The cover to the Tome tribute issue of Spirou Journal

Pipeline and Sundry: Asterix for Free, Tribute to Tome, and Funko Pops

Asterix Free Comic Book Day 2020 cover from Papercutz

Not surprisingly, it’s an origin story:

“Asterix is celebrating 60 sensational years as an international comics superstar, and Papercutz is now his North American publisher! The stories are newly translated into American English for a whole new legion of fans! The story of Asterix starts here as we discover what gives the Gaul his super strength and quick wit!”

  • “Spirou Journal” published a special issue dedication to Philippe Tome after his death last month. (Izneo has it here.) It looks like the entire Franco-Belgian cartooning world showed up to pay tribute, to the point where they couldn’t include everything and put more tributes on their website.

Warning: There are some tear jerking pages in there, including the opening page from “Dad”‘s Nob, who was a fan, himself. The whole magazine is a beautiful tribute.

Dad's Nob pays tribute to Philippe Tome

I mentioned this story when I talked about Tome in the Pipeline Podcast last month.

Really, It’s the Last Thing I Need, but Just Look at Them!

  • One bit of personal news: Two years later, I finally made the plunge and picked up those two Funko Pop!s I wanted. Valerian and Laureline:
Valerian and Laureline Funko Pops

I’m not starting a Pop collection, but I will make an exception for the Uncle Scrooge in a Money Bin one someday…

Looking Ahead to 2020 – Angouleme Awards Edition

  • Angouleme is right around the corner, which means it’s time for some more hotly contested awards. We start with the 43 nominees in the running for the album of the year. I’ve not read any of them, including the American books. Most of them I have no interest in. A few I’ve seen get released in France in recent months and have been hoping to see a quick translation for — without any luck so far.

Someday, I’ll regale you with my rant about what an awful “comics critic” I am, and why I no longer care that I don’t fit into the Cool Kids Club…

A few of the highlights from the Top 43 list that I’m interested in:

  • “Blueberry” by Joane Sfar and Christophe Blain
Chateau des Animaux sample panel
“Le Chateau des Animaux”
  • “Le Chateau des Animaux” (“The Castle of the Animals”) by Xavier Dorison and Felix Delep
Les Indes Fourbes, with art by Juanjo Guarnido
“Les Indes Fourbes”
  • “Les Indes Fourbes” is a big graphic novel painted by Juanjo Guarnido. And it’s not a talking animal book! The preview pages I’ve seen look astounding. It’s already won another award.
  • Lewis Trondheim’s “Les Nouvelles Aventures de Lapinot” v2 is interesting because it’s Trondheim. This is the story he was drawing out daily on Instagram in 2018. I lost track of the story about halfway through, so I’d like to see it in one package now.

I do think Guarnido’s book has a chance, but it’ll likely be one of the more important, serious works that touch on a topical issue and feature boring, unlikable characters doing bad things.

Wait, are there any autobio comics nominated?

Looking Ahead to 2020 – French Ministry of Culture Edition

Logo for BD 2020 from the French Ministry of Culture
  • The Year of the Comic Strip, a.k.a. BD2020, began a few days ago with a press conference. The Minister of Culture had vague notions about making France a better place, including government subsidies for artists to buy the equipment they need, and a pledge to help fix the low pay issues French comic artists so often complain about.

The article linked as well as the comments below it are laced with the kind of sarcasm and cynicism you’d expect.

‘Tis the Season

That new “Long John Silver” presentation sounds very cool.


  • What do YOU think? (First time commenters' posts may be held for moderation.)

    5 Comments

    1. Feels like a lot of people are starting to decide that awards are no good: Greg Capullo, S. G. Murphy, Brett Booth. partly I’m sure it’s that oscar baits are present in any medium so most people in the know stopped bothering.
      Otherwise I’m also interested in the “Les Indes Fourbes” book. Trondheim is interesting but it’s so much form him that I could be reading only him the entire year and still wouldn’t get to any of his new books (maybe).

    2. Oh yes you’re absolutely right! I had no idea! found them on Amazon.fr
      https://www.amazon.fr/s?k=funko+asterix&adgrpid=60491340858&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0ZHwBRCRARIsAK0Tr-oFexgO3CgAz-lQHfM_AALEA75IuNHpt2hgbRzkBkj2zDj9hcHzumMaAquGEALw_wcB&hvadid=294085924485&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1001001&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16087558370902649722&hvtargid=kwd-354551963207&hydadcr=422_1791911&tag=googbehydra08-21&ref=pd_sl_2cnp4o7cxw_e
      I already have too many Asterix collectibles, so I’ll pass this time. I could probably open an Asterix museum with all the Asterix stuff I have, going back to the 60s. To be honest, I could never understand the appeal of those Funko figurines, I hear these things are selling like crazy; but for heaven’s sake I have no idea why.

      1. I think they’re kind of cute, but the problem now is that there’s so many of them that they all look alike and the very idea of a Pop figure of any character seems boring. I eliminate all those problems by not collecting more than three or four of them. 😉