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Comic strip house

A unique venue in the Loire valley region, the comic book house immerses you in the subtleties of the 9th art. It is a site propitious to creation, education and exhibition, and year in and year out, it hosts the bd BOUM (“badaboom!”) comics festival.

Go to the Comic strip house website (in French only) →

A site of creation, education and exhibition

Day in and day out, the comic book house revolves around its youth-centered pedagogical department (pôle pédagogique). During school outings, children of all ages and every level discover comic strips and learn to draw, to complete a scenario and to place relevant digital tools at their disposal.

The comic strip house likewise revolves around its more specialized training department (pôle d’enseignement), dedicated to persons of all ages and all levels who wish to enhance their mastery of the comic strip. Study days, training programs and workshops are organized for artists wishing to fine tune their existing skills.

Year in and year out, several exhibitions are organized and are best appreciated by guided tours. During encounters with artists, members of the public can enter into direct contact with comic strip creators. The house also regularly hosts artists in residence.

Présentation vidéo de la Maison de la bd

“bd BOUM” festival

“bd BOUM” is the premier free comic strip festival in France. Each year in late November, more than 20,000 persons, including 3,000 schoolchildren, enjoy close to 70 encounters and 12 exhibitions throughout the town. A large comic strip fair comprises 70 publishing house stands and features 220 artists in residence.

More details on the bd BOUM festival (in French)

Activities driven by the bd BOUM association

While the town of Blois initiated the comic strip house, the project is driven on a day-to-day basis by the bd BOUM association, comic strip reference player in the Centre-Val de Loire region. Created in 1984 in Blois as “Val-de-Loire animation” by persons working in the social and educational sectors and militating for “popular education”, seven years later the association adopted its present-day name.

In addition to the workshops, exhibitions and encounters organized in the comic strip house, the association is active in hospital and carceral settings, thereby contributing to social cohesion. Its presence on the ground has been reinforced by its partnership with the regional Blois-based youth and sport center. Furthermore, the association creates scenography for events related to comic strips and rents out twenty-four exhibitions throughout France. Last but not least, the bd BOUM association uses comic strips as a means of information and professional integration by regularly publishing or republishing testimony on topical social themes.

Go to the Comic strip house website (in French only) →

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