Pipeline and Sundry: Asterix Tops the Chart (again), Angouleme Grand Prix Finalists, and More!

Angouleme Grand Prix Finalists Named

Always a source of controversy and consternation, this year’s trio of Grand Prix finalists includes some familiar names.

For France’s Catherine Meurisse, this is the third year in row she’s been a finalist for the prize. I reviewed one of her books, “The Great Outdoors.”

Britain’s Posy Simmonds is the second finalist. She started her career as a newspaper cartoonist in 1969. She has been nominated before, though I can’t at the moment find a list of all past finalists to see if she made it to a final three or not.

Lastly, American Dan Clowes rounds out the list. Notably, he withdrew his name from consideration during the controversy in 2016 when the finalist list of 30 names didn’t include a single woman.

I’m not placing bets on who might win. The whims of the people who vote on this are outside my grasp. You can easily make a case for any of the nominees, as always. I could make coldly cynical calculations explaining why each of them will win. Instead, let’s just cheer on the winner at the end of the month.

The winner will be announced on the first day of FIBD, January 24th.

What the French Want to Read Is Not Jean-Paul Sartre

The 2023 edition of the best-selling books like in France is now out. Unsurprisingly, “Asterix and the White Iris” is at the top, with an estimated 1.5 million books sold.

Doing some quick math: 68 million people live in France. The United States has 330 million people. That would be like selling more than 7 million copies of the book here. I can’t find good estimates anywhere at the moment, but I have to think that would be an insane number for any book these days, short maybe the Bible or Harry Potter.

The second best seller is the slightly controversial Gaston La Gaffe album, clocking in at about a half million copies.

The 15th best-selling book is Dargaud’s “Le Monde Sans Fin” (“The World Without End”), written and drawn by Christophe Blain. The book got a lot of press and good critical reviews, as it was co-written with Jean-Marc Jancovici, a French energy and climate expert. I haven’t read it, but judging by the preview pages I saw, it’s 196 pages of Jancovici explaining to Blaine everything about climate change, its societal and economic impact, and how to fix it. It’s being publishing in North America this spring.

Five different volumes of “One Piece” are in the top 50. The French youth are as manga-crazy as the American youth.

Volume 3 of “Elles” snuck in at #44. I never reviewed that one, mostly because I read the first book and it felt too much to me like so many other teenage drama (with a supernatural twist!) type of books I had read around that same time. It does seem to be very popular, though. Ablaze has the license and has published the three books in English.

Don’t Use Without Permission

You know how politicians get in trouble for playing music without permission by an artist who hates them during one of their rallies?

It happens in France, too, but here with a politician tweeting everyone a Happy New Year with an Asterix drawing. The Editions Albert-Rene folks are protesting.

And Finally… The Franquin Stamp!

France is issuing an Andre Franquin stamp to celebrate what would have been Franquin’s 100th birthday this month. It’s a pretty nice looking sheet of stamps there. I want to buy something on eBay from a dealer in France now and ask them to use these stamps to ship it to me.

Coincidentally, it’s also the 50th anniversary of Franquin’s win of the very first Grand Prix at Angouleme.

Not coincidentally, there will be some kind of ceremony at Angouleme for the stamp. I’m not sure whether it’s the official release or an “unveiling” or what. I’ll be looking for it.