Quartier Latin. Paris. 14 Octobre 2005. 21:33 Heures.
I am willingly, and hopelessly, LOST!! Its my preferred way to travel. A bright red door, with the painting of a hatted man, drawn in a style reminiscent of Hergé’s early ‘ligne claire’ style pops out of the dark street I am trotting down to find my way back home. The hatted man is opening a door painted within the real red one. How clever! I salivate at the cheerful stacks of ‘albums’ that await me if I can come back some day when the ‘librairie’ is ‘ouvert’. Its my last evening in Paris. My camera battery has faded far beyond the evening light. I hope that I have enough juice left in my battery, and memory in my card, to record a couple of hasty, blurry pictures of one of the most captivating sights I have seen in Paris. I wander into the closest Metro station – Cardinal Lemoine – and finally, turn to the map in the Rough Guide to find my way back to my gracious Parisian hosts. I download my pictures, and return to them longingly from time to time, till not at all.
My Bed. Oakland, CA. 13 April 2007. 00:05 Hours.
I am re-reading Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi after watching the movie, and am curious to learn more about her. Aaah yes, the limitless web seduces me. I find out that she is influenced by David B., another French comic book artist, whose book Epileptic has just arrived in the mail. He, in turn, has been influenced by Jacques Tardi – the creator of the hatted man opening a door within the door of a comic book store, somewhere in the Quartier Latin, which stopped me to take the last two pictures of the day before the camera ran out battery. The man at the door is Arthur Même of Ici Même – written by Jean-Claude Forest, and illustrated by Jacques Tardi in À Suivre!! It all comes together nicely! Isn’t life fascinating?
Read my previous post on Jacques Tardi.
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