A Frenchman in Brooklyn
May 24, 2013 8:32 AM Subscribe
In April, French cartoonist Boulet (previous, more previous) was invited to go on tour in the US, courtesy of the French embassy in New York. As a good 'webcomic', he kept a diary of his impressions of New York, the language barrier and going to the MoCCaFest, and also had a book to sell, a reworked edition of his 2012 24-hours comic Darkness (previous).
(also yes, that is what happens when you read TPerry, just shhh, let it happen)
posted by The Whelk at 8:39 AM on May 24, 2013
posted by The Whelk at 8:39 AM on May 24, 2013
Oh, these are great!
"Ah veel continue in English, zen..."
Pointed commentary from someone who's deeply cynical and madly in love with NYC at the same time. Laugh-out-loud funny stuff.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:42 AM on May 24, 2013
"Ah veel continue in English, zen..."
Pointed commentary from someone who's deeply cynical and madly in love with NYC at the same time. Laugh-out-loud funny stuff.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:42 AM on May 24, 2013
The language barrier stuff was dead on. I was a hugely popular ESL tutor back in the day because I took my tutees out into the real world and helped them with ordering at McDonald's (which every foreigner knows is the difference between life and death in North America ).
posted by srboisvert at 8:46 AM on May 24, 2013
posted by srboisvert at 8:46 AM on May 24, 2013
This is funny stuff, I'd not heard of this fellow before. Thank you for posting!
posted by marxchivist at 8:48 AM on May 24, 2013
posted by marxchivist at 8:48 AM on May 24, 2013
Boulet is awesome. This one is a personal favorite: Fantasies Management.
posted by Omon Ra at 8:58 AM on May 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Omon Ra at 8:58 AM on May 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
also yes, that is what happens when you read TPerry
Yeah, I laughed out loud when I read that.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:58 AM on May 24, 2013
Yeah, I laughed out loud when I read that.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:58 AM on May 24, 2013
Boulet is great. I loved the comic about his perfectly Romantic roommate, which is somewhere in the archives: When I learned he drew it in 24 hours (IIRC), my jaw dropped.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:16 AM on May 24, 2013
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:16 AM on May 24, 2013
Oh hell, the comic I'm thinking of is in the damn FPP. RTFA indeed.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:17 AM on May 24, 2013
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:17 AM on May 24, 2013
Boulet (slang for "noob" in French) has some great stuff in his archives, such as "Let's Celebrate" exes' day, video game "Veteran", and "Every Story Must Have a Good Fight in It".
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:26 AM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:26 AM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I love the jab at Cyanide & Happiness in the "kept a diary" link.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:38 AM on May 24, 2013
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:38 AM on May 24, 2013
His response to the guy behind the glass window... well, reverse that, and you have me in Paris trying to understand the poor, annoyed woman behind the ticket counter, clearly disgusted with my inability to understand her English (and clearly too impatient to care that jetlag + unfamiliar accent + glass window blocking half the noise was 95% of the problem).
5 minutes off the plane, and already I felt like the typical ugly American tourist. I feel for you, Boulet.
posted by caution live frogs at 9:41 AM on May 24, 2013
5 minutes off the plane, and already I felt like the typical ugly American tourist. I feel for you, Boulet.
posted by caution live frogs at 9:41 AM on May 24, 2013
Excellent post, thanks MartinW.
posted by doctor_negative at 11:15 AM on May 24, 2013
posted by doctor_negative at 11:15 AM on May 24, 2013
Boulet's webcomic is one of the best things I've read since Calvin and Hobbes. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it makes me think. And yet somehow no one seems to know about it!
posted by archagon at 12:46 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by archagon at 12:46 PM on May 24, 2013
I wonder how well known he is in France.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 12:55 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 12:55 PM on May 24, 2013
Did Microsoft borrow the instant makeup gag for its Windows 8 commercial? Or is that joke older?
posted by elgilito at 1:01 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by elgilito at 1:01 PM on May 24, 2013
I wonder how well known he is in France.
He's fairly well known, having both his own all ages adventure/humour comic Raghnarok and having worked on the Joann Sfar/Lewis Trondheim Donjon fantasy series. But he is certainly of a generation of French cartoonists, like Sfar and Trondheim, who do look much more to American comics then previous generations did. It helps a lot of course that the US comic market is no longer so much dominated by monthly floppies and is increasingly going for the European album/"graphic novel" model.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:51 PM on May 24, 2013
He's fairly well known, having both his own all ages adventure/humour comic Raghnarok and having worked on the Joann Sfar/Lewis Trondheim Donjon fantasy series. But he is certainly of a generation of French cartoonists, like Sfar and Trondheim, who do look much more to American comics then previous generations did. It helps a lot of course that the US comic market is no longer so much dominated by monthly floppies and is increasingly going for the European album/"graphic novel" model.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:51 PM on May 24, 2013
Fantastic post, thanks for making it.
France reminds me of Japan in some ways - a completely separate, self-contained pop culture universe with endless opportunities for exploration.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:01 PM on May 24, 2013
France reminds me of Japan in some ways - a completely separate, self-contained pop culture universe with endless opportunities for exploration.
posted by KokuRyu at 4:01 PM on May 24, 2013
France reminds me of Japan in some ways - a completely separate, self-contained pop culture universe with endless opportunities for exploration.
L'Otaque
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:03 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
L'Otaque
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:03 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
He's fairly well known, having both his own all ages adventure/humour comic Raghnarok and having worked on the Joann Sfar/Lewis Trondheim Donjon fantasy series.
I've got Notes, Vol.4, which is a chunk of his webcomic in dead tree format, and will slowly pick up his other stuff.
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:37 PM on May 24, 2013
I've got Notes, Vol.4, which is a chunk of his webcomic in dead tree format, and will slowly pick up his other stuff.
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:37 PM on May 24, 2013
Wow, thanks for this -- never came across this guy before. Love the animated frame in the bar. I can totally relate to that.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:30 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:30 PM on May 24, 2013
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posted by The Whelk at 8:38 AM on May 24, 2013