Reddit AMA — November 19, 2020

Hello all! I’m doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) over on Reddit in the books subreddit! It starts at noon Eastern on Thursday November 19 and I’d love to see you over there! Most of you reading this here already know me, but below is for the benefit of those who are coming to me fresh:

My name is François Vigneault, I am an American-born cartoonist living in Montréal, and my graphic novel TITAN just came out from Oni Press!

TITAN first came out a couple years back in French, and the English edition just landed in a bookstore or comic book shop near you (or your preferred website, for that matter… My fave is Bookshop.org). 

TITAN is a science fiction graphic novel that follows a pair of star-crossed lovers from (literally) different worlds who find themselves caught up in a burgeoning worker revolution on the moon of Titan. Cory Doctorow (Radicalized) called TITAN “a gripping, knotty, epic tale of exploitation and solidarity” and Ben H. Winters (Underground Airlines) said “were TITAN simply a novel, it would be great; as a piece of graphic art, with its richly imagined backgrounds and bold character portraiture, it is sublime.” Quill & Quire ran a starred review and said, “blending elements of political thriller, hard sci-fi dystopia, and classic love story, TITAN is a brisk but rich read,” and Publishers’ Weekly had this to say: “this blend of indie art and sci-fi social commentary will appeal to fans of the Bitch Planet and Paper Girls series.” The French edition was also nominated for a bunch of awards. Soooo… maybe you’ll dig it too! If you wanna take a sneak peek you can “Look Inside” the book on Amazon or download a PDF of the first chapter here.

Like many professional creative-types I wear a lot of hats. In addition to writing and drawing this graphic novel, I’ve been involved with all kinds of fun stuff connecting to world of books: I draw an award-winning Québecois YA graphic novel series called 13e Avenue, I am the artist on an upcoming monthly comic book series in the USA, I design book covers for a wide range of clients, I ran not one but two comic book/zine/illustration festivals, and I work as a comic book letterer (recent projects include books at Drawn & Quarterly and NYRB), editor, translator, graphic designer, and more. I have also served on a number of grant juries. So if you have questions about being a freelancer, the world of comics/bande desssinée/graphic novels, or the behind-the-scenes of the publishing industry, shoot!

When I’m not working I like to go camping (my partner and I recently did a camper van conversion), birding, and canoeing (I used to like things like going out to the movies, grabbing a beer with friends, and traveling the world, but… For obvious reasons these days I don’t get to pursue those hobbies quite as much). I’m a cinema buff (Letterboxd), an avid reader (Goodreads), and music lover, so I’ll be happy to chat about all things cultural. I grew up pretty poor, worked all kinds of different jobs my whole life, and ended up going to a fancy liberal arts college (I wrote my undergrad thesis on the comics of Jaime Hernandez). My favorite subreddit is r/whatsthatbook. I grew up on the West Coast of the USA with French-Canadian and Haitian roots, and I have been living in Canada for the last five years (Je parle français aussi, alors n’hesite pas de poser des questions!).

Looking forward to talking with you all!