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Le Journal Spirou ...

Spirou and Fantasio

If you were a dynamic Walloon editor with Le Moustique and Bonne Soirée magazines in your portfolio and feeling a little restricted in the Belgian French-language market, there would be only one solution open to you. You would have to widen your target audience and start attacking neighbouring markets.

When editor Jean Dupuis launched the Journal de Spirou in 1938, he was fully intending to ride the wave of popularity that comic strips were already enjoying and he was also hoping to conquer the French market. So he commissioned an artist from Brittany named Rob-Vel to create a little character that would bring to life the columns of his weekly magazine. The boy he created, was a lively and mischievous boy, or “spirou” in Walloon slang.

The editorial offices of the Journal de Spirou became an incredible incubator. Many comic strip artists were recruited on the heels of Fernand Dineur (Tif et Tondu) from Brussels and Jijé (Spirou et Fantasio, Jean Valhardi, Jerry Spring, etc) from Namur.

With them, the comic strip universe was further brightened with stars like Lucky Luke, Johan et Pirlouit, the Smurfs, Buck Danny, La Patrouille des Castors, Les Belles histoires de l’Oncle Paul, Gil Jourdan, Boule et Bill, Gaston Lagaffe, les Tuniques Bleues and many others which led all the way to Papyrus, Cédric, Kid Paddle and Largo Winch today. (© Jean Auquier, Belgian Comic Strip Centre)



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