Turns out that Lonely Planet just published a series of four guides to some of the world’s interesting cities (Brussels included), each illustrated with art by celebrated comics artists. And since the books are published in a co-production with Belgian comics publisher Casterman, all the artists involved draw on established Casterman material.

(cover to the guide to Venice with Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese showing you the sights, published by Lonely Planet/Casterman)

The most obvious one would probably be the guide to Rome, in which Jacques Martin’s character Alix features as a guide. Art by Martin and collaborators Gilles Chaillet and Enrico Sallustio shows Alex walking around in ancient Rome, which the visitor can then compare with the current city. Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese presents a series of tours through the city of Venice, copiously illustrated with elements from Pratt’s work, and spiced with numerous anecdotes from Pratt’s own travels through the city.

(a page from the Venice Lonely Planet with Hugo Pratt’s Corto Maltese showing us the sights, published LP/Casterman)

It’s quite interesting that the guides try to mimic the effect the cities they cover have on the visitor. The Brussels book, illustrated by François Schuiten, is as labyrinthine as the city itself can be, and Schuiten’s own renderings of its elaborate architecture only contributes to that (I still think that the Brussels Palais de la Justice is one of the most awesome buildings of the world – not necessarily because it’s beautiful, which it isn’t, but because of its scheer magnitude and never-ending succession of nooks and crannies). Finally, the book on New York is illustrated by New York native Miles Hyman, who published the Jim Thompson adaptation Nuit de Fureur in Casterman’s Rivage Noir series. It’s the most typical in the series, with tips on walks, coffee shops and the cooler places in town.

(cover to the Brussels Lonely Planet guide with art byFrançois Schuiten, published LP/Casterman)

All in all, a nice little series of books (so far only available in French though). Probably more aimed at the comics fan than the avid traveller, but nevertheless, the themes seem to fit and what a cool idea. (thanks to BoDoï for the link)

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium, a country which was actually constructed entirely out of comics designs rather than by architects; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

The purpose of the whole event, however, is not a pompous celebration of past accomplishments, but a friendly and spontaneous get-together. I would like to see the art by Menu, Trondheim, David B and all the other greats hanging side by side.  L’association started off as a manifesto publisher, an act of rebellion against what was perceived as an impenetrable and sclerotic traditional comics industry in France.  As the fame of the cooperative grew, and some of the participants found themselves even with a mainstream following (Trondheim and David B, to name but two, but also Satrapi, who would conquer the world with Persépolis), the group fell apart, and those who remained continued to publish small-scale, beautiful comics for a public-in-the-know.

(poster for this year’s Sismics festival, art by Ben)

As yet, not a lot has been made public about the rest of the programme, but this will doubtlessly change soon as we’re halfway to April already.  In any case, this year’s poster and promotional material was designed by Swiss illustrator Ben, best known for his regular contributions to the daily Le Matin. Sismics this year runs from the 2nd to the 6th of June.

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and sees a possible trip to Switzerland as not only a chance to see a great comics festival but to bootleg Toblerones across the border; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

(a jolly Smurf gets his passport and visa stamped for China, (c) Peyo)

In his books Peyo continually stressed the value of a life in balance with nature: modern technology typically leads to disaster and a lesson learned.  This fits niceley with the theme of the Expo, “Better City, Better Life”. Additionally, in the Belgian pavillion, portraits will be shown of thirty great Belgians, such as Hergé, the creator of Tintin. Meantime, for no other reason than we can, via the magic of the web, showing the international nature of the Smurfs here they are in Hungarian! (vid link via Andrea Kis’ Twitter)

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and suspects the closest he will get to this is watching The Lady From Shanghai on DVD; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

With his self-published books, Wasco has created a colourful oeuvre, and gathered a large and loyal following since the eighties. He is also a regular contributor to comic magazine Zone 5300, and each year he participates with the comic marathon 24 Hours Comic Day in Galerie Lambiek. Wasco strongly believes in affordable art, so his pieces of art fit every type of budget. You can get a broad idea of his work at the indispensable Lambiek.net

Only in Amsterdam, running through March until the 2nd of April, in Galerie Lambiek, Kerkstraat 132, 1017 GP Amsterdam tel. +31 20 6267543

(Moonins by Tove Jansson)

These comics were originally created as serialised strips for the Finnish daily Ny Tid, and then from 1954 to 1959 were syndicated in the London Evening News. Tragically, the London syndicate destroyed the artworks from all but one episode of her 1950s comics, but the exhibition contains a wide selection of Jansson’s very detailed pencil sketches, which are shown alongside printed proofs of the finished strips. Also included are the recently restored introductory drawings that Jansson used to pitch stories to her publishers, and to introduce her readers to new characters for a particular story.

