Brussels' Comic Book Route (; ) is a path composed by several

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s, which cover the walls of several buildings throughout the inner

City of Brussels The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...

, as well as the neighbourhoods of

Laeken (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is a residential suburb in the north-western part of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. It belongs to the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality of the ...

and

Auderghem Auderghem ( French, ; former Dutch spelling) or Oudergem ( Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-eastern part of the region, along the Woluwe valley and at the entrance to the ...

. The large comic strip murals depict scenes from various popular

Belgian comics Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and r ...

, for instance ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

'', ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (; ) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was created and introduced as a series of comic characters by ...

'', ''

Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western (genre), Western bande dessinée, comic album series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris (cartoonist), Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborati ...

'', ''

Gaston Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) * Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

'', and ''

Marsupilami ''Marsupilami'' is a comic book character and fictional animal species created by André Franquin. Its first appearance was in the 31 January 1952 issue of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Spirou''. Since then it appeared regularly in th ...

''.

History

The project began in 1991 as an initiative of the local authorities of the City of Brussels in collaboration with the Belgian Comic Strip Center. Initially, the project only intended to embellish empty walls and gables of buildings in the city. It then became an opportunity to celebrate the rich comic book heritage of Brussels, which claims to be the capital of the

. Nowadays, the Brussels' Comic Book Route offers more than 50 mural paintings, most of them located inside the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

(as the city centre is often called due to its geometrical shape). Following its trail, the Comic Book Route is a good way to discover the capital and even penetrate some neighbourhoods less crowded by tourists. The Brussels tourist association ' organises a two-hour bike tour starting at the ''Bicycle Riders House'' (). ''Broussaille'' was the first comic book wall to be painted, based on an original project of the comic book artist

Frank Pé Frank Pé, often signing solely as Frank (15 July 1956) is a Belgium, Belgian comic book artist, best known for ''Broussaille'' and ''Zoo''. Biography Frank Pé was born in Ixelles in 1956.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Frank". In België gestript, pp ...

. With its surface of about , the mural painting was inaugurated in July 1991 at the intersection between the / and the /. As with most of the mural paintings, the association ''Art Mural'' was in charge of the execution of the work. ''Art Mural'' is an association created by five artists in 1984, mainly aimed to realise mural painting in public areas. Since 1993, it has been devoted to the creation and realisation of new murals for Brussels' Comic Book Route, with a rhythm of two to three new works per year. Georgios Oreopoulos and David Vandegeerde are the only two remaining founder members of the association, having been involved in all the projects and murals, helped with a large number of other artists who have collaborated and worked with them.

List of comic strip mural paintings

In central Brussels

In Laeken/Laken

In Auderghem/Oudergem

References

Bibliography

* ''La BD dans la ville''. Author: Thibaut Vandorselaer * ''Bruxelles dans la BD, itinéraire découverte'', 2004 Versant Sud, B-1348 Lovain-la-Neuve. Author: Thibaut Vandorselaer

External links

*
The walls of the comic strip walk in detail

How Brussels Became a Real-Life Comic Strip

Les fresques sur le site de Bruxelles-ville

Le site de l'asbl Bruxelles BD, responsable du développement du parcours BD à Bruxelles
!
Galerie photo des fresques BD de Bruxelles, avec une carte

* ttp://www.ebru.be/Other/Strips/StripsHome.html Toute la liste des fresques BD à Bruxelles par ordre chronologique avec liens vers pages individuelles{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013162958/http://www.ebru.be/Other/Strips/StripsHome.html , date=13 October 2011
La page consacrée au "Parcours BD de Bruxelles" sur le site de l'a.s.b.l. ART MURAL, qui a réalisé toutes les fresques BDArt Mural asbl

Culture in Brussels Belgian comics Tourist attractions in Brussels City of Brussels

History

List of comic strip mural paintings

In central Brussels

In Laeken/Laken

In Auderghem/Oudergem

See also

References

Bibliography

External links