Charles Burns

Today was the last day of the Boekenbeurs and it was insane! It’s an official holiday in Belgium and the weather’s terrible so the Boekenbeurs was The place to be, well 22000 people thought so at least. You could barely breathe in there, let alone move.


The reason we endured such crimes against humanity, was so my pumpkin could revel in the presence of greatness aka Charles Burns who was being interviewed about his latest graphic novel X’ed out and why it shows so much resemblance to our very own Tintin, among other things. It was actually quite interesting, even for a non-devotee like myself. I’m definitely going to give his new book a go when the good people of the Book Depository drop it in the mail.

Although I thought his previous book Black Hole was a little weird, I have to admit that I was very impressed by his style and imagination. But I prefer his portraits that always grace the cover of The Believer magazine.


Despite the relatively intimate turn-out at the interview, the crowd at the signing session was insane and seeing as the pumpkin doesn’t like waiting in line, we skipped the autograph and personalized drawing which was a shame really. Still, seventy plus people times ten minutes a person, you do the math.