Musee de Bande Dessinee

Yesterday I went to the famous Comic Book Museum in Brussels which is situated in a building designed by Victor Horta. It is actually quite suprising that I have never visited this museum before given that (a) I have been in Brussels for quite a long time and (b) as a child I loved comic books.

The building was breath-taking. It is one of Horta's last semi-industrial buildings preserved in Brussels and was once a shopping gallery. It is situated quite close to Nue Nueve and is thus very easy to access. The exhibition itself featured a brief history of comics with hieroglyphs, engravings and other mediums proposed as early examples. There was also a section on the process of sketching panels and crafting an engaging storyline. In Belgium a section relating to Tin-Tin is mandatory at any comic book related activity and this museum was no exception. This part of the museumm included an illustration on all the characters such as Snowy, Captain Hadock and Professor Calculus featured in different issues of the adventure series. Captain Haddock appeared as early as 1942 in the publication! The curator seemed to suggest that Tin-Tin's success is a result of his expressionless face onto which reader's can project themselves, a sort of "everyman".. kind of like Bella Swan fromTwilight then without the sparkly vampire thing. I jest. Captain Haddock is completely at the other end of the spectrum with a face brimming with emotion which provides a perfect balance to the beloved red-haired journalist. Fianlly, DuPont and DuPond, (Thompson and Thomson in the US) who were modelled on Herge's father and Uncle, act to relieve tension from the main "race" sequence.

The whole experience remided me of my first ever cartoon which I designed at the tender age of 7. The details are not too clear but I know that it featured three clowns and the punch line related to a bag of poop, which my mother promptly had me change to liquorice!

A bientot,
Niamh