One of our readers, jury at the Angoulême comic book festival

Nicolas Dulong has been a fan of comics from a young age. He applied this year to be part of the jury for the France Television prize and was selected. He hopes to be able to attend the festival which has been postponed to June.

On his cover letter to join the France Television jury, Nicolas Dulong, a resident of Montesqueu not far from Agen, said “I learned to read with comics”. According to him, this information hit the mark and he was retained as the representative of the New Aquitaine region. “This year, the jury selected by France television was made up of one member per metropolitan region,” explains Nicolas Dulong.

At the beginning of January, he received several books from which he had to make his choice and argue it. “Three caught my attention, The Hunting Accident, Anaïs Nin and Kent State.”

The first won the Fauve d’Or prize, the grand prize of the Angoulême festival. The second, the France Television prize, the third no prize, but it has the privilege of having been selected for this great festival which usually takes place every year in January.

“They postponed until June, hoping it can go as smoothly as possible.”

Nicolas Dulong therefore had flair in choosing “The Hunting Accident” as his favorite, since he won the grand prize. And yet …

“Before receiving the works selected this year, I came across this comic book” The Hunting Accident “. With all these very dense lines in India ink and this super rich black and white graphics, I was Said… I’ll never read this book, it hurts my eyes too much! And then, I received it. And inevitably, I had to dive into it. Well, I a-do-re . I went beyond the line very quickly and ultimately found that this graphic was really well suited to the story. “

He learned to read on boards

Comics, Nicolas Dulong knows well and he knows that you should never trust appearances. “I’ve been fed on comics for 20 years” he laughs. “And it’s absolutely true that I learned to read with comic strips. As soon as I saw comics somewhere as a kid, I would take them and read them. Over time, I discovered. all styles of comics, comics, thriller, western, heroic fantasy … “

At home, Nicolas Dulong has filled his library with drawn books, some of which only connoisseurs have heard. “I have over a thousand.”

Among his favorite series, those whose characters have followed him since childhood and which everyone knows: “Asterix and also The Blue Tunics”. He has of course the entire series. “Asterix, there are 39. The Blue Tunics, 65. I think it was Lucky Luke who won the palm for the greatest number of albums with 95 titles! I think that this is explained because several authors have While titles like Asterix, when Uderzo quit, it wasn’t much to take over, six if I remember correctly against a lot more for Lucky Luke. “

In Angoulême by videoconference

To return to the Angoulême festival, Nicolas has already been there obviously. Although he finds it a little too busy, he always comes back rich in discoveries and exchanges. He hopes to be able to go there in June. Exchanges, he counted on “face-to-face” as it should be said now, for the deliberation of the jury of France Televisions. “It took place by video conference and lasted three hours! We missed the small fours around a good table in Angoulême, but the debates were really interesting. It’s funny how everyone’s arguments can do. Their effects. There have been twists and turns, ideas that have changed… Listening to each other’s point of view and discussing it is really enriching. “

For a little over a year, Nicolas Dulong has been running a “modest page” on Instagram with some 2,000 “followers” (subscribers). Several publishers regularly send him news so that he posts what he thinks about it on social networks. Go take a look!

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