ANGOULÉME

The Angoulême International Comics Festival in France is a pretty big deal. Over there they kind of look at it as an art form. In North America there is a disproportionate amount of superhero comics. It's kind of like if, at the Oscar's, there was just action movies - Lethal Weapon winning best picture. Then you go over to Europe and see all this other beautiful stuff.

They recently announced their short list of the best stuff of the year. There are half a dozen or so books who's publication language was originally English. The rest, I'm not even sure if you can get them over here. They look pretty, though. Click on the covers for a closer look, then click again for a brief description, if your French is okay. So cool to see all the different styles that are represented. You'll notice a complete absence of capes, as well...

Get at me: