Comics in Europe
Today's Morning Edition on NPR had a segment on an annual Comic Book Fair in France. While I'm not surprised to hear that comics get more serious treatment in Europe than the do in America, what was surprising was the statement that 20% of all the books published in France are comics. I'm not sure what the exact figure for the United States would be, but I suspect that it's on the order of 2-5%.
Of course, even 20% pales in comparison to Japan, where nearly 50% of everything published there is in comic form. Most people attribute this to Japan's already close link to pictures through its iconic alphabet, but the differences are striking.
I just happened upon this site because I was looking at Ireland travelogues...in any case, I noticed this post and thought you might be interested to know that in Belgium, Comic Art flourishes, and that there is a museum in Brussels dedicated to Comic Art (the Belgium Comic Strip Center). There are also comic murals throughout the city...check out the walk: http://www.brussels-congress.be/en/comic.htm. Thanks for your site.
And thank you for your comment--I hadn't heard of the Brussels museum, and I've just added it to the list of things I'd like to visit some day. Thanks!
I hope you enjoyed the travelogue as well.