In order to provide some context to the place of Moomin in Jansson’s life and work, the exhibition provides an overview of her background and her life with her partner Tuulikki Pietilä through photographs, paintings and film footage. Additionally, about fifty rare original drawings (on loan by the Tove Jansson Archives in Moominvalley, Finland) show the wide variety in Jansson’s artistic career, which included cartoons and illustrations for the 1930’s satirical magazine Garm (which quite often feature creatures that can be considered prototypes of what later would become the Moomin trolls), but also book covers and illustrations, quite often for equally fantastic books such as Alice In Wonderland or The Hobbit.

In all honesty, I must say that I didn’t understand what the fuss was all about when Drawn and Quarterly started reprinting the Moomin strips a couple of years ago. People whose taste and judgement I trust were over the moon, but I really was quite puzzled. After seeing Jansson’s art at the Centre, I guess there was quite some nostalgia involved there, a longing for the characters that were your friends when you were a child (the way I fondly remember Wickie the Viking, say). Still, I was very impressed by the quality and the clarity of the art, albeit especially in the non-Moomin pieces. From what I’ve seen, the stories themselves are quite ideosyncratic and quite non-consequential (don’t shoot me over this, that’s just my opinion), but the art is wonderful.

Overall, I think that the exhibition, small in scale though it may be, offers a good insight in Jansson’s carreer and art, and very consciously limits itself to those elements that are related to Moomin as a comics phenomenon. It’s a quite little show, nice to look at, for a quite little strip.

Tove Jansson’s Dreamworld, at the Belgian Comic Strip Centre, Rue des Sables 20, 1000 Brussels (Belgium), Tel.: + 32 (0)2 219 19 80, email visit@comicscenter.net. until August 29th, 2010.

As an aside, I would like to do an update on my report on the Brussels Comics Centre from a couple of years ago. In the mean time, the Centre turned twenty, and it has taken the opportunity to thoroughly re-evaluate its offerings. The website got spruced up, and the Centre got heavily involved in the established social networks, but thankfully they also decided to slightly overhaul the way the museum part works.

I hasten to say that they didn’t touch the Treasury, which seems to have introduced a rotation system in the originals that are on display, or the Museum of the Imagination, an overview of the golden era of Franco-Belgian comics (although I couldn’t help but notice that the exhibits there had been heavily dusted and had been given a dearly needed fresh coat of paint). The complete second floor, though, is gone. No more flash-back to 1982, but rather a stark overview of 2 comics that were elemental in forming the artform that comics are today. This new exhibit is airy, accessible for non-specialists and quite informative. And, above all, it contains originals for each of the 21 titles (Monster, Black Hole, Le Photographe, Donjon, Spirou – Journal d’un Ingenu, etc.), which also makes it interesting for more dedicated visitors. Sadly, though, this exhibition is only on temporary display (until the end of the month), so you’d better hurry.

Still, the Belgian Comic Strip Centre is once more well worth the visit, if you’re in Brussels.

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and would like to point out that Strip museum in Belgium is quite different from the strip joints in the neighbouring Netherlands; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

(cover to Hidden Disaster by Erik Bongers, published by the EU)

Hidden Disaster’s story is set in Borduvia, a ficticious country somewhere in Eastern Europe that has fallen victim to a major earthquake.  Zana is a bright and not unattractive woman working for the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Services, who gets involved in helping the Burdovians in their plight while keeping up her spirits, and her manners.  As Bongers attests in the Flemish daily De Morgen, most of the changes the Commission made in the scenario involved language (everything had to be absolutely neutral – no swearing, no foul language and above all, no reference to any religion whatsoever).  This fits rather nicely in with Bongers’ visual style, which clearly refers to the Ligne Claire of that other most gentlemanlike do-gooder, Tintin.

Originally, only a French and English print run was planned for the book, but the reactions to Bongers’ pages were very favorable.  In the end, no less than 300,000 copies were printed in a variety of languages, including German and Italian.  It is available for free on the European Commission’s Book Shop site, either as a paper copy or a digital PDF version.

Over the weekend, the British Daily Telegraph newspaper (not noted as the most European friendly publication – Joe) already printed a less than favorable reaction, with journalist Robert Mendick making fun of the supposedly thin storyline and fuming against the book’s £200,000 price tag.  Matthew Elliott,Chief Executive of the Taxpayers Alliance is quoted as saying: “It is deeply immoral to use taxpayers’ money to promote the EU to children.  This is pure political propaganda aimed at kids, which is a classic tactic of corrupt and unaccountable regimes down the ages. The EU seems to think it can buy itself popularity, but instead it simply makes itself look more out of touch and wasteful.”

Bongers is not suprised by this reaction, but reacts by putting things into perspective : “The purpose of the book is making clear to adults and youngsters alike what European humanitarian aid means.  Many of the books are supposed to end up with readers who want to learn a second language.”  He adds, “It’s quite ironic that the first order of books came from two English teachers’ conferences“.

