Bag full of comics. Long day. Writing.

[hmpf]

Bag full of comics:

I got home today with:

- some "Valérian & Laureline", from the library
- "Held" by Flix and "Zuckerfisch" by Naomi Kearn - borrowed from a friend (German comics, something fairly new for me)
- two volumes of "Monsieur Mardi-Gras Descendres", freshly arrived from France.

*squee*!


Long day:

- Worked from 9 to 4 in the afternoon.
- Paul Auster seminar from 4 to 6 pm.
- In the evening: local monthly Farscape meeting.

I am so dead. I think I should go to bed now with my bag full of comics.


Writing:

I think "Atlas" is done, but I'll give it another day in case I change my mind about something. "68 Wives" has been cut into around 70 slices which are being rearranged on the floor of my room a lot at the moment. I think I may adopt wives from sylviavolk2000, mmapmaker, beccatoria and tryfanstone... (will credit if I do, of course). Lastly, a bunny I've had hopping around for a while has acquired a title today, "The Doctor and Doctor Adams" - unfortunately it only consists of a couple of lines of dialogue at the moment, and there are far more important fics to focus on at the moment. I'd like to finish "68 Wives", my untitled Maya fic, and hopefully perhaps also "Found In Translation" this year, and I really can't afford to concentrate on half-formed bunnies with so much already on my plate...

Comments

[tazey.livejournal.com]

Yay to Valérian and Laureline!! My brother kept all the comics and I miss those.

They're pretty good!

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

The annoying thing is that I could only find the series from volume 10 onwards, and not even all of the following volumes, so I'm a bit lost half of the time. Are there intégrales or omnibus editions or something? If I continue to like what I read as much as I've liked the couple I've read already, I may consider buying the series... just to get the whole picture! (And also to improve my French.)

You know what's really weird? While all the Japanese characters in manga get to keep their own names in German translations, the heroes of French comics are frequently renamed. Laureline is Véronique in German, for reasons unfathomable to me. Alcide Nikopol is Alexander Nikopol. I mean, if German readers can deal with all the Kenjis and Narutos, why shouldn't they be able to cope with a Laureline or an Alcide?

*is mystified by German comic translations*

Frell, I need a proper comics icon...

Re: They're pretty good!

[tazey.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you spoke French well enough to read comics. That's cool. :)

Véronique? Ack!

Laureline is at least a bit original for a first name. I had a Valérian and Laureline icon at Kansas. :)

I've not seen any Intégrale, don't know about omnibus edition.

You can easily find them on ebay.fr or fnac.com or amazon.fr, it depends how much you're ready to pay for them. Fnac and amazon have them at 9.31 Euros each. Ebay can get significantly cheaper even with the shipping, especially with a seller that would sell more than one.

If your library carries other French/Belgian comics, look for "La quête de l'oiseau du temps" in five volumes. It's pretty good too. MHO
If you see other titles you find interesting, you can ask me about them. I'm not a specialist but I've read a bunch of collections (well, not so much in the last ten years though...).

J'ai oublié presque tout.

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

I used to be pretty fluent in French, some twelve years ago - used to be better at French than English for a while. Unfortunately you can forget a lot in twelve years if you don't use a language at all. So, a couple of years ago or so I decided to combine my desire to revive my knowledge of French with my desire to read more great comics. It's a bit difficult for me to get French comics, though, as I don't have a credit card (so, no amazon.fr for me) and German comic shops tend to add hefty fees for ordering them for you in France. So far I've tried to make arrangements with French acquaintances or German acquaintances visiting France to bring or send me some comics from time to time, but it's been a bit complicated, so my collection's still very small. I got a batch recently, though, and will get some more in a little while (I hope!), so maybe I'll see some improvements of my French sometime soon...

I've already read La quete de l'oiseau du temps, though only in German. And yes, it's good! I've also read Loisel's Peter Pan. I'd be very happy for recommendations, so rec away, if you like!

(Using my 'meta' icon because at least it depicts a comic character - though an American one. *g*)

Re: J'ai oublié presque tout.

[tazey.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately you can forget a lot in twelve years if you don't use a language at all.

Tell me about it! German was my first foreign language and now it's... gone. :(

So far I've tried to make arrangements with French acquaintances or German acquaintances visiting France to bring or send me some comics from time to time, but it's been a bit complicated, so my collection's still very small.

There are second-hand shops in Paris where it's possible to find comics. If you have anything particular in mind, ask away and I'll go take a look.

Like I said, my comics reading days are far away in time and I read a lot of lighter, more teen than adult-oriented stuff but I remember liking the association of Rosinski and Van Hamme notably on Thorgal, XIII (based on the premise of "The Bourne Identity") and Le grand pouvoir du Chninkel. Giraud's Blueberry and Bourgeon's Les Passagers du temps were pretty good. If you're looking for angst-free stuff, you can try Les Tuniques Bleues, Gaston Lagaffe, Blake & Mortimer for starters.

Not long ago I bought for my brother a series by Jodorowsky called "La caste des méta-barons". It was a bit violent graphicly for my taste but pretty good nonetheless. Also, Philippe Druillet is often pointed out as one of the most innovative French comics artist.

BTW -

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

how do I produce the accent circonflexe and the cédille on a keyboard that does not have special keys for them? Do you happen to know? I've been thinking about spending some time on French message boards... though the last time I tried to compose a message in French it took me several hours... *g*

Re: BTW -

[tazey.livejournal.com]

That's a good question for a problem I don't have. *g*

There's a code to type with the ALT key pressed down, here's the list:

à - 133
á - 160
ä - 132
â - 131
ç - 135
é - 130
è - 138
ë - 137
ê - 136
í - 161

ï - 139
î - 140
ñ - 164
ó - 162
ô - 147
ö - 148
ú - 163
û - 150
ü - 129

Considering the abysmal level of spelling and syntax on many French message boards, I would say missing accents are not such a big problem.