Strasbubble and the frog prince
This Saturday hails the opening of the second annual comic-strip festival in Strasbourg. A week-long event that brings some of France's best comic-strip authors together under one roof, providing the backdrop to a ream of associated 'bande-dessinée' events around the city throughout the week. 'Strasbulles' is a typically French title for the event, a play on words combing the word for 'bubble' (as in speech-bubble) with the name of the city. If you've ever read any Franco-Belge comic books you'll know this kind of humour is mandatory and sometimes very funny (see anything written by René Goscinny). As I have noted before the French have a fanatical love comic strip which I have to say is rubbing off on me. I have been using my library membership to delve into the rich cultural pool of comic-art and bring my BD savoir up to scratch. Over and above Asterix and Tintin I have discovered Thorgal, XIII, Blake and Mortimer, Jo Zette et Jocko, Gaston Lagaffe, Spirou and Fantasio, Alix, Iznogoud ... to name a few. One author who is a [...]