The Museum Partners
Brussels Comics Figurines Museum
Partners of the Brussels Comics Figurines Museum
The Smurfs and Peyo
Peyo, a.k.a. Pierre Culliford was born on 25th June 1928 in Schaerbeek was mainly known for the Benoît Brisefer, Jacky and Célestin, Johan and Pirlouit, Poussy series and the best known of all, the Smurfs.
He started in a Belgian animated movies studio and soon moved to comic strips published in some daily newspapers, such as Poussy.
He starts at the Spirou magazine at the beginning of the 50’s and works on his Johan character soon joined by the dwarf Pirlouit. This comic will make Peyo a cornerstone of the weekly magazine. In 1958 he introduces the six holes flute from small blue elves called Smurfs, which will rapidly overshadow Johan and Pirlouit to the point that he will have to stop publishing them.
At the beginning of the 60’s he starts a studio for his assistants François Walthéry, Gos or Marc Wasterlain and created the Benoît Brisefer and Célestin series before slowing down his production early 70’s. The main reason was the launch of the animated movie The Smurfs and the Magic Flute in 1975 inspired by one of his comics and in which he put a lot of himself.
At the beginning of the 80’s, Hollywood makes the Smurfs animated series, which keeps Peyo extremely occupied through his recurring health issues. Shortly after the American adventure, he leaves his publisher Dupuis and Spirou to start his own publishing company, Cartoon Creation and his own magazine, Smurf (Schtroumpf).
In 1992 he joins Le Lombard editions but passes away a few months later. His children have been keeping his work alive through the Peyo brand since his death.
The Raymond Leblanc Foundation
The Raymond Leblanc Prize
True to the innovating and pioneering spirit of Raymond Leblanc, the FRL aims at promoting and supporting creation through an annual prize granted to young comic books authors. The candidates must present a short story in four strips with cover based on a set theme. The top three share the 10,000 euro prize and the top six will get the chance to be published in the collective album co-published by the Raymond Leblanc Foundation and Le Lombard. Source: http://www.fondationrleblanc.be
An impressive and exciting event:
Raymond Leblanc
Born in 1915 in the Belgian Ardennes, Raymond Leblanc published a first book about the war and his activities in the resistance in 1942.
In December 1944 he creates a small publishing house with two friends, “Yes”, rue du Lombard in Brussels. The publishing house “Les Éditions du Lombard” will later get its name from this street, where it will be located.
In 1945, the Le Lombard publishers convince Hergé to join them in the creation of a magazine aimed at the youth that they would call “Tintin Magazine”. The magazine and its Dutch language version become immediately successful from the start in 1946. The weekly magazine will quickly become a reference as “The magazine for the young from 7 to 77 years old”. Georges Dargaud publishes a French version of the weekly magazine from 1948 and in 1950 Leblanc starts publishing the comics made popular by the magazine. The same year he gets the idea to keep the readership through a system of cut-out collector stamps in the magazine. These “Tintin Stamps” may be swopped for derived products. The first Tintin shop opens soon after.
In 1954, Raymond Leblanc starts the “Publiart” advertising agency, which enables him to sell the image of the characters he publishes. The same year sees the birth of the Belvision television studios that brings the comic book characters to the small screen. Belvision soon becomes one of the main studios in Europe.
In 1955 he starts the feminine version of the Tintin magazine, “Line” or “The magazine for chic girls”.
In 1958 the Éditions du Lombard as well as Publiart and Belvision offices move to avenue Paul-Henri Spaak.
As a wise businessman and a visionary, Raymond Leblanc is undeniably one of the men who, together with Charles Dupuis, Casterman and Georges Dargaud, did the most work to get comic acknowledged as the 9th Art.
Willy Vandersteen
Over his 50 years career, Willy Vandersteen published over 25 series of comic books totalling over 1000 albums, over 200 million of which were sold. He also created Studio Vandersteen, which still keeps some of his series going today.
Together with Marc Sleen he is seen as the founder of Flemish comic strips. Owning his own studio, the production and mass marketing of his work got him his nickname of “The Walt Disney of the Netherlands”.
He is mainly known as the author of the Suske en Wiske series (Bob and Bobette), 5 million of which are still sold each year. His other well-known series are The Red Knight (De Rode Ridder in Dutch) and Bessy, almost one thousand books of which were published in German.
Non-Cultural Partners
The Moof wishes to thanks its many partners, including:
The good addresses of the moment.
Le Petit Philou
Rue Duquesnoy 12
1000 BRUXELLES
Telephone : 0475 73 61 87
La vache sur le toit
Grand’Route 262
1428 Braine-l’Alleud
Téléphone : 02 385 36 50
Le Marmiton
Galerie de la Reine 38
1000 BRUXELLES
Téléphone : 02 511 79 10
Le Rugbyman II
Quai aux Briques 12
1000 BRUXELLES
Telephone : 02 512 56 40
Website : rugbymantwo.com
Le Commercio
Chaussée de Bruxelles 186
1410 Waterloo
Téléphone : 02 354 32 27
Pasta Divina
16 rue de la montagne
1000 BRUXELLES
Téléphone : 02 511 21 55
Peï et Meï
Rue de Rollebeek 15
1000 BRUXELLES
Telephone : 02 880 53 39