This blog began in 1997 as a single news page called Nucelus. In 2005, during a long wait to move into a new house, I decided to learn some php and MySQL and write my own blogging system, which became inkyBlog and which now powers this, my own Webbledegook blog.
Thank you to my brother, Murray Ewing, for help with some of the more challenging aspects!
Most of the time I will be at the BD Must stand (Fri, Sat, Sun a.m., I'm travelling on the Thursday), which is no. H13 in the Espace Para BD (in the Place de Halles, bound by BD Pasteur and Rue de Chat on Place Guillon - see map).
Also at the stand will be Francis Carin (Ennemis de Sang), Thomas Du Caju (Betty and Dodge), Patrick Dumas (Allan MacBride), Eric Heuvel (January Jones), Nicolas Siner (Horacio d'Alba) and Vano (Rhonda).
If you're there too, please do come and say hello!
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This year, as well as their 'regular' bingo card, they produced a 'YA' (young adult) card as an extra challenge, with one of the squares suggesting 'a graphic novel'. Here are the cards (see them bigger here) ...
It's great to see that anyone doing the YA card will be including a graphic novel in their reading, many, possibly, for the first time. It also made me think how many people consider graphic novels a genre rather than a medium (and I'm not saying Random House are doing this here - they're not) and will immediately think 'Batman' when they see the term graphic novel.
So I wondered if the diversity of comics was enough to wipe out both bingo cards? I then wondered if I could wipe out both bingo cards with graphic novels from my own collection only (and without repeating any)? That would make it harder with my fairly specific tastes.
Well, actually it wasn't that hard after all, and many of the squares could have been filled with various titles. I tried to be as diverse as possible, from within my own shelves, and chose titles largely as if recommending books for readers new to comics. I also avoided adaptations, wanting the books to have been made to be comics. Why not have a go from your own collection? Here's mine ...
Regular Reading Bingo
A book with more than 500 pages - Bone, single volume edition by Jeff Smith (1332 pages)
A forgotten classic - Camelot 3000 by Mike Barr and Brian Bolland (well, I think so!)
A book that became a movie - Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn by Hergé
A book published this year - Nemo: The Roses of Berlin by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Niell (I haven't bought any 2014 comics yet, but this one is on my wishlist)
A book with a number in the title - Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa (had rich pickings here!)
A book written by someone under thirty - Spider Moon by Kate Brown (took longer to confirm a choice here)
A book with non-human characters - Mickey Mouse: Race to Death Valley by Floyd Gottfredson
A funny book - The Terrible Tales of the Teenytinysaurs by Gary Northfield
A book by a female author - Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds (a bit obvious, but a well-known name and a great title for a newbie recommendation)
A book with mystery - The Black Feather Falls by Ellen Lindner
A book with a one-word title - Dororo by Osama Tezuka
A book of short stories - Nelson by various
Free square - thank you, I'll have Oor Wullie by Dudley D Watkins, please (Ken Harrison is fine too)
A book set on a different continent - Palestine by Joe Sacco
A book of non-fiction - Science Tales by Darryl Cunningham
The first book by a favourite author - Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (a collection, admittedly)
A book you heard about online - Widdershins by Kate Ashwin (wanted to choose a web comic here, something comics do so well)
A best-selling book - Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
A book based on a true story - Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
A book at the bottom of your 'to be read' pile - Largo Winch: The Heir by Jean Van Hamme and Phillipe Francq (sorry Largo Winch, I must read you one day)
A book your friend loves - Mortensen's Escapades: The Secret Mummy by Lars Jakobsen (recommended to me by Colin Mathieson, though I also plan on getting a book he recommends even more - The Nieuport Gathering by Ivan Petrus)
A book that scares you - Uzumaki by Junji Ito (thanks for the nightmare)
A book that is more than 10 years old - Charley's War by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun
The second book in a series - Grandville Mon Amour by Bryan Talbot
A book with a blue cover - Scarlet Traces: The Great Game by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli
YA Reading Bingo
A book with a female heroine - Yoko Tsuno: On the Edge of Life by Roger Leloup
A book set in high school - Mo-Bot High by Neill Cameron
The last book of a trilogy - The Incal vol. 3 by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius
A book with a colour in the title - The Yellow M by Edgar P. Jacobs
The first book in a series - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 1 by Hayao Miyazaki
A book set in the future - Give Me Liberty by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons (almost went for Alan Moore's Halo Jones, but in order not to repeat an author too much I decided on the Ballad of Martha Washington instead)
A book with a break-up - Blankets by Craig Thompson
A book without a love triangle - Rumble Strip by Woodrow Phoenix
A book that became a movie - From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
A book set in Paris - Paris by Andi Watson and Simon Gane (I was torn between this, Tardi's Adele Blanc-Sec books, and Hubert and Kerascoet's Miss Don't Touch Me ... decided the title had it!)
A book set in the past - Asterix and Cleopatra by Goscinny and Uderzo
A book with magic - Ralph Azham 1: Why Would You Lie to Someone You Love? by Lewis Trondheim
Free square - The Complete Rainbow Orchid by Garen Ewing (it could fit a number of categories, but as it's a free choice, I thought I'd indulge)
A book set in the summer - Black Hole by Charles Burns
A book with a dragon - Dungeon Parade vol 1: A Dungeon Too Many by Sfar, Trondheim and Larcenet
A book that made you cry - Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot (films make me cry all too easily, but comics ... not so often. The first I remembered was the scene in Alice with the girl carrying her dead sister home ... yup, that got me)
A graphic novel - Maus by Art Spiegelman (one of the books most often associated with the rise of the 'graphic novel')
A book based on a myth - The Book of Genesis by Robert Crumb (this one had to be an adaptation)
A 'classic' YA book - Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
A book with a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe - I Shall Destroy All The Civilised Planets by Fletcher Hanks (the witch is Fantomah, it even has a lion in - not so sure about a wardrobe)
A book with an incredible fight scene - Captain Britain by Alan Moore and Alan Davies (a difficult one this, but I always remember, as a kid, reading Captain Britain's fight with the Fury and feeling genuinely terrified that he couldn't defeat it)
A book you heard about online - The New Teen Titans: Games by Marv Wolfman and George Perez (aged about 11 to 14 I really loved The New Teen Titans - I saw online that Wolfman and Perez were teaming up again for a new book featuring the Titans and it was published in 2013; I haven't actually read it yet)
A book set in another world - Baggage by the Etherington Brothers (I considered Neverwhere by Richard Corben but that's way too far over the YA remit!)
A book with an epic love story - Saga vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
A book with music - Punk Rock and Trailer Parks by Derf