Comic Book Art in Brussels

Bandes Dessinées in Belgium

Comics, or bandes dessinées or BD or bédé as they are known in French, are extremely popular in Belgium. After all, Belgium is the home of Tintin and the Smurfs.

Here are some pictures I took of the comic book murals scattered around Brussels. The helpful folks at Use-It have a map showing the locations of many of these. They are at Schildknaapsstraat / Rue de l'Ecuyer 24, or on-line at www.use-it.info.

You start seeing comic art before you even get out of the Midi Station where Thalys and the Eurostar arrive. Some classic Tintin panels are reproduced inside the station.

Just outside the station, beyond an automated bank of rental bicycles, heading toward the large square and then on north toward the old center along Boulevard Lemmonier (or Maurice Lemonnierlaan), you see an large one covering the end of a building about eight stories high. This mural includes characters from many different BD series drawn in differing styles, as well as the yellow and white Eurostar train.

Some of the art is trompe l'oeil or "trick of the eye" — it appears that comic characters are painting the wall on a rickety ladder, or Tintin and Captain Haddock are descending a fire escape. Or, they look as if someone has dropped something on a passerby's head, or a character is climbing from the rain gutter to an upper-floor window.

Some are surreal, some show a scene similar to their surroundings, all of them use the available space creatively.

Here I have repaired to a classic Brussels cafe to read Hellboy in the original French while sipping a Kwak from its specialized glassware.

For more on comics, see my page about the Otakon anime/manga conference in Baltimore.