From October 15 through November 2, Brett Weldele and I were touring Europe, thanks to the fine folks at Cross Cult, Delcourt, and Rizzoli Lizard, publishers of the German, French, and Italian editions of The Surrogates, respectively (there are also editions in Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese, but we could only do so much traveling).

This was my first time outside North America, and there are tons of memories, photos, and stories to tell.  I’ll get to those in the coming weeks, but for now I’ll say that if there’s one overarching theme I took away from the trip, it’s how much differently comics are treated in Europe as opposed to the States.  Here they’re often viewed by the media and the general public as an oddity of fandom, whereas in Europe they’re revered as an art form and a staple of erudite culture. 

This really sunk in during the French leg of the tour.  Delcourt reserved a room for us at Le Ciel de Paris, a restaurant on the top floor of the tallest building in the city.  Here’s a close-up of one of the views through the panoramic windows:

We did 8 hours of interviews with TV, print, and online outlets, and all the while the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysees are outside the window.  Never did I think putting pen to paper would bring about such things.

(Side Note: I don’t know if it’s true, but I’m told that the restaurant scene where Roger Moore and Grace Jones first cross paths in A View to a Kill was shot at Le Ciel de Paris, not inside the Eiffel Tower as the film would have you believe.)