This paper dives into a little-known aspect of early French bédéphilie: the use of slides as a medium to recirculate comics. From the outset, the fans gathered in the Club des bandes dessinées ...focused on bringing out-of-print stories back into circulation. But before paper editions, they used slide projectors for their technical qualities and, paradoxically, for their ability to approximate the experience of childhood. While approaches to comics fans have mostly focused on the struggle for comics’ cultural recognition, this article suggests that other cultural series shaped the movement. The use of slides demonstrates that some of these fans expressed their love for old comics not only by displaying or commenting them, but also by manipulating and building devices to play with them. Technical modernity and DIY culture therefore played a role in this first generation of bédéphiles.
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