At the Belgian Comics Art Museum From 13 June 2017 until 28 January 2018

ZIDROU A scriptwriter and his accomplices

Zidrou (Benoît Drousie) began his career as a teacher. He then caught the writing bug and in 1992 he collaborated on the scenario's of 'Sac à Puces' and he began writing satirical strips for the character Ducobu, the worst pupil in the world, for Tremplin, a weekly magazine aimed at school children. He contributed to Spirou from 1993 to 2001 and his characters included the Crannibales, the Boss and Tamara, a young teenager who was determined that her rather rotund figure would not stop her having a rosy future too. But behind the persona of this successful humourist scriptwriter lies a humanistic author who fills drawer upon drawer with highly emotive original scripts. The Comic Strip Museum has chosen to celebrate this multi-talented scriptwriter, who uncovered a whole new generation of talented illustrators from Spain, where he lives, alongside his many illustrators.

Exhibition curators: JC De la Royère and Mélanie Andrieu.

With the Support of the Brussels-Capital Region

Comics Art Museum Rue des Sables, 20 - 1000 Brussels (Belgium)

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ZIDROU A SCRIPTWRITER AND HIS ACCOMPLICES

An exhibition of the Belgian Comics Art Museum With the support of the Brussels-Capital Region

Curators of the exhibition: Mélanie Andrieu – JC De la Royère

Texts : Mélanie Andrieu – JC De la Royère Scenography : Jean Serneels

Translation : Philotrans Translation Office Copy-editing : Tine Anthoni and Marie-Aude Piavaux

Production follow up: The girls at the end of the corridor Management of original artwork : Nathalie Geirnaert and Dimitri Bogaert

Framing : AP Frame, Marie Van Eetvelde Legends: Mélanie Andrieu – JC De la Royère

Audiovisuals : Manuel Fernandez Graphics : Pierre Saysouk

Printing : Sadocolor Production and setting up: Jean Serneels and the team of the Comics Art Museum

Communication : Valérie Constant, Willem De Graeve and Marie-Aude Piavaux Photos : Daniel Fouss

The Belgian Comics Art Museum would like to thank Laurence Convers, Marie-Odile Delvigne, Elise Harou, Julie Lenders, Claude Maltaite, Jocelyne Vanderlinden, Clotilde Vu, Coraline Walravens David Barbe, Luc Cromheecke, Yves Declercq, Olivier Dossogne, Benoît Fripiat, Kevin Giraud, Jonathan Lambert, Jean-Jacques Procureur, Thierry Tinlot, Mathias Vincent, for their support, as well the concerned publishing houses and the authors who agreed to lend their works.

Bercovici/Zidrou, Le Boss, Dupuis

The exhibition texts (© Mélanie Andrie and JC De La Royère, Belgian Comics Art Museum 2017)

0. General Introduction

How does a young Belgian primary school teacher, who is trained to teach little children, become the scriptwriter that illustrators and publishers can only imagine in their wildest dreams, regardless of whether they are well-versed in comedy or in legendary fantasy? Benoît Drousie – also known as Zidrou – was born in Anderlecht in 1962, and has become a hugely successful author, without ever denying what has made him great; a teacher with a sense of responsibility and a caring personality, a talented storyteller, who is just brimming with wit, humour and imagination… Zidrou, a primary school teacher by training and by profession, initially focused on younger children by working

