Trip Report: Brussels, Belgium

Part 1: The Belgian Comic Strip Center

We recently returned from a trip to Europe—a trip that was supposed to include some time in Vienna to gather reference and do further research for A Way From Here. But air travel right now is a wild mess, and we never quite made it to Vienna. Fortunately, we recovered that time in Brussels, LAND OF COMICS! See, they even tell you that at the Brussels airport!

We knew a number of comics had originated in Belgium—most notably for Americans, Tintin and the Smurfs. We were not in any way prepared for how revered comics were there, and how ingrained in the culture.

Our first outting was, of course, to the Belgian Comic Strip Center. We would later learn that this was one of THREE museums in Brussels dedicated to comics. (And that there are over FIFTY comic murals around the city, but more on that in a later post.)

The Belgian Comic Strip Center is located in a gorgeous Art Nouveau building originally built in 1905. Walking in as a comic creator and fan, and knowing that that entire space is dedicated to the serious examination of the thing you love…it is overwhelming in every sense.

Photo from Wikipedia because we were too overwhelmed to get a good shot.

Certainly we’d seen exhibits about comic art before, but never ones that understood and broke down the process like this.

But it wasn’t all education. Just around the corner from these highly informative exhibits…the perfect photo op.

Celebrity sighting! Porco Rosso!

There was a sense of humor throughout the place that you’d expect from a museum based on comics. They mixed it in without sacrificing any respect to the medium.

It’s not copyright infringement if you add glasses.

Of course, once the learning was done, we got into it and made complete fools of ourselves.

He said he was trying to look evil but I think he’s just farting on Gargamel.

It took me 10 minutes to get up off the floor and out of this Smurf house.

We will leave you with the thing that BLEW OUR MINDS. The special exhibition at the museum was about comics at the Louvre.

Original art from Leornardo 2 by Stephane Levallois

Sorry bout the wonky picture but OMG the LOUVRE loves comics!

So pretty much our new goal in life is to make a comic for the Louvre. If you work there, HIT US UP.

And that’s it for part one of our Belgium trip. Next time, the MOOF Museum, filled with comic figurines and collectibles! And of course, new A WAY FROM HERE pages this Friday! Make sure you’re subscribed to get it all straight to your inbox.