Tag Archives: Spirou

Respect your elders!

I was notified of these panels from the quite excellent Les Routes de La Défaite (Le Merlu 1, Paquet 2019), a harrowing story from the early months of the Second World War in France, when fugitives roamed the land and … Continue reading

Posted in Comics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Droptella

Kids love fruity candy. The Dutch love licorice. So if you are confectionary maker Van Melle and have a quite popular fruity chewy product, why not branch out and make a licoricy chewy counterpart? The result, Droptella, didn’t live long … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising, Comics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many panels – On se paie ma tête!

Ever since Hergé started Totor, the precursor to Tintin, scouting has been a continuing theme in Belgian comics. The amount of comics that actually feature boy scouts may be limited, but the general philosophy of doing the right thing, putting … Continue reading

Posted in Comics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Savignac for Bic

While browsing through a (virtual) pile of old Spirou magazines, I came across these advertisements by the great Raymond Savignac for the next generation Bic ballpoint pen in 1961.  These ads speak to me for various reasons, all somehow related … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Fight is ON

Over the Christmas Holidays, French cartoonist Thierry Martin started a thread on Facebook, drawing up fight scenes between comic characters that never fought (so bitterly) before. 

Posted in Comics, Illustration | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Robbedoes supports the Red Cross

Every year in April, the Belgian Red Cross organises a funding drive, during which volunteers ask motorists for contributions at traffic lights and road crossings. For 5 Euros they can buy a bumper sticker featuring a favourite television or comic … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising, Comics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Gaston’s Desk — Now you can have your own!

One of the most endearing aspects of 50s and 60s Franco-belgian comics magazines like Spirou and Tintin is the fact that they were not just a collection of serialised comic albums, but rather all-round children’s periodicals. In addition to the … Continue reading

Posted in Comics, Games | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Robbedoes has Dutch roots

With Tulips from Istanbul, the latest in the Spirou By spinoff series of Spirou and Fantasio adventures, Dutch cartoonist Hanco Kolk has created the first Spirou book that is quintessentially Dutch. For once, the original story is not in French, … Continue reading

Posted in Comics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Belated Christmas Present

Just like this year, 1961 started on a Sunday, with Monday the 2nd being a first day-back-at-work-with-a-headache day! Luckily Spirou Magazine presented their readers (who probably went to school, rather than work) with a neat little calendar to cut out, … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising, Comics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Gaston didn’t know, obviously

In the seventies Franco-belgian comics magazines like Spirou hardly contained any advertising, except maybe for their own album series or for the odd record player. Content mattered then as more than as a buffer between commercial messages. And in case … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising, Comics | Tagged , | Leave a comment