on magazines for the under-tens in his capacity as sub-editor. He subsequently wrote scripts for three comic strip series, including ‘Sac à Puces’, a family comic strip in which his teaching talent really came to the fore by advocating tolerance, generosity, and living peacefully side by side. At this publishing house, he later also devised the character ‘L’élève Ducobu’, a comedy series that had ended up travelling all around the world. Zidrou then decided to concentrate on writing comedy scripts. Not that that required any special effort on his part as humour is really second nature to him. In the weekly comic ‘Spirou’, he could ply his trade to his heart’s content, coming up with countless laugh-out-loud scripts, thoroughly participating in the whole publishing process, for which he devised some spectacular pranks. For that magazine he also created Tamara - a lovely teenager troubled by quite a few issues – and who enabled Zidrou to express all of his humanity, through gags featuring teenagers that are very true to life. Along that same line of thinking, he subsequently conjured up ‘Mèche rebelle’ that paved the way for new horizons. When Zidrou moved to Spain, he gained the acquaintance of a local graphic artist, Jordi Lafevre, who introduced him to a hotbed of young Andalusian and Catalan graphic artists. The latter were only too keen to let their talent shine bright. In view of his fame, publishers’ doors were always open to Zidrou, which gave him the opportunity to come up with stories in which he could explore human nature. Through his work, Zidrou introduced a whole new wave of Spanish graphic artists, who were immediately embraced by the French-speaking Belgian readership – the most promising market in Europe. Zidrou, aided and abetted by his graphic artists, then revealed himself as a modern sensitive author, with the ability to move his readers to tears. Covering the entire spectrum, from laughter to tears, from comedy gags to realistic storylines, Zidrou has grown into a highly acclaimed author with a writing style of the most exacting standard and boundless imagination. The Comics Art Museum is immensely proud to exhibit his work and to bring his personality to the fore. JC De la Royère and Mélanie Andrieu, Exhibition curators

1. The Adventures of Zidrou and Falzar It was in 1990 when Benoît Drousie alias ‘Zidrou’ moved into rue des Gades in Mons. François Dhont alias ‘Falzar’ lived just two houses down the road, and the two of them soon became inseparable. They were both fanatic about comics, and could often be found perusing the shelves of the bookshop ‘Rive Gauche’ in Mons, which was a shrine to alternative literature. Every Sunday they would meet up at the flea market - earlier and earlier, just to be sure to be the first on the spot - where they would raid the comic book stands. They soon came up with the idea of writing comedy scripts. So they forwarded their first attempts at writing to the comic strip magazine Spirou, and Patrick Pinchart, the then Chief Editor, replied that he had no interest in their schoolboy humour ('humour de potaches' to quote Pinchart). They immediately seized upon the word 'potache', and devised the rhyming slogan: “Zidrou et Falzar, les rois du scénar” [Zidrou and Falzar, the kings of scriptwriting]. They set up their co-operative partnership in October 1991. The articles of association published in the Official Belgian Gazette specifically stated that the two partners “will be able to have fun and even burst out laughing” in the course of their work. Zidrou, a young primary school teacher, was working as a sub-editor at the publishing house Averbode that published the children’s magazines ‘Dorémi’, ‘Bonjour’, ‘Dauphin’ and ‘Tremplin’. For ‘Bonjour’ the so-called ‘Potaches’ supplied the Antwerp-based graphic artist, Hugo Van Look, with the silent scripts for ‘Lou and Loulou’, the two very tender-aged characters and stars of this comic magazine for very young children.

2. Margot and Sac à Puces In 1992 the ‘Potaches’ started writing the ‘Margot et Oscar Pluche’ stories, which were published by Casterman in comic book form. This was the story of little Margot, the fifth child of a family of six (soon seven) children, who took Oscar Pluche, a stray dog - alias ‘Sac à Puces’ ( Fleabag) - under her wing. The series was initially launched by Carine De Brabanter in ‘Jet’, a short-lived magazine by Editions du Lombard, the purpose of which was to bring new talent into the limelight. Zidrou and Falzar were immediately captivated by the story, and offered their services to the graphic artist. Just in the nick of time too! Carine was brimming with ideas, but was no scriptwriter. She bit the bullet, and decided to continue the series with the ‘Potaches’. In 1999, and six comic books later, the series was taken over by Dupuis (and in Spirou) under the name of ‘Sac à Puces’.

Margot, who adopts Oscar Pluche against her parents’ wishes, becomes best friends with this big orange talking dog. This highly entertaining and funny series also has an educational purpose. The authors tackle serious topics, such as love, motherhood, separation, loneliness, old age and death, and also values, such as diversity, mutual respect, and living peacefully

side by side. From the very first series, Zidrou sends out his message of tolerance. He just cannot stop himself from touching upon this topic, regardless of the subject matter of his work.

