Angouleme Ramp-Up Season = Backstage Crisis Season
The two signs that Angouleme is approaching are 1) the arrival of a flurry of various awards, some with the giant festival and some not; and 2) backstage stories where the existence of the festival if not life on earth is called into question. Here's the first big-crisis story I've seen: the withdrawal of the chain store FNAC as an official, or at least a sponsor along a specific track. There are usually about three or four of these, and then the festival comes off anyway.
