problem solved... HAPPY XMAS!!! (late)

it's a naked xmas monsters miracle!!!!

again, the best of the season to you from the fowlers: tom, monique, graham, and zool...

ps... the bear on the right is "stephen"...

pps... more xmas monsters in varying states of dress...

happy, er... feast of stephen...

just the teeniest bit pissed at blogger right now, as it won't let me upload this year's xmas card (one of my very best!) without reversing all the colours... anyone know why?

that said, i hope you're both doing well. please accept this naked christmas monster as our gift to you on this special day... after that other special day...

--the fowlers: tom, monique, graham, and zool...

ps... some more naked xmas monsters...

stuff...( cbc1 interview included)

with any luck it's still there (oct 18th ), or here. i don't have real player on my computer so i can't play it for myself. if i remember correctly i swore a lot and talked about pelicans the whole time.

it's fascinating....

(though it should be said i didn't know i'd be doing an interview until about an hour and a half before i was sitting in the studio.)



as far as le salon......de gatineau goes, here's my comprehensive, in depth account:

it was awesome.

articulate, no?

honestly, i wish i could remember it better. i met some really great people, was treated really incredibly well by the staff and the organizers (hell, it was like being a star), ate in some terrific restaurants, attended some great parties, learned a hell of a lot more about bandes desinees, and came away maybe thinking i'd like to take another stab at it...

all that and those two most glorious words in any language: PER DIEM!!! god bless the french! (or in this case les quebecois!)...

and with that a sneak peak at my next project...

---ssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!



EDIT... in digging around i actually tracked down some photos of the event! if i find more (or if someone sends me any) i'll post those too...

top row l-r: Bill Slavin, moi, Lalie, Yves Bourgelas, and Christian Darasse.
bottom row: Serge "Bosse" Bosmans, Boulet, Pierre Wazem (just behind Boulet), Emmanuel Lepage, Francois Miville-Deschenes.
not pictured: Philippe "Phlppgrrd" Girard.

i wound up on a panel with bosse, lalie, and lepage entitled "are you herge or franquin", and treaded water as best i could....



that's me doodling for a confused fan ("what do you mean these are original pages?"). if i look like like i'm sweating it's because i was struggling through a tortured-french explanation of who monroe was (and, indeed, what MAD is?), and running a temperature of 102. don't ever say i'm not there for the fans... to get them sick...

behind me is the great hall of the canadian museum of civilisation.

if i wasn't clear before, le rendezvous was everything a comic show should be, and quite unlike anything i'd ever attended in the past. it was at the same time a fun, relaxing, and rewarding experience, and i've already offered myself up to the organizers should they ever need any help in the future.

sadly, though, i won't get another per diem.