A (Short) Aesthetic History of Belgian Comics

The objective of the class is to give an introduction to Belgian comics history. It will mainly consider the appearance and evolution of the graphic and narrative devices as much as the themes and the fictional registers. I will not only carry out a formal analysis but also articulate the development of Belgian comics with the historical facts, social movements, ideas and artistic trends. Once in a while, I will also make comparisons with Japanese comics. The class will mainly focus on two subjects. First, the forms of children comics from the end of WWII to the protest movements of the sixties (notably, Tintin and Spirou Magazines); secondly, the advent of the alternative publishers (Frémok, La 5e couche, L’Employé du moi…) from the the nineties to the present day.