The Blue Series is the name of one of the series' of the ''

Suske en Wiske Suske (English: Willy, Luke, Bob, Spike) is one of the main characters in the popular Belgian comic strip ''Suske en Wiske'' by Willy Vandersteen. He is the boy of the duo. History When Willy Vandersteen created his first adventure story with t ...

'' books (''

Spike and Suzy ''Spike and Suzy'' (British title), ''Willy and Wanda'' (American title) or ''Luke and Lucy'' (in a 2009 film and video game) (Dutch: ''Suske en Wiske'', french: link=no, Bob et Bobette) is a Belgian comics series created by the comics author Wil ...

'' in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

), written by

Willy Vandersteen Willy Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, selling more than 200 million co ...

. The Blue Series is shorter than the other two series -

The Red Series The Red Series of ''Suske en Wiske'' (known in English as ''Spike and Suzy'') are popular series of Dutch comics. The name of these series originated in the red covers of the albums. They comprise most of the ''Spike and Suzy'' books, all others f ...

and the "specials" - but is possibly the most popular. The Blue series is so called because the covers of the books were blue.

History of the series

In the 1950s, the Franco-Belgian comics magazine ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

'' had a good following in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

(the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

speaking part of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

). However, the sister publication ''Kuifje'', aimed at the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

speaking part of Belgium, suffered in comparison. So they brought in a Dutch-speaking cartoonist - Willy Vandersteen. In ''Tintin'', he created 6 stories from 1952 to 1957.

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...

taught Vandersteen to draw in the

ligne claire ''Ligne claire'' ( French for "clear line", ; nl, klare lijn) is a style of drawing created and pioneered by Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist and creator of ''The Adventures of Tintin''. It uses clear strong lines sometimes of varied width and n ...

style, so these 6 stories were Vandersteen's first works drawn in the ligne claire style. It was decided that when these stories were published as books they would have blue covers to distinguish them from the earlier books with red covers. When Vandersteen left the magazine, he continued his stories, but they were again released with red covers.

Bibliography

* ''

Het Spaanse spook Het or HET may refer to: Science and technology * Hall-effect thruster, a type of ion thruster used for spacecraft propulsion * Heavy Equipment Transporter, a vehicle in the US Army's Heavy Equipment Transport System * Hobby–Eberly Telescope, ...

'' (''The Spanish Spook'') * '' De bronzen sleutel'' (''The Bronze Key'') * '' De Tartaarse helm'' (''The Tartar Helmet'') * '' De schat van Beersel'' (''The Treasure of Beersel'') * ''

Het geheim der gladiatoren Het or HET may refer to: Science and technology * Hall-effect thruster, a type of ion thruster used for spacecraft propulsion * Heavy Equipment Transporter, a vehicle in the US Army's Heavy Equipment Transport System * Hobby–Eberly Telescope, ...

'' (''The Gladiators' Secret'') * '' De gezanten van Mars'' (''The Martian Ambassadors'') * '' De groene splinter'' (''The Green Splinter'')

References

Belgian comics titles Spike and Suzy {{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub

History of the series

Bibliography

See also

References