Cleveland, we finally have a winning home team.

Sunday, while the Super Bowl yet again did not feature the Cleveland Browns, and the Cleveland Cavaliers recovered from their fourth straight loss Saturday, northeast Ohio picked up two trophies at one of the biggest and most venerable comics festival in the world.

Derf Backderf won the best debut graphic novel for "My Friend Dahmer," his widely acclaimed 2012 book, at the Angouléme Comics Festival. (Actually, he won the prix revelation for his graphic novel, "Mon Ami Dahmer," which has just been published in French.)

And Bill Watterson, the creator of the popular comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes," won the Angoulême Grand Prix, a lifetime achievement award given each year to a living comics creator. Watterson, who stopped writing and drawing "Calvin and Hobbes" on Dec. 31, 1995, after 10 years, is one of the few Americans to win the prize.

Backderf was there to collect his prize, promote the French edition, sign autographs and enjoy time at Angouleme, a comic convention that takes over most of the quaint French town in southwest France and attracts even more fans than the big San Diego Comic-Con International.

“It would be comparable to the Cannes Film Fest,” Backderf emailed from France, where he is now on a book tour. “Creators come from all over the world. There's really nothing like it.”

The famously reclusive Watterson, who treasures his privacy and rarely gives interviews or makes public appearances, did not attend.

“They talked to his editor on the phone,” Backderf wrote. “He missed out, because it's all great fun.”

Even with the fun, though, Backderf confessed that he almost missed out on the best part of the ceremony, which included a band, a comedy troupe and a smoke machine.

“Actually, I was dozing off when the award was announced. It was hot, I was tired and everything was in French so I had nothing to hold my attention. My editor had to elbow me awake. ‘Derf! Go up to the stage. You won!’”

Backderf said he is discovering some differences between French readers and Americans on the book tour.

“The French have no idea who Dahmer is,” he wrote. “He just wasn't on their radar. So readers here have no preconceptions of what the book is or isn't, unlike most American readers, who often think it's a book about grisly murders and horrible crimes. So the book is judged purely on the merits of story and art. It's refreshing. I'm getting a little tired of answering questions about serial killer trivia. I knew that was inevitable, but it's only natural to get weary of answering the same questions.”

To see Backderf accept his award, go to minute 44:00 of the video of the ceremony on YouTube.

