Normally I pretty much skim over the “Comics Briefly” section of Publishers Weekly Comics Week newsletter; I read ComicsReporter and Journalista! pretty regularly during lunch each day, so usually there’s nothing there I haven’t seen before. When looking over this week’s issue, though, I spotted the heading, “Blain U.S. Tour” and wondered: that can’t be referring to the French cartoonist Christophe Blain, can it?

Well, sure enough, that’s exactly what it was about. According to the article, Blain “will be doing a book tour in the United States sponsored by the French Embassy’s Cultural Services Department.” The only events mentioned are an appearance at Portland’s Floating World Comics (I think I’m the only remaining cartoonist who hasn’t moved to Portland) and a book festival in Los Angeles. I’d love to think there’d be more appearances by the cartoonist, but the French Embassy’s site doesn’t have any info on it, nor could I find anything on the website of Blain’s American publisher, NBM.

So, you may be asking yourself, Who the heck is Christophe Blain? Christophe Blain is in my opinion one of the very best cartoonists working today. His work, to me, has exactly the right balance of abstraction and realism; his linework is somehow loose but precise at the same time; his coloring is gorgeous; and his stories are exciting, dramatic and poignant yet at the same time exciting and fun. The series to check out from NBM is Isaac the Pirate, two volumes of which are available at the moment. Hopefully the third is in the works. I believe it’s already out in French. Here’s a typically gorgeous page from the series:

I find it odd that he’s not more known here in the states. (I guess I find it odd that more European cartoonists in general aren’t known here.) I have, though, noted his influence in a few American cartoonists recently, most prominently Nick Bertozzi, particularly in his great online story about Sir Ernest Shackleton. Likewise, British cartoonist Nick Abadzis’ Laika seems to me to have a bit of Blain-vibe to it visually.

Anyway, I’m keeping my eyes open for more dates in the U.S…

Update: 

Courtesy of Chris Pitzer of Adhouse, there’s plenty more info from the original press release over on Chris Butcher’s blog, including the list of appearances, all of which unfortunately are on the West Coast.  Have fun hanging out with Christophe Blain, ya’ damn hippies!