These are busy times for Belgian cartoonist Johan De Moor. Not only did he finish one of the biggest comics-themed murals in Brussels last December (see Wim’s previous post – Joe), the end of the year also saw the publication of the new Belgopocket, the official guide to our country’s labyrinthine government bodies and instances. Its required reading for anybody who wants to get anything done in Belgium, and not just for foreigners, let me tell you.
(the cover to Belgopocket by Johan de Moor. If only the UK government or local councils hired comics creators to spruce up the guides they send out to perplexed citizen to explain where to go to be told they aren’t eligible for that service...)
When the first edition of the Belgopocket was published in 2005 (and it was the subject of one of the first posts on my blog in its current format), De Moor was asked to provide the illustrations for the different chapters. Rather than creating a set of nice images without too much added value, he decided to thematically group them using an almost forgotten character: Balthazar. This character was created in 1965 by his father, Bob De Moor (the Lancelot to Hergé’s King Arthur, but without the love triangles), as an antidote for the rather rigid work he was providing for Le Maître (amongst others a complete reproduction of L’Île Noire) and for his own ligne claire work featuring his detective hero, Barelli. For Balthazar, De Moor devised a style that was much more loose and easy-going, and which perfectly fitted the romantic-anarchic themes of the strips.
Even though Johan De Moor has worked hard at developing his own style, as far away from his father’s (and Hergé’s) as possible, the influence of the Balthazar line (to call it that) in his books, more particularly in Gaspard De La Nuit, is very dominant. It comes as no surprise that his Belgopocket illustrations have a fresh and authentic feel to them, as if Balthazar was one of his own characters, instead of part of his father’s heritage.
In the new edition of the Belgopocket, the same illustrations were used as in the previous one, but De Moor has provided a new cover, lampooning yet another mainstay of the Franco-Belgian comics history: the cover to the Blake et Mortimer adventure, La Marque Jaune (The Yellow ‘M’). For a complete overview of the illustrations, check out my own blog (see above) or download the free PDF-version of the brochure. It’s worth it.
Wed, Jan 7, 2009
Comics and cartoons, From our Continental Correspondent