3. Cheating Ducoboo In 1992, the ‘Potaches’ were put in charge of a column in Tremplin (Clin d'oeil), a comedy page which they used to write jokes illustrated by a certain Godi (Bernard Godisiabois). The character by the name of Ducoboo turns up time and time again from the start of school in September. He is a real nuisance of a boy, who is constantly copying from the girl sitting right next to him in class. The character was abandoned after just a few cartoons, but the readership was keen to know more about Ducoboo. Hence, the series was rekindled, and even turned into a fully-fledged comic strip story.

At the end of the year, Ducoboo, a primary school pupil, is severely punished by his teacher. He is ordered to write ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’ one thousand times. The young readers felt so sorry for Ducoboo, and to help him out they sent hundreds of handwritten lines of ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’ to

the publishers of Tremplin. Despite their first impressions, they realised that Ducoboo had nevertheless become the star of the comic strip magazine. Zidrou was full of enthusiasm, and was already visualising a golden future for his character. This was in sharp contrast to Godi, who did not believe in the character at all. As the Averbode publishers did not wish to publish any comic books, Zidrou went knocking on other doors. At the publishing company Dupuis, Thierry Tinlot, the new Chief Editor of Spirou, was not keen on the character. However, the publishers Editions du Lombard did like the idea and committed to publishing the comic books, after pre-releasing the stories in Mickey Magazine. This is a universal topic. Everyone in the whole wide world knows a person just like this, who makes a nuisance of himself, and uses every trick in the book to copy the homework of the girl next to him, even though doing his homework himself would actually be quite easy! In no time at all, Ducoboo’s trials and tribulations were being translated into various languages, and achieved success well beyond the national borders, to Godi’s immense surprise… who still cannot believe it! The cherry on the cake came when the storyline was made into two feature films: ‘L’Élève Ducobu’ and ‘Les Vacances de Ducobu ‘. Laughter is Manna from Heaven! Zidrou and Falzar were made of stubborn stuff. If they were not going to get their foot in the door at Spirou, they would get in through the window! From 1993, the ‘Potaches’ came up with short comical storylines, which they passed onto Thierry Tinlot, who, in turn, entrusted them to the in-house illustrators, such as Wasterlain, Deliège, Saive, Piroton, Dan, Gazzotti, Mauricet, Jannin, Blatte, etc. With his partner in crime, the sub-editor, Benoît Fripiat, Tinlot

organised a series of tricks to play on the Spirou readership to whet their appetite. Forever the joker, Zidrou busied himself coming up with ideas for tricks to play on the readers, which he did with great flair. The initial instalment of the wave of tricks to be played on the readership came when the illustrators at Spirou started suffering from so-called ‘indianosis’, a degenerative disease allegedly caused by Indian ink. The most productive illustrators had become infected. Then the colourists went on strike, and during this period Spirou was publishing drawings with unfinished colouring, the colouring having been performed by inexperienced amateurs brought in at the last minute. The Bluecoats, for example, featured no other colour apart from blue. Then there was the cursed page 13, which was always victim of a technical problem. However, the most memorable trick played on the readership was the story of Raoul Cauvin taking over the post of Chief Editor of Spirou. He had been dreaming of taking over the management of the magazine, and him smoking fat cigars instead of Thierry Tinlot, with the latter being demoted in one fell swoop. A major competition was being launched, with the first prize being a hair from the moustache of Raoul Cauvin! This trick, which had many people fooled, prompted a barrage of letters of protest and even extremely violent insults aimed at Raoul Cauvin.