(Zana finds a drowned village in Hidden Disaster by Erik Bongers, published by the EU; nice, clear artwork, not sure about those square speech bubble though...)

It’s not the first time that the European Union uses comics to illustrate and explain itself to the people.  In 2002 Belgian cartoonist Dominique David created Troubled Waters, a political thriller set to the backdrop of the European Parliament.  Like Hidden Disaster, this book is still available, for free, at the EC Book Shop, in paper and PDF formats.

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and would like the European Union people to know he is available to translate comics and he’s good value for taxpayers; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

The Dutch Fund for the Visual Arts, Design and Architecture has announced that during this renowned festival, which is the third largest in Europe, Dutch cartoonists Floor de Goede, Barbara Stok, Gerard Leever, Joost Swarte and Peter Pontiac will receive the lion’s share of the attention.

(some art from the one and only Joost Swarte, borrowed from the official website and (c) the artist)

On a special Dutch booth, the autobiographical comic will be the central theme and, in the city, the Lamelos collective and cartoonist Typex will have exhibitions in local galleries.  From April onwards, a special exhibition of work by Joost Swarte and Javier Mariscal will be held in the FAD arts centre.

(pages from Sketches by and (c) Javier Mariscal; there’s an online preview of the collection you can enjoy here)

Finally, on April 23rd, the national Catalan holiday, a special edition of Dutch gag comics, such as Dirk-Jan and Sigmund, will be distributed for free to promote Dutch comic arts.

(recent Sigmund strip by and (c) Peter de Wit)

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium but wouldn’t say no to a trip to lovely Barcelona; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

It’s virtually impossible to savour all of the stories, partly because the website’s navigation system is a bit awkward, but I’ve tried to select ten stories that you shouldn’t miss :

- Lewis Trondheim created a short story set in Angoulême about the opposition between creating and stealing ideas.  It’s a typical Trondheim romp, with a lot of autbiography and quite a lot of violence.  I quite like the way he played around the “muette” constraint.

- King of the comics blogs Boulet presents a story which masterfully combines the competition’s constraints with his own recurring subjects, such as monsters, love and the loss of youthful innocence.

- Croatian cartoonist Darko Macan combines the pirates with the difficulty of telling a story without words, by using word balloons as a real object in the story.  A lovely tale !

- Avec Julien de Plan B is one of the amateurs who contributed a story.  I liked it very much because it shows how you can tell a very layered story with limited space and very limited means, even more so when you choose to use very styllised art.

- kéracho is a trio of amateur cartoonists who got together to create a very playful, full color story, filled to the brim with adventure, monsters and suspense, and a very unexpected surprise ending (even though you can guess it if you closely look at the main character’s features)

- Sparta represents the manga element that is extremely important in bandes dessinées these days.  His story borrows elements from films like Treasure Planet, manga like One Piece, and binds it all together in a very playful story.  It doesn’t really stick to the rules, but it’s very entertaining.

- Jssica studies at the ERG school in Brussels.  She did a very child-like story  that, like Boulet’s, shows how children’s play can interfere with reality, and how fantasy is necessary to live a full life.

- Bastien Vives is one of my favorite finds of late.  He contributes a quite erotic story in which a young man is quite overwhelmed by a poster of Jack Sparrow, while making love to his girlfriend.  A nice play on fantasy and reality.

- Half Bob uses a naive, quite endearing style which looks very professional.  In his story, a pirate captain goes a long way to protect his treasure.  And what treasure this proves to be !

- Alex Chauvel is a student at the EESI in Angoulême.  He manages to include an extra page in his story, even though he only uses the obligatory 24.  If you wonder how he does this, just think back of Promethea…

I hope you’ll find plenty of other great stories among the many that are available on this website.  If you do, please let us know, and also have a look at the previous years’ treasures.  You never know what you may find…

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium where comics are always 24/7; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

When you walk around in comic conventions in France and Belgium, people will typically cite the success of manga and anime as the reason for the decline in sales for traditional comics.  However, in 2009 manga sales dropped by nearly 7 % in volume, and nearly 6 % in value.  According to Guilbert, this only shows that manga has stabilised its position and importance in the French market, and may have reached its peak.

The reason for manga’s boom in 2001-2006 seems to be the fact that it touched on a new group of readers, largely neglected by traditional BD : the younger readers, and women.  Moreover, it has been able to solidify its position by introducing a faster production cycle, and by completely positioning itself in a manga-anime subculture, which younger readers used to differentiate themselves from adults with their more traditionally Western cultural tastes and artifacts.

(Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, published in English by Viz Media)

Naturally, the big five publishers took this up, and the number of ongoing series between 2003 and 2009 boomed from 30 to 150.  The big difference between traditional BD and manga, however, is the fact that the latter sector seems to be quite easily dominated by the latest hit, which in itself more often than not is aimed at younger readers.  Remarkably Naruto on its own counts for one manga in seven sold in France.  It reaches 250,000 issues sold per volume, compared to 85,000 for Soul Eater, the next in line, or 80,000 for One Piece, a relatively new series.

