Bandes dessinées, abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics, are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition in comics, separate from that of English-language comics. Belgium is a mostly bilingual country, and comics originally in Dutch are culturally a part of the world of bandes dessinées, even if the translation from French to Dutch far outweighs the other direction.
Philippe Vandevelde, working under the pseudonym Tome, was a Belgian comics writer. He was known for collaborations with Janry on Spirou et Fantasio and Le Petit Spirou, and with Luc Warnant and later Bruno Gazzotti on Soda. He also collaborated with Ralph Meyer on Berceuse assassine, and with Marc Hardy on Feux. Earlier in his career he was an assistant-artist for Dupa.
Marsupilami is a comic book character and fictional animal species created by André Franquin. Its first appearance was in the 31 January 1952 issue of the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou. Since then it appeared regularly in the popular Belgian comics series Spirou & Fantasio, as a pet of the main characters, until Franquin stopped working on the series; the character's final appearance in the series during Franquin's lifetime was in 1970.
Soda is a Franco-Belgian comics series by Tome (writing) and Bruno Gazzotti (art). The first two albums and the first eleven pages of the third were drawn by Luc Warnant, and the last (thirteenth) album by Dan. It first appeared in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou on 29 April 1986.
Spirou is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company since April 21, 1938. It is an anthology magazine with new features appearing regularly, containing a mix of short humor strips and serialized features, of which the most popular series would be collected as albums by Dupuis afterwards.
The Prix Révélation is one of the prizes awarded by the Angoulême International Comics Festival. This prize honors cartoonists who are early in their career.
Spirou & Fantasio, commonly shortened to Spirou, is one of the most popular classic Franco-Belgian comics. The series, which has been running since 1938, shares many characteristics with other European humorous adventure comics like The Adventures of Tintin, Lucky Luke, and Asterix. It has been written and drawn by a succession of artists.
Éditions Dupuis S.A. is a Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines.
Roger Leloup is a Belgian comic strip artist, novelist, and a former collaborator of Hergé, who would rely upon him to create detailed, realistic drawings and elaborate decoration for The Adventures of Tintin. He is most famous for the Yoko Tsuno comic series.
Michel Régnier, best known by his pseudonym Greg, was a Belgian cartoonist best known for Achille Talon, and later became editor of Tintin magazine.
The Prix Saint-Michel is a series of comic awards presented by the city of Brussels, with a focus on Franco-Belgian comics. They were first awarded in 1971, and although often said to be the oldest European comics awards, they are actually the second oldest comics award in Europe still presented, behind the Adamson Awards. Their history is quite erratic though, with a long pause between 1986 and 2002.
The René Goscinny award, named after the writer of Asterix and Lucky Luke, is awarded to comic writers at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. It was first awarded in 1988 and 1992, every year between 1995 and 2008, and again since 2017. The award is given in order to encourage young comic writers, those whose comic careers have only begun to flourish. The awardee is chosen by a jury mostly composed of comics specialists: authors, journalists, and Angoulême festival organizers. The winner receives 5000 euro.
Raoul Cauvin was a Belgian comics author and one of the most popular in the humorist field.
Cupidon is a Belgian comics series written by Raoul Cauvin and drawn by Malik.
Fabien Vehlmann is a French comics writer best known for Green Manor and Seuls. Yvan Delportecalled him "[t]he René Goscinny of the third millennium".
Yoann Chivard, better known under the artist name Yoann is a French comics artist.
André Geerts was a Belgian comics creator best known for his series Jojo.
Green Manor is a Franco-Belgian comics series written by Fabien Vehlmann, illustrated by Denis Bodart and published by Dupuis in French and Cinebook in English. I's a humoristic detective series set in the United Kingdom at the end of the 19th century.
Cyril Pedrosa is a French comic book artist, colorist, and writer.
Bruno Gazzotti is a Belgian bandes dessinées artist.
