Freedom Comics (pt. 1 of 3)

"Equal and Objective Footing"

I wish you all a Joyeux Noël (and other holidays, religious or not) as I sit comfortably on my American sofa to bring you blogging matter from beyond the ocean. Having had the opportunity to explore a great many streets, museums, and stores over the last week in gay Paris, I brought back with me several artifacts and observations on what's going in France that I sorely wish was going right with the industry Stateside. For time and clarity's sake, I've divided my report up into three sections, beginning today with comics among trade books sold at retail, continuing next with my impressions of the comic book stores I visited, and last with a hat trick of short reviews of some books I picked up.

The picture shown is of one of the racks of new releases at a Gibert Joseph--read popular Barnes & Noble-caliber retailer in France. Three things I liked about their comics wares: 1) The books here took up a massive fraction of floor and shelf space, including several large tables in front of one of the two main entrances. 2) Six times as much shelf space as I've ever seen given to comics at a Borders housed used graphic novels along the side wall. 3) Serialized tales like the ones shown in the picture here (including a reformatted Tony Hillerman story and the most recent yet-untranslated volume of Blacksad, which I was happy to pocket) are prominently displayed in hardcover format and take up the aforementioned large tables toward the front of the store.

The face of comics on these shelves is much different than those of major retailers in the U.S. The greatest DC stories of Alan Moore appear right alongside the non-superhero tales, and historical adventure fiction seemed to be the most prevalent among available genres on display. Whereas trades still dominate the shelves of the bookstores I frequent in Illinois, they're a clear minority sub-category at GJ. You want woodcut surrealist picture novels? Those can be found here too. More or less every major American release from the last few years was translated (though yes, still a minority amid the impressive library of original French Craig Thompson-esque biographical fiction and noir stories) and present.

Having a shelves of used graphic novels first of all fulfills a near lifelong fantasy of mine. Though it's a different culture and a different standard known to anyone who has perused the many used-book boutiques of Paris, it made me think how great it would be to have the equivalent of a handful of convention kiosks down the street 7 days a week with last-day prices.

Beyond the used books and volume of stock, what I found most compelling was this issue of presentation of comics that was just as prominent as the trade books sold on the same floor. This condition speaks sagas for the disrepency in perception of comics in the eyes of Parisian and American consumers and retailers. I have to wonder if the big stores in the States will ever see the day they're more similar to GJ than they are different.

And so the final question I'd ask is why comics have such a more mature and more widely observable presence overseas than in our local mega-bookstores. And when am I going to see the day that Vertigo, Dark Horse, and indie serialized titles (or even TPB's) are shelved with at least the same prominence as the new Dan Brown novel? I have to hand it to France; they may have some rude old women who won't tolerate me fumbling with a pay washing machine, but their comics market has captured my heart.