Belgian comics

Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regions of Belgium (Flanders with the Dutch language and Wallonia with French) each have clearly distinct characteristics, they are constantly influencing one another, and meeting each other in Brussels and in the bilingual publication tradition of the major editors. As one of the few arts where Belgium has had an international and enduring impact in the 20th century, comics are known to be "an integral part of Belgian culture".

History

Before 1940

The first large-scale production of comics in Belgium started in the second half of the 1920s. Earlier, illustrated youth pages were still very similar to the '' Images d'Épinal'' and the Flemish equivalent, the '' Mannekensbladen''. The comics that were available came from France and were mostly available in parts of Belgium where the French language dominated (Wallonia and Brussels). The most popular were '' La Semaine de Suzette'', ''L'Épatant'' and ''Le bon point illustré''. French authors like Marijac contributed to Belgian magazines as well.Dierick, ''Beeldverhaal'', p. 169

The 1920s saw the formation of many new youth magazines, some independent like the bilingual ''Zonneland'' / ''Petits Belges'' from Catholic publishers Altiora Averbode or scout magazines like '' Le Boy-Scout Belge'', where Hergé (Georges Remi) debuted; others were published as newspaper supplements. The most famous of these was '' Le Petit Vingtième'', the weekly youth supplement to the Catholic newspaper '' Le Vingtième Siècle''. Founded in 1928, it employed the young artist Georges Remi as editor-in-chief and main contributor. Remi, better known as Hergé, launched in January 1929 a new series for the supplement: ''The Adventures of Tintin''. Initially heavily influenced by the work of French comics authors Alain Saint-Ogan and Pinchon and the American George McManus, Hergé soon developed his own style. ''Tintin'' soon became very popular, and sales of the newspaper quadrupled on Thursdays, when the supplement was included. It would become the prototype for many Belgian comics to come, in style (the so-called ''ligne claire''), appearance rhythm (weekly), use of speech balloons (whereas comics from other countries like the Netherlands and Denmark would keep the text beneath the drawings for decades to come), and the method of using a first appearance in a magazine or newspaper and subsequent albums.

While Tintin was very popular, it would take almost a decade before the next successful comics magazine would appear. In the meantime, an increasing number of youth magazines would publish some pages with comics influenced by ''Tintin''.

George Van Raemdonck, the first major Flemish comics artist, worked almost exclusively in the Netherlands until after World War II. Still, he influenced some of the earliest pre-war Flemish artists like Jan Waterschoot and Buth, and as a newspaper artist with a daily comic strip, he paved the way for the typical publishing method of the Flemish comics when compared to the prevalent Walloon magazine publications.

More situated in the classic arts than in the mainstream comics publishing was Frans Masereel, a Flemish wood engraver whose 1926 "Passionate Journey", a wordless story told in 165 woodcuts, is sometimes considered as the first graphic novel.

In the second half of the 1930s, most Walloon youth magazines made room for one or more comics by local artists. Examples are Jijé in '' Le Croisé'' in 1936 and in ''Petits Belges'' in 1939, François Gianolla in '' Jeunesse Ouvrière'', and Sirius in '' Le Patriote Illustré''. Dupuis, a publisher based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, was already having success with its two family magazines ''Le Moustique'' and '' Bonnes Soirées''. Charles Dupuis, son of the CEO, decided to start a youth magazine centred around a new hero, '' Spirou''. It debuted on April 21, 1938.Dierick, ''Beeldverhaal'', p. 170 French artist Robert Velter, a former assistant of Martin Branner, was asked to create the title series, and the rest of the magazine was filled with popular American comics such as ''Superman''. 8 months later, in an unusual move, the magazine was published in Dutch under the name ''Robbedoes''. This would have a profound influence on the development of the Flemish comics and assured that Belgian comics would have a large part of their development in common. In 1939, Jijé joined the magazine. He worked there until his death in 1980, and was the driving force of the magazine during and directly after the war. He was responsible for its expansion and success in the next decades, and was as the inspirator for the later generation of comics artists in the 1940s and 1950s which is known as the Marcinelle school. Apart from Hergé, Jijé's main inspiration came from American artists such as Milton Caniff and Noel Sickles.

Some Flemish magazines started producing more modern local comics as well, with works by established artists like Frans Van Immerseel in ''Zonneland'' and the expressionist painter Frits Van den Berghe

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