Directement de Paris...

My new friends at Arkham Comics, a lovely comic book store in Paris, France, have a series of videos they created to talk about books they recommend & what they're reading. I was thrilled to learn they made a video talking about Smile! Here it is:
Arkham Comics présente le comic de la semaine #27

...Of course, it's in French. And I don't speak French! So a very kind reader, Annie Rodrigue, offered to translate for me! Her transcription is below (and I would put it behind a cut, but I don't know how to do that in Wordpress). Thank you so much, Annie!

00:45- 1:30: Of course they start presenting the book with title and author! And also mention that it’s a very good book! He says that is chief editor picked the book for him (the critique) They start by saying that it was insane (they say the word “mortelle” which could be translate to mortal, but in France, when they say that, it REALLY means that it was extremely good! Ahahah)

1:30-2:30 : They give a resume of the book. They explain that this is also an auto-biography. When they flip the pages they actually explain what starts the whole story (the accident). They also explain that it’s a story about a girl that goes through high-school while dealing with the whole issue of self-image. How it explains about the evolution of the character through the story.

2:30-2:52: They explain, that it’s not cynical or violent in content. That it’s well presented and that the storytelling is fabulous. They mention that you’ve worked in the animation industry and that it really shows in your work. [Actually, I've never worked in animation, although a lot of people make this assumption, because in the book I mention wanting to become and animator. Nope, it's been all comics for me! --RT] They specifically talk about how your lines flow in the pages and how rich the colors are in the book. Very enjoyable!

2:52-3:40 : From here they are showing scenes that they really liked. They first show the nice dentist. Then skip to the scene about the Little Mermaid movie. There they take the time to show the page, because they are pretty much saying it’s one of the very favourite panels in the book. And then explain that this is when the character decides about their future career! =)

3:40-4:06 : Here they start explaining how since the accident, friends start showing their true faces to the main character. And how those friends start calling her a nerd. From there they quickly flip through to show that the character grows up and goes to high school later on.

4:06-5:00 : They mention how the graphics are very fluid. And so is the story. Divided in chapters, and also a webcomic. They also mention that it’s from Scholastic, which usually doesn’t publish comics, but is starting to slowing add graphic novels to their list of books. And then they say Spoiler Alert, and go to the last page, and say: we don’t want to give away anything but look at the bio pic: her teeth are fabulous!

5:00-6:15 : From here, they talk about you a little more, mention that you were part of the Flight Anthologies and the X-Men comic story that you worked on with your husband in manga style. They also mention about the illustration work that you do for children’s books and also events and classes that you give for young adults to introduce them to comics and such.

6:15-End : When they show the book they say: a great book that might not change your life, but that will be a nice change from superhero comics. And that it will make you smile. He then says that he loves to read about this period (the 80s) and to see how some lived through it in America. And say thank you to everyone and thanks to you also, the author! And hello from Paris!

Merci beaucoup to Pierre and Pierre at Arkham, for introducing a bunch of new people to my work. :)