Over half of the books printed in Belgium comic books.

That means a new comic book is published every day by an industry that supports around 600 professional artists.

Willem De Graeve, the press officer of the Centre Belgique de Bande Dessinée (CBdBD), agrees that the comic book sector represents a not insignificant chunk of the Belgian economy.

But more importantly, he says, comics are a part of the country's culture.

"I don't think you could find a Belgian who had never read a comic book. Everybody has a small collection at home, everybody knows comics, it's even part of the school curriculum," he says.

One of the CBdBD's main tasks is to promote this key aspect of Belgium's cultural heritage.

For example, the centre is responsible for the 20 or so giant frescoes depicting scenes from comic books that are painted on city walls on Brussels' historical centre.

But of course the big question is just why have comics acquired this almost mythical status in Belgium?

Hergé sets the ball rolling

One important factor is Hergé, the artist who created Tintin, one of the world's most enduring comic book characters.

Hergé was the first comic artist in Europe to gain real success and this made the profession popular.

"We now have some good tennis players and everywhere in Belgium young girls are practicing tennis. The same happened with Hergé. Youngsters started to draw comics wanting to become famous one day. That's why there are so many comic artists here,” De Graeve says.

About 80 percent of comic books printed in Belgium are exported, so Belgians are used to the fact that many of their authors are recognised and respected internationally.

Belgium versus France

At last year's annual comic book festival in Angoulême, France – the industry's equivalent to the Cannes Film Festival - Belgians won two separate awards.

Renaud Dillies, who was born in France but moved to Belgium as a child, won the ‘best first album' award with "Betty Blue"; a touching tale of a jazz musician duck's complicated love affair with both music and the "chick" of his life.

The other Belgian winner was Didier Chrispeels, who lives in Brussels and is better known as Crisse.

He won an award for comic books aimed at 9-12 year olds with "Luuna, Tome 2", the tale of a girl searching for her identity among Native American traditions.

Angoulême highlights the fact that France has become one of Belgium's main competitors in the field of quality comics.

"France is becoming more important in comics. You see more young artists being published there than in Belgium. But if you bear in mind that France is a big country and Belgium a small one, I think there is still relatively more creativity in Belgium," De Graeve says.

Getting your hands on the goods

Dedicated comic book fans really are spoilt for choice in Belgium and most self-respecting supermarkets provide a wide array of albums.

But to find real gems you should visit speciality bookshops.

In Brussels alone there are more than a dozen such retailers. Shops with general selection range from Brüsel on the Boulevard Anspach to several small shops on Boulevard Lemonnier.

These outlets cater for all tastes from children to adults and stock comic books in a wide variety of different languages and genres.

Malpertis on Rue des Eperonniers specialises in science fiction, whereas Het B-Gevaar on Rue de la Fource is for Flemish speakers.

Tropisme Jeunesse et BD is the children's branch of the Tropisme bookshop and you can find it in the Galerie du Rio.

And as if all that were not enough, there is the Slumberland, a shop connected to the CBdBD.

Their selection is enormous, though somewhat difficult to browse through as books are arranged by publisher rather than by style or author.

More information

www.brusselsbdtour.com/cbbd.htm Centre Belgique de Bande Dessinée
www.jije.org Le Musée BD Jijé
www.bdangouleme.com The Angoulême Festival

Picture © BCB / Daniel

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