In order to be a success, it would seem that a manga needs to be new, and it needs to have a regular publishing schedule.  For each new success (e.g. One Piece) it would seem that another, earlier hit has to make way (e.g. Death Note or Dragon Ball).  Also, if the original publication schedule falters (e.g. Full Metal Alchemist), its fallback in sales follows its drop in publication regularity.  This seems to be a trend that will continue in the next few years, as French titles catch up with the original Japanese, and have to slow down their publication schedule, which in turn has an influence on sales.  And here the weakness of manga shows : whereas the traditional Franco-Belgian BD hit series continues to have a healthy (though slowly declining, see previous) success with its back catalogue, sales in Manga seem to almost exclusively focus on the latest issues.

(a more traditional selection of homegrown and imported BD in a Parisian bookstore, but manga claims a lot of shelf space of its own; pic from my Flickr)

Now, what were the big sellers of 2009 ?  The top 10 shows no less than 4 Narutos, and quite a few traditional names.  The new Astérix, le Livre D’or, hardly worth calling a new album, grossed nearly 600,000 issues, which is not even half of the previous issue (still huge sales to an Anglophone audience’s eyes though – Joe), Le ciel qui tome sur la tête, and the new Blake And Mortimer stops at not even half of that (230,000 issues, or 120,000 less than the previous issue).  Further down the list, we see the relative success of marketing-driven derivations of successful stories (the XIII Mystery series, which drags on the XIII hit by Van Hamme and Vance), or new books that are published to coincide with the release of a film about the same characters (the latest Lucky Luke, or the Simpsons, with no less than five issues in the top 50 for a total sales figure of 300,000 issues).

Finally, it’s interesting to note which titles are missing from the top 50, even though they had very large print runs and were given a lot of commercial attention.  There’s no Muréna in the list, or the Chat best-of.  Even the latest Tardi, published by Casterman at 120,000 issues, is nowhere to be seen.

It’s going to be an interesting year ahead – I wonder if these economic facts will have an impact on comics as a medium, that even when the sector is going trough dire straits, comics keep on soaring artistically as they have been the past few years.

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium and thinks the sales market appears to have a lot more ups and downs than the Belgian topogrpahy does; you can read more of his comics musings on The Ephemerist blog

Last week, however, Xavier Guilbert of the influential comics news and review site Du9 presented his annual analysis of sales figures in French comics, simply entitled Numérologie, and he sees little reason for optimism.  Guilbert’s analysis, which is repeated in the online magazine BoDoï, is simply alarming.  Even though the average price of a comic has risen some 3 %, the total market value has only grown with a meagre 0.3 %.  Nearly all large publishers, with the exception of Flammarion, have seen a reduction in their issues sold, with Soleil even plumetting no less than 11 %. Similarly, the five large publishing houses (Média participations, Glénat, Flammarion, Soleil and Delcourt) have seen their market share fall back from more than 80 % in 2002 to 70 % in 2009

(Blistering blue barnacles, this news would give any comics character a shock; Tintin characters (c) Moulinsart)

All publishers have reacted to this trend  in the same way, by deluging the market with new publications, thus spreading the risk of failure.    When compared to the situation in 2006, the five largest houses boosted their publishing schedule by no less than 25 %, but still saw a drop in sales with a 10 % dip.  Compared to 2003, they even put out 76 % more material (for a total o 4863 books in 2009 alone), and yet still saw a drop in sales.

Interestingly, though, the total market share of the five traditional publishers has remained quite stable, around 44 %, whereas the number of publishers has risen from 150 in 2001 to 288 in 2009.  This is often cited as the reason for the inflation in publication and the drop in sales, but one has to take into account that it’s the larger publishers that create the traffic jams in the book and comics stores, with large publishing runs, and a never ending stream of new titles or re-issues.

But the large publishers have every reason to keep pumping new books into the market, as the impact of the best-sellers (and their print runs) seems to follow the trends sketched above.  In 2001 the fifty best-selling books accounted for 28 % of total sales.  By 2006, this had dropped until 13 %, and by 2007, no comic sold more than the symbolic figure of 300,000 copies.

This trend also has an impact on a more cultural (rather than purely economical) level.   In the first decade of the 21st century, new books from established titles (Thorgal, Largo Wynch, Lanfeust, Spirou, etc.) typically sold 40-60 % fewer copies than before.  This trend is also reflected in catalogue sales, which, between a typical year in 2003-2005, and 2009, have fallen between 35 % (Astérix) to no less than 68 % (Titeuf).

In the next piece, I’ll review Du9’s conclusions.