4. Series in Chaos Zidrou decided to give up his work at the publishing house Averbode in order to concentrate on scriptwriting. As for Falzar, he had found a well-paying job in another field. The deal to share the income from the partnership on a 50/50 basis was no longer fair, and the ‘Potaches’ decided to wind up their partnership. But they ended up working together again. Firstly, Zidrou came up with the idea of a man-eating series: ‘Les Crannibrales’. The series was originally intended for E411 (David Evrard), an illustrator he had worked with at Averbode, but it was eventually entrusted to Jean-Claude Fournier, the former illustrator of Bizu and of Spirou and Fantasio. Its extreme and very politically incorrect humour became a thorn in the side of many a parent. The publishing house Dupuis received countless indignant letters and threats to cancel subscriptions. The series came to an end after eight extremely funny albums, the covers of which literally showed the indentations from the teeth of the famished readership. ‘Le Boss’ was a series in the true tradition of Spirou that tells the story of the magazine editors, featuring Thierry Tinlot, who is depicted as an ogre of a Chief Editor. Christian Darasse designed the character in his series ‘Le Gang Mazda’. Olivier Saive later took over the character used to add some spark to the magazine, and the character was later given its own series with a script by Zidrou and drawings by Philippe Bercovici. To give just a brief insight into the multitude of laugh-out-loud scripts, which Zidrou has written for the fabulous magazine Spirou, we must certainly also mention ‘Suivez le guide’ [Follow the Guide] illustrated by Godi, ‘La Vie trépidante de Raoul Cauvin’ [The Exciting Life of Raoul Cauvin], ‘Michou Gropou’ by Olivier Saive, ‘Barbara Sleepless’ by Olivier Wozniak, ‘Johnny Têtard’ by Blatte, ‘Maître Corbaque’ [Corbaque Master of Laws] by E411, as well as numerous complete stories illustrated by Bosschaert, Bodart, Will, Edith, Mazel, Bercovici, Saive, Jannin, Clarke, Constant, Menu, Duchazeau, and many others besides.

5. Tamara, an Adorable Teenager Tamara was yet another series launched by Zidrou in Spirou, and ended up taking up a lot of place as his adorable heroine. Tamara is overweight and this makes her life hell. She is extremely loving, but unfortunately boys do not even give her a second look because of her size… except the handsome Diego, which causes a lot of jealousy. And the horrid boy Wagner, which causes a lot of mockeries… With Tamara, the readership – both male and female - gains an insight into the trials and tribulations of teenage life. The series quickly became a huge success in the publishing world. Its graphic artist, Christian Darasse, could no longer handle the workload and had to call upon Bosse (Serge Bosmans) to assist him with the pencil drawings. They were both working remotely, so Darasse decided to use a drawing tablet, enabling him to virtually ‘colour in’ Bosse’s pencil drawings.

With Tamara Zidrou went into teaching mode again. Tamara’s mother has remarried so the teenager lives with her mother, her Brazilian step-father and a half-sister, whom she loves dearly. Jelilah, her best friend, is of Arab origin. Her other friend Vanessa, who is blond, has been adopted by a black family and Tamara falls in love with her half-brother… Times are changing and Zidrou weaves this into his storylines to highlight this! Slowly but surely Zidrou passed on his knowledge and skills to Louise Darasse, who ended up writing the scripts for a series that now boasts 15 comic books, and that has also captivated the movie world with a first feature film released in 2016. Brave Kids The scriptwriter who has created Ducobu and Tamara, two hugely successful series, became a much sought-after author. He was being offered more and more work, and he took advantage of this opportunity to convey humanist messages. Editions Bamboo contacted him, and for them he created ‘Boule à Zéro’ [Baldie] jointly with Serge Ernst. This is the story of Zita, a 13-year-old girl, who suffers from leukaemia and lives at the hospital. In between two chemo-therapy sessions, she conjures up a loving world for herself, full of games and things that cheer up this clever little girl. The series already boasts 6 comic books, written primarily for a young readership. As for Editions Paquet, they published ‘Schumi’, a series of gags illustrated by E411 and pre-released in the magazine ‘Dauphin’. Schumi is a young boy with a positive and willing attitude, and who is confined to a wheelchair. His nickname is inspired by the Formula 1

driver Michael Schumacher. After all, Schumi is extremely skilled at manoeuvring his Rouli-Roula, his dreaded wheelchair. The series, which has been adapted into a cartoon film, is now published under the name of ‘Will’. Once again, with his humour and kindness, Zidrou manages to take the drama out of disability.

