 Françoise Mouly , an architectural student on a hiatus from her studies at the Beaux @-@ Arts in Paris , arrived in New York in 1974 . While looking for comics from which to practice reading English , she came across Arcade . Avant @-@ garde filmmaker friend Ken Jacobs introduced Mouly and Spiegelman , when Spiegelman was visiting , but they did not immediately develop a mutual interest . Spiegelman moved back to New York later in the year . Occasionally the two ran across each other . After she read " Prisoner on the Hell Planet " Mouly felt the urge to contact him . An eight @-@ hour phone call led to a deepening of their relationship . Spiegelman followed her to France when she had to return to fulfill obligations in her architecture course . 
