I was a {good even thought I did not know it} Belgian

Ever heard of Tintin?

I have! It was the only comic series I ever got into. I read every one our library had.

 

 

Many years later I get married, move to Belgium and guess what I find out? Tintin is is Belgian!  I also came to find out that Belgians love their comics. All my nieces and nephews love them and even before they can read the words, they will spend hours looking at the books. A favorite of them is Jommeke.  I just looked and there are apparently 266 books! I know the kids love them, but I never buy any as gifts, because I have no idea who has what (I even wonder it they know?).

 

Once I realized that comics are something of a cultural thing here, I quickly checked and Wikipeida agrees with me: Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics,^[1] alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regions of Belgium (Flanders with the Dutch language and Wallonia with French) each have clearly distinct characteristics, they are constantly influencing one another, and meeting each other in Brussels and in the bilingual publication tradition of the major editors.^[2] As one of the few arts where Belgium has had an international and enduring impact in the 20th century, comics are known to be "an integral part of Belgian culture".^[3]