For some reason the following went totally below my radar, and therefore, my apologies:
Last year we already reported on BD Comic Strip 2009, the year-round comics festival in that’s being organised in Brussels. The kickoff to that festival was taken on December 12th, 2008, when a gigantic mural (below) by cartoonist and educator Johan De Moor was presented to the press and the public at large.
The mural is situated at the Place Horta, near the Gare du Midi, which probably best known among Britons as the Brussels EuroStar station. It comes a no surprise, then, that the EuroStar itself is featured quite prominently on the mural, along with a real cornucopia of classical Franco-Belgian comic characters. The focus is on characters that were or are published by the Editions Lombard (the mural takes up one side of the block that also used to house that famous publishing house, along with the editorial offices of Tintin Magazine, which in turn now is the address of the Fondation Leblanc – indeed, it all connects).
De Moor’s qualities as a chameleon artist really shine in this piece, since he manages to more or less mimic the original style of characters such as Jonathan, Olivier Rameau, Chick Bill, Benoit Brisefer, Michel Vaillant, the Schtroumpfs, Ric Hochet, Thorgal, Odilon Verjus, Cubitus, Vasco, Yakari, Niklos Koda, Bob Morane, Modeste et Pompon, Victor Sackville, Pirlouit, Clifton, Luc Orient, Rubine, Bruce J. Hawker,Litteul Kevin, La Vache (which is a creation by De Moor himself), Kinky et Cosy, Spaghetti, Buddy Longway, Chlorophylle, Dan Cooper, Red Dust, Corentin and Robin Dubois.
BD & Fresques Murales, a blog focusing on initiatives like these, has published a quite detailed pictorial on this new addition to the Brussels Comic Route, as well as a report on the opening ceremony.
Mon, Jan 5, 2009
Art and animation, Comics and cartoons, Conventions and events, From our Continental Correspondent