FV 080 : (Part 1) The world of Comic Strips and cartooning with Jean Auquier, manager of the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée

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Jean Auquier is the manager of the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée in Brussels, Belgium. Belgium is home of many famous cartoonist and characters such as Tintin, the Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs), etc. Why is it that comic strip became a specialty, a symbol of this small country? Learn about the history and the evolution of this popular form of art and culture and about the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée itself in the first part of this fascinating conversation with Jean Auquier!

Episode Timeline

Part 1

How is Belgium associated to comic books?

How the first comic strips were published

The art of creating suspense and hooking the reader

Part 2

The art of being funny

Gaston Lagaffe, a famous anti-hero

The first comic books

Part 3

What is direct colour?

The price of comic books

Part 4

Le Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée – a heritage building

Why the expression « Centre de la BD Belge » doesn’t work

What you can see in the museum, projects and involvements

Vocab List

accrocher = to hook on

bande (nf) = strip

BD, bande dessinée (nf) = comic strips, comic books

bulle (nf) = speech bubble

cartonné,e = hardcover

case (nf) = box, square [comic book]

dessinateur, -trice = cartoonist

en huis clos = behind closed doors; [legal] closed hearing

encre de Chine (nf) = Indian ink

exposition (nf) = exhibition

feuilleton (nm) = saga; serial, series

gag (nm) = joke, gag

lettrage (nm) = lettering

libraire = bookseller, bookshop owner

mise en page (nf) = layout

phylactère (nm) = speech bubble

planche (nf) = [picture] plate; board

rebondir = to bounce back and forth

rebondissement (nm) = unforeseen/unexpected/sudden development

rédaction [de journal] (nf) = editorial board; writing room, news room

relier = to bind

reliure (nf) = binding

souple = paperback

Questions:

(Part 1) When did the art of comic books start in Belgium?

(Part 2) Why was the character Achille Talon originally created?

(Part 3) Why are Belgian comic books so expensive compared to other countries’s books?

(Part 4) What’s the exact date of the opening of the Centre Belge de la BD ?

Answers:

In the 1920’s

To fill gaps: if an author/cartoonist was missing a deadline, if there was a spot in the magazine that wasn’t filled with advertising, etc.

You buy them because you love the author/cartoonist or the topic/story. You put them on a shelf, not in a box. They’re a cultural item, part of a collection.

October 6th, 1989

Links & Resources

Website: www.cbbd.be

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