British comics duo still the rage: The Guardian reports on the popularity in France of classic British comic strip characters Blake and Mortimer, who are part of an exhibit at Paris' Musée de l'Homme:

"For generations of French-speaking children, Blake and Mortimer would have been their first contact with British culture. If readers were to believe the comic book, Brits wear tweeds, sport David Nivenesque moustaches and smoke pipes on every available occasion.

"Our heroes share a flat on Park Lane -- never a hint as to whether they have girlfriends or wives -- and have a faithful Oriental servant named Nasir who served under Blake in the war (yes, there's more than a whiff of colonialism in Blake and Mortimer adventures)."