April 30, 2008 @ 10:59 am | Filed under: Barcelona trip
When I returned from my foray to the Gothic Quarter, I was just in time to catch Scott heading out for a luncheon with some Spanish artists and their agent. I decided not to tag along, and I poked my head into the hotel restaurant intending only to ask directions to a monastery I’d heard about. Instead, I got swept into conversation and wound up staying for lunch.
I was sitting at one end of the long table, next to a softspoken French woman who told me apologetically that she didn’t speak English. Her husband, on the other side of her, did, and he was chatting animatedly with Tim Sale and Michael Golden, who sat across the table from us. After a while the talk turned to Hergé, the creator of the Tintin books. I spoke of my children’s great love for Tintin, and it seemed all of us at that end of the table were big fans. The French fellow, an older man, told us that one tiny panel of Tintin art had been sold recently for about a million dollars. One small panel.
“I should ‘ave been drawing Tintin,” he lamented. “I should ‘ave been drawing Tintin 35 years ago. I should ‘ave been Hergé!”
This drew a big laugh from Tim and Michael. The gentleman went on to tell us how protective the Hergé estate is of the Tintin image. “If anyone so much as draws Tintin on a bathroom wall in Belgium,” he said, “the Foundation will swoop down and sound the great alarm!”
Shortly thereafter he excused himself, and he and his wife got up to leave. I wished them farewell with a cheery parting shot: “Now don’t go drawing Tintin on any bathroom walls!”
As soon as they had left the room, I turned to Tim Sale and asked who the man was, since I had not caught his name. Tim’s eyes were dancing with amusement.
“Lissa,” he said, “that was Moebius.”
Those of you who are comic-book readers will understand why I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth. For those of you who are perhaps not so well versed in the great figures of the comics world, let me clarify by explaining that this would be the equivalent of having lunch with, oh, say, Maurice Sendak and not having a clue to whom I was speaking—and to whom I was blithely issuing warnings about drawing on bathroom walls.
I will never, ever live this one down in certain circles, believe me.
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Uh. Wow.
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 3:38 pmReminds me of the time I said “I didn’t know you wrote real books” to Helen Oxenbury. I was tongue tied, pregnant, a nanny and excited to meet the woman who wrote the book that my life circled around at that point…All Fall Down.
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 3:48 pmTarrant: Ouch!! LOL!
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 3:52 pmLol! Hopefully he assumed you were making a very dry ironic comment!
Posted on April 30th, 2008 at 10:44 pmNext time, maybe you can tell Alan Moore not to scribble notes in the margins…
Posted on May 1st, 2008 at 8:02 amYou know what I think? I think a man that relaxed and wonderful that you could have great conversation with probably had no problem with your parting comment! To blithely say something like that to a great artist!! How wonderful..I’m sure he thought you were a great American wit!!
Posted on May 1st, 2008 at 9:20 amHave you ever been to the animation museum in Brussels? We had a great time there. It is dominated by Tintin but also features some other great works.
Posted on May 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 amHi Lissa! Stacie Harris here. Just wanted to note that I think what you said was completely charming and anyone who doesn’t think so has no sense of humor. Of course, I find the sole of MY shoe on the menu quite often and choose it regularly.
Posted on May 4th, 2008 at 12:49 pmGreat website and I so enjoyed meeting you and Scott.
That is so cool! My husband will be very impressed that you got to meet Jean Giraud.
Posted on May 5th, 2008 at 1:33 pmBarcelona Trip: The Final Evening | Melissa Wiley says:
[...] afternoon. I had lingered long at lunch after Mr. Girard (aka Moebius) left, chatting with the artists and convention staffers who were winding down their busy weekend full of [...]
Posted on May 5th, 2008 at 10:31 pm