Episode 1: Why Franco-Belgian Comics?

ByAugie De Blieck Jr.

Hi, remember me?

I used to do some podcasting. That was ten years ago. Now, I’m back.

To start this new podcast series off, I’m sharing how it is I came to follow Franco-Belgian comics as my own personal bold new frontier of reading material.

Making a long story short, I had some exposure to it in the early 2000s at comic conventions (the magnificent StuartNgBooks.com booth in San Diego, for one example) and my local comic shop.

Fast forward to 2017, when I discovered that Franco-Belgian comics were being translated at a rapid clip digitally.

Of course! The biggest problem with selling translated comics is the barrier to entry that printing them is. Making them digital is a much cheaper production pipeline and results in far cheaper books that can bring new readers in.

It worked for me!

Yes, there’s a lot more that goes into translation and digital publishing, but we’ll get into that in future shows, I’m sure.

My journey to getting to Franco-Belgian books took off with the rise of digital comics and their easy distribution, but I had sampled them throughout the years prior to that. It’s like I had 15 or 20 years of warm up before the race began. I’ve been running through these books ever since.

Additional Links of Interest

I don’t think you really needed a reminder, but here’s the opening theme from the Smurfs cartoon of the 80s, before they were slightly creepy CGI constructs in the real world:

I told the tale of my Belgian heritage in my review of “Asterix in Belgium.”

I mentioned EuropeComics in the podcast, and will be devoting a show to them at some point. They’re an important organization in bringing European comics to America.

If you’re not familiar with the works of Francois Schuiten yet, check out his Instagram page.

Books Mentioned In This Podcast

I could list dozens here. Here are a few highlights that I’ve reviewed:

Undertaker v1 cover by Ralph Meyer
Stern v2 City of Savages cover
The Campbells v1 cover
Harmony volume 1 cover
Asterix v1 Asterix the Gaul original cover by Albert Uderzo

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When we hit the stretch goals for the Patreon, I’ll add a third show to the schedule each week.


Comic fan since 1989. Letterhack from 1991. Pipeline writer since 1997.

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2 Comments

  1. I like it! And the music intro has a very World News Tonight feel 🙂 Europe Comics is also part of Comixology Unlimited now… all the books you could ever want to read for 6 bucks a month or thereabout…

    Reply

    1. Thanks, particularly on the music. It took me FOREVER to find anything I could put up with. There’s a lot of stuff out there that’s too synthetic sounding or too slow or just painful. I wanted to go with something upbeat to get going. That said, if I ever find something else I like more, I won’t hesitate to switch. =)

      Thanks for pointing out the ComiXology Unlimited plan. I need to mention that more often. That’s a good entry point for people, too. I do have plans for a couple episodes for complete newbies, and will be sure to mention that in the appropriate one…

      Reply