6. The Classics Revisited Le Flagada, with Philippe Bercovici (Glénat) This series, which some aesthetes consider to be mythical, was first created by Charles Degotte (Franquin, in particular, adored it, and it is much-loved in the comic strip world). It features an unlikely animal, a sort of fat yellow sphere with red polka dots that is driven by a little propeller. The Flagada feeds on ‘pignoufs’. He is a great friend of Alcide Citrix, a castaway by choice, who can usually be found singing ‘Allons, enfants de l’apathie’ [Come on, children of apathy], which makes fun of the first line of the French national anthem, whilst he stretches back into his hammock. La Ribambelle, with Jean-Marc Krings (Dargaud) This series by Roba, which is a joint creation with the scriptwriter Vicq, tends to appeal more to comic strip experts than the general public. The storyline focuses entirely on six very resourceful children, who have to do battle with the quay boys, a trio of rather unpleasant idiots. The gang is made up of an eclectic mix of children, including a local boy and girl, but also a young trumpet-playing black boy, a Scottish boy dressed in a kilt, as well as a couple of young Japanese judokas.

Chlorophylle, with Godi (Lombard) The series, which has been resumed several times since Raymond Macherot sold it to the publishers Éditions du Lombard, tells the story of a roguish dormouse and his companion the young mouse Minimum, the people from the Little Wood with their tiny items of clothing, their tiny cars and tiny houses built in Provençal style. Anthracite, the king of the black rats, has always been their arch enemy. Ric Hochet, with Simon Van Liemt (Lombard) Detective cum journalist Ric Hochet, whose hair is always meticulously groomed, and his friend, the police commissioner Bourdon, are on an investigation. 78 comic books later, the famous series of by Tibet et Duchâteau is back. A third comic book is underway.

Clifton, with Turk (Lombard) Plenty of illustrators have walked in one another’s footsteps to tell the investigative story of this former top British detective. The series was devised by Raymond Macherot. Zidrou then breathed new life into it, jointly with Turk, who had already worked on the series in the past. Léonard, with Turk (Lombard) Zidrou succeeded Bob De Groot as the storyteller of Leonardo’s trials and tribulations, who is a crazy caricature of Leonardo da Vinci. In turn, he has enormous fun in torturing the unfortunate pupil, who is the real hero of the series. The general public have taken a real liking to him, even as far away as in Asia, where the series has been adapted into a cartoon film. Spirou et Fantasio (Dupuis) The famous bell-boy created by Dupuis based in Marcinelle has featured in a parallel collection of comic books illustrated by various artists, all in a style of their own. Zidrou wrote the script for ‘La Lumière de Borneo’ [The Borneo Light] for Frank Pé (released in 2016), and for ‘Soumaya’ for Marc Hardy who completed the production. The Bluecoats (Dupuis) ‘The Bluecoats Short Stories’ were released in 2016 as a tribute to Lambil and Cauvin by their admiring or perhaps mischievous colleagues. This is a collection of stories that feature Corporal Blutch and Sergeant Chesterfield. Going by the pseudonym of Benn McZid, Zidrou wrote in it ‘The End’, drawn on a drawing tablet by Éric Maltaite using the pseudonym of Richard Badhead.

7. Zidrou, Scriptwriter for an Adult Audience As a scriptwriter, Zidrou is a curious individual, and he listens to what goes on around him. From his very early beginnings, he was devising different types of stories. From 2000 onwards, his adult storylines were slowly starting to get published. Several of his stories that were written during the Spirou era were re-drawn and republished in 2009 under the title of La vieille dame qui n’avait jamais joué au tennis [The old lady who had never played tennis]. This collection signalled the start of collaborations with various Spanish illustrators, including Jordi Lafebre, one of his co-conspirators. In 2010, they jointly created Lydie, which really touched the general public and marked an important turning point. Zidrou then started to vary his work and explore different genres, including adventure, detective novels, history, fantasy, etc. His stories, which are based on and created from an image, a meeting or perhaps a major event, are very carefully worded. His words have one thing in common, and that is emotion!

