PictureBox Inc. Publisher Dan Nadel has announced the cancellation of all planned North American events for the cartoonist Blutch, including an appearance at this weekend's TCAF. PictureBox recently published what I believe is the first significant translated work from the artist widely available domestically, So Long, Silver Screen. It's certainly the first stand-alone work from Blutch in English.Thomas Ragon of Dargaud described to CR a tortuous experience for the author in trying to secure the paperwork necessary to travel.
"Blutch needed a new biometric passport, his previous one having expired. The normal procedure was too short.Nadel told CR they hoped to bring the artist over at a later date, but that such plans are even a distance off from the discussion phase, let alone their execution.
"There is one procedure possible to obtain a new passport in emergency, at a specific place in Paris. Now, we enter the Kafkaian side of this ridiculous story.
"Two different persons in the administration in charge, on two different occasions, didn't mention where he should go to complete this procedure. Now he can't do anything because he doesn't have the old passport, and he can't get it back either because his file has been misdriven at the crucial time... He should be here if those two persons would have done their job. And of course without an incredible concours de circonstances where every info never arrived, or just too late."