After a first stop at Comics Record, in a quiet little cosy and friendly Comic shop, it was time to go to the heart of the American comics culture in Paris : the 5th arrondissement. There, you have two very popular shops, Pulp’s and Album Comics. The former is the one I visited. Not only because I have a tremendous respect for the people who operate the place (like Arno), but also because they had a Gary Frank signing and I couldn’t miss that!
I hadn’t seen Gary in exactly 13 years. Needless to say I was anxious to know if he remembered me.
Last time, it was in 2001, for a show in Paris where my team and took care of him (along with Bryan Hitch and Travis Charest) for the dearly departed Arkham Comic shop. I was the editor in chief of Comic Box magazine and he was just in the middle of JMS’ Midnight Nation, one of my favorite series of all time.
When he saw my face, Gary said :”your face looks vaguely familiar”. And then : “Oh, I remember, you were the one organizing everything”.
We chatted for a few minutes and it really was a pleasure reconnecting. These days, Gary works for DC Comics. He’s more amazing of an artist than ever.
To be continued…