I just realised I haven’t been giving comic books enough visibility on my blog. I mean, I am from Belgium, we are famous the world over for our comics. Comics are an integral part of Belgian culture, and even though the Wallonia and Flanders comics have different characteristics, they do influence each other. Especially in Brussels, where the two streams meet up. Belgian comics really started on a grand scale in the 1920s, when the new youth magazines and newspapers started publishing them. One of the internationally biggest and most famous comic series started here: The Adventures of Tintin by artist Hergé. It became the prototype for the comic book culture, with the speech balloons and the weekly appearance.
About a decade later it was time for Spirou / Robbedoes, a French-speaking comic series from Wallonia. That lead its creator André Franquin to other success stories like Gaston / Guust Flater and Marsupilami. After a lull during World War II, magazines and comics boomed again at the end of the forties. Marc Sleen and Willy Vandersteen were the main artists, and they dominated the comics scene until the eighties. And let’s not forget the Lucky Luke and The Smurfs series, which remain immensely popular to this day and have spawned TV-series, movies and millions in merchandise.
I am more of a book-reader than a lover of comic books. But that doesn’t take away that I read comic books as a child. My favourites are:
- Suske en Wiske by Willy Vandersteen
- Kiekeboe by Merho
- Urbanus by Urbanus & Willy Linthout
- Jommeke by Jef Nys
And now I’m feeling all nostalgic! So expect some more comic book related posts from me from now on, dear readers!
Now, onto the advent calendars. Sorry about the cat popping up, my little Frits was very curious as to what I was doing.
Hi Luna!
Happy reading,
Loes M.