Belgium and Luxembourg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

24 INTRODUCING BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

Belgian Comic Strip Art

Belgian comic strip art is as much a

part of Belgian culture as chocolates

and beer. The seeds of this great

passion were sown when the US

comic strip Little Nemo was published

in French in 1908 to huge popular

acclaim in Belgium. The country’s repu-

tation for producing some of the best comic strip art

in Europe was established after World War II. Before

the war, Europe was awash with American comics, but

the Nazis halted the supply. Local artists took over,

and found that there was a large audience who pre-

ferred homegrown comic heroes. This explosion in

comic strip art was led by perhaps the most famous

Belgian creation ever, Tintin, who, with his dog Snowy,

is as recognizable across Europe as Mickey Mouse.

HERGÉ AND TINTIN

Tintin’s creator, Hergé,

was born Georges Remi in

Brussels in 1907. He began

using his pen name (a pho-

netic spelling of his initials

in reverse) in 1924. At the

age of 15, his drawings were

published in the Boy Scout

Journal. He became the

protégé of the priest, Abbot

Norbert Wallez – who also

managed the Catholic journal

Le XXe Siècle – and was

POST-WAR BOOM

Belgium’s oldest comic strip

journal, Spirou, was launched

in April 1938 and, along with

the weekly Journal de Tintin,

which began in 1946,

became a hothouse for the

artistic talent that was to

flourish during the post-

war years. Many of the

country’s best-loved

characters were first

seen in Spirou, and

most of them remain

in print. Artists such

as Morris, Jijé, Peyo

and Roba worked on

the journal. In 1947,

Morris (1923–2001)

introduced the cow-

boy parody Lucky

Luke, which went on to

feature in live-action films

and US television cartoons.

COMIC STRIP

CHARACTERS
Some of the world’s most
loved comic strip charac-
ters originated in Belgium.
Tintin is the most famous,
but Lucky Luke the cow-
boy, Suske en Wiske the
cheeky children and The
Smurfs have been pub-
lished worldwide. Modern
artists such as Schuiten con-
tinue to break new ground. Tintin by Hergé Lucky Luke by Morris

made responsible for the

children’s supplement, Le petit

Vingtième. Eager to invent

an original comic, Hergé

came up with the character

of Tintin the reporter, who

first appeared in Tintin au

Pays des Soviets on 10 January

1929. Over the next 10 years,
      the character developed
      and grew in popularity.
      Book-length stories began
      to appear from 1930.
      During the Nazi
      occupation in the 1940s,
      Tintin continued to be
      published, with political
      references carefully omit-
      ted, in the approved
      paper, Le Soir. This led
      to Hergé being accused
      of collaboration at
      the end of the war.
      He was called in for
      questioning but was
      released the same day with-
      out charge. His innocence
      was amply demonstrated by

Hergé, the creator of Tintin

Statue of Tintin

and Snowy

his work before and during

the war, as he expressed

a strong sense of justice in

stories such as

King Ottakar’s

Sceptre, where

a fascist army

attempts to

control a cen-

tral European

state. Hergé

took great care

in researching

his books. For

the 1934 Le Lotus Bleu,

which was set in China, he

wrote, “I started... showing a

real interest in the people and

countries I was sending Tintin

off to, concerned by a sense

of honesty to my readers.”

Tintin’s dog

Snowy

Cover of

the Spirou