The usual suspects provide some interesting Q&As over the weekend. In this corner, Tom Spurgeon talked to occasional CR contributor Bart Beaty about his new book, Unpopular Culture:
SPURGEON: For that matter, what differences between the French-language and North American comics scenes can be tied into what differences between their supporting commercial and distribution structures?
BEATY: I think that a big difference between France and the U.S. in terms of putting out really experimental and personal material has been the system of grants that exists in France. I remember having lunch with Charles Berberian and some American cartoonists at SPX a few years back, and the Americans were complaining about not being able to fund a project that sounded very interesting. Charles just said, “Well, why don’t you get a grant?” And they asked from whom, and he said “Don’t you have a Ministry of Culture?” I think he was stunned to learn that there isn’t one. But if you look in the front of all those books from L’Asso, you always see a thanks to the Centre National du Livre, and those kinds of funding sources have really allowed a lot of work to happen that probably would not have otherwise.
Then in this corner, Elizabeth Chou talks to Fox Bunny Funny creator Andy Hartzell:
I really like your title, Fox Bunny Funny. Did it take much time to come up with it?
My original title was “Fox Rabbit Fox“, then I toyed with “Rabbitholes” before settling on “Fox Bunny Funny.” I like the fact that the word “Funny” is a hybrid of “Fox” and “Bunny“, like the city in the book is a hybrid of the two worlds. I’m glad you like the title…some people are a little stymied by it.
