Two Girls Reading Comic Books

Comic books, or bandes dessinees, are a big business in France, as the crowded stands at the Salon du Livre could attest to. Seeing these girls (age 10? 11?) brought back memories of my own comic book heyday, when I would make regular timed visits to the local drugstore for the latest copy of Richie Rich, Betty and Veronica, and even, I'm embaressed to admit, Casper the Friendly Ghost (I thought he was, well, cute). By age 9 I think I had something close to 400 comic books collected, almost all of them pretty worthless. Nevertheless, I allowed myself to be deluded into thinking that this grand "collection" would make me a millionaire some day (obviously I was under the heady influence of Richie Rich). Unfortunately, my mother did not share in my prosperity visions and got rid of all the comic books in one fell swoop at a yard sale one weekend while I was visiting a friend (who lived in a teepee, but that's another story). Soon after that I swore off Richie Rich and his ilk in favor of Mad Magazine, and took to wearing a black leather newsboy cap and army fatigues, quoting Abbie Hoffman and giving cops the finger. Hopefully these little girls will channel their rebelliousness in other, more productive ways...