, but Dutch as well! I rounded up the visit to the Comics Museum with a trip to the gift shoppe… picking up copies of “Flo” and JoJo (both Dutch) and Gaston (French) among others.

Can you guess my favorite flavor of ice cream?

mmm.... mint and chip....

Well, actually, I eat frozen yogurt. The milk products and I don’t get along so well. I do like the Vanilla lots… (“it’s the finest of the flavors”) I know, how boring. But Mint and Chip is tres awesome!