7.2 Intrigues and Strong Emotions for Nail-biting Adventures Mèche rebelle [Rebellious Locks]: The first adult story with Matteo The two volumes of Mèche rebelle were the first stories published by Zidrou with a more adult audience in mind (Dupuis, 2003/2004). At the request of the publisher, these stories were re-released in 2006 under the title Protecto La genèse [Protecto Genesis]. Two further volumes followed in its wake to complete this thriller series, with Matteo as the illustrator. This is a type of roman noir, and the story features human beings, a select cast of people, the ‘upper elite’, who are protected by the Protecto Society. The latter meticulously implements what the scribe dictates… until one day it all goes pear-shaped. La peau de l’ours [Bear Skin]: A script inspired by a drawing by Oriol After initially working together at Dupuis on a series of short stories, Zidrou, inspired by a drawing sent to him by Oriol, wrote La peau de l’ours [Bear Skin] (Dargaud, 2012) for him. He came up with a story that goes back to the mafia world of the 1930s, with an old blind man acting as the narrator, recounting his eventful life story. After a meeting with the mafia boss, Don Pomodoro, his life takes a completely turn… In collaboration with Man: Le Client [The Punter] In Le Client [The Punter] (Dargaud, 2013), which is both a hard and realistic detective thriller and a love story, Zidrou explores the world of bars, nightlife and prostitution. "It is actually a very sad paradise, full of smiling fallen angels. These angels have lost their wings, so they stay there, sitting on their perch." The way in which he tells the story is most original. The main character writes a letter to his sister to report the events. In exchange for information about the young prostitute he has fallen in love with, he holds the daughter of a big boss to ransom.

Le crime qui est le tien [The Crime That is Yours]: A comic book from the Philippe Berthet collection Philippe Berthet launched the Ligne Noire [Black Line] collection with the publisher Dargaud, each time entrusting the script of every single comic book to a different scriptwriter. For him, in his capacity as graphic artist, each and every comic book thus becomes an adventure in its own right. Le crime qui est le tien [The Crime That is Yours] (Dargaud, 2015) is set in Australia in the 1970s, and what becomes of a man when he returns to the city where his wife has been assassinated. Upon his return, the memories come flooding back, the hurt, and the betrayals... Rosko: Alexeï Kispredilov draws suspense and manipulation After working together on Mon jour de chance [My Lucky Day] (Fluide Glacial, 2009), Alexeï Kispredilov was impressed with the Rosko script, and he suggested to Zidrou that he illustrate

the story. Rosko is a complete story in two volumes, which keeps the reader constantly on the edge of their seat (Delcourt 2013-2017). It is somewhere between a thriller detective story and social criticism. The fate of the serial killer, Pier Svenson, is linked to the Pimento TV channel on which he will be executed live depending the viewers’ votes. Everything has been put in place to ensure high TV ratings, including his escape, until the situation gets out of hand… In collaboration with José Homs: Shi, a mysterious conspiracy "A Japanese character. Shi. The number 4. The equivalent of death!" Zidrou and José Homs have known one another for a very long time, since they were first introduced by Dupuis to work on a series of short stories. Zidrou came up with a storyline that appealed to his illustrator cum partner-in-crime. This is a story that is set in the Victorian era and Japan at that time. Zidrou and José Homs felt like creating a series together, and the Shi project (Dargaud, 2017) is an expression of their shared likes and dislikes. Following a horrific event at the First World Exhibition of 1851 in London, two women’s destinies become forever intertwined. Both will end up weaving a web of vengeance and become involved in an action-packed adventure. 7.3 The Fantasy Stories In collaboration with Porcel: Bouffon [Jester] Francisco Porcel loves history, and he suggested to Zidrou that they should create a story set in medieval times. Zidrou conjured up Bouffon (Dargaud, 2015), which is a gloomy story based upon the topic of ‘differences’. The jester is ugly and deformed, and grows up alone in the dark dungeons of a castle. He then becomes the count daughter’s jester. His sad fate, as recounted by one of the prisoners at the castle, only results in people rejecting him, and being repulsed by him. Until the jester discovers he has a special gift… Les 3 fruits, Natures mortes [3 Pieces of Fruit, Still Lifes]: Imaginary stories taken to the sublime by Oriol Oriol continued his collaboration with Zidrou, and illustrated the comic book Les 3 fruits [The 3 Pieces of Fruit] (Dargaud, 2015). An old king has come to the end of his life and fears his imminent death. In exchange for eternal life, he follows the advice of a wizard and