Page 56 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Brussels Bruges Ghent & Antwerp

54  BRUSSELS AREA B Y AREA

r Comics Art Museum

A unique and much-loved institution, the Comics Art
Museum pays tribute to the Belgian passion for comic
strips or bandes dessinées and to many world-famous
comic strip artists from Belgium and abroad.
Arranged over three levels, the collection is housed in a
Horta-designed Art Nouveau building. One of the most
popular perma nent exhibitions is a tour of the great comic
strip heroes, from Tintin to the Smurfs, both of whose creators Three Comic Figures
were Belgian. Other displays detail the stages of putting Tintin, Professor Calculus and Captain
together a comic strip, from examples of initial ideas Haddock greet visitors on the 1st floor.
and pencil sketches through to final publication. The
museum regularly holds major exhibitions featuring the
work of fam ous cartoonists and studios, and also houses
some 8,000 original plates, displayed in rotation, as well
as a valuable archive of photographs and artifacts.

The Smurfs
These tiny blue characters first
appeared in the Spirou journal in
1958. By the 1980s, they had their
own TV show and hit records.

A Suivre
Founded in 1978, A Suivre
expanded the comic strip
genre, and led to the new
form of graphic novels: adult
stories in cartoon form.
Lucky Luke
The laid-back cowboy Lucky Luke and
his talented horse Jolly Jumper, created
by Belgian artist Maurice de Bevere
(“Morris”), form one of Europe’s most
enduring comic-book double acts.

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