The Brussels Comic Strip Festival was one of the highlights of this weekend chock full of events. It closed last Sunday with very encouraging attendance figures. More than 100,000 visitors came to the festival.
Further proof that Brussels is, and remains, a worthy representative of the comic strip art form on the world stage. The Brussels Comic Strip Festival hosted more than 86 exhibition booths, 250 authors and illustrators and over 400 signing sessions. Numerous activities awaited visitors under the marquees set up in the Parc de Bruxelles and in BOZAR’s rooms. The most curious visitors were able to broaden their horizons thanks to 17 foreign cultural representations which used the International Pavilion as their port of call. Festival-goers also had the opportunity to attend a screening of The Old Geezers accompanied by the comic’s authors.
To mark Alix’s 70th anniversary, visitors discovered the “Alix – The Art of Jacques Martin” exhibition which opened for the Brussels Comic Strip Festival at the Cinquantenaire “Art and History” Museum. To top it all off, the bravest among them attended an exceptional improv competition: “Spirou vs Fluide Glacial: the clash”. Despite big crowds due to the car-free Sunday, everyone was able to enjoy the activities offered by the event in the best of circumstances.
[embedded content]The simultaneous running of Bruxelles Champêtre, an event which was also held in the area of the Parc de Bruxelles went off without a hitch. Publishers from the northern part of the country were also on hand in large numbers. In fact, this year for the first time, Standaard Uitgeverij joined the Brussels Comic Strip Festival alongside Ballon Media, Stripgids, Pulp deLuxe and Vlaamse Onafhankelijke Stripgilde. Saturday’s visitors got to see plenty of them. The traditional Balloon’s Day Parade snaked its way through the capital’s streets for nearly two hours.
The new Smurf balloons joined the procession much to the delight of the crowd. Finally, the ninth art literally invaded the capital and carried visitors off into the panels of the best comic strips. Guided tourstook comics fans on foot or by bicycle off to discover comic strip murals and winks scattered about the capital. From Galerie Tintin©Hergé to the Belgian Comic Strip Centre, and Galerie Champaka, all of Brussel’s comics hotspots also participated in the event and offered original exhibitions to fans of the genre.
SOURCE: www.FetedelaBD.brussels
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