''Isabelle'' was a
Belgian comic series drawn by
Will and written by
André Franquin
André Franquin (; 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best-known creations are '' Gaston'' and ''Marsupilami''. He also produced the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comic strip from 1946 to 1968, a period s ...
,
Delporte and
Raymond Macherot
Raymond Macherot (30 March 1924 – 26 September 2008) was a Belgian cartoonist. Although not nearly as famous as fellow Belgian cartoonists such as Hergé or André Franquin, Macherot's work, both as artist and writer, remains highly regarded a ...
.
The comic first appeared in ''
Spirou'' magazine in 1969. Created by a top team of already-famous contributors to the magazine, the series gained a small but fanatical following. The first stories were written by Franquin (of
Gaston Lagaffe
''Gaston'' is a Belgian gag-a-day comic strip created in 1957 by the Belgian cartoonist André Franquin in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou''. The series focuses on the everyday life of Gaston Lagaffe (whose surname means "the blund ...
fame), Delporte (editor of ''Spirou'' and writer of many comics) and Macherot (creator of ''
Sibylline''). Later, Delporte alone wrote the stories in collaboration with Will. Twelve
albums
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records col ...
were published until the series ended with Will's death in 2000.
Plot
The little girl Isabelle (named after Franquin's daughter) gets into a lot of adventures when the evil witch Kalendula troubles Isabelle's uncle Hermès and his fiancée, the good witch Calendula (who is the descendant of the evil Kalendula). Other stories are about a magical painting, a flying village or a floating island.
The stories have a poetical tone, although mixed with tons of jokes and puns, rhyming ghosts, a talking diamond and Isabelle's down-to-earth aunt – whose greatest concern when Isabelle gets into an adventure is whether she's dressed warmly enough, even when she descends into
Hades. The drawings are packed with details and the poetic nature of the stories comes through in the imaginative animals and backgrounds.
Reprints
All the stories have recently been reprinted in three omnibus editions by
Le Lombard
''Le Lombard'', known as ''Les Éditions du Lombard'' until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when ''Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard is now part of Média-Participations, alongside publishers Dargaud and Dupui ...
.
Dupuis titles
Lombard Editions titles
Belgian comic strips
Fantasy comics
Belgian comics characters
Child characters in comics
Fictional Belgian people
1969 comics debuts
2000 comics endings
Comics about women
Children's comics
Female characters in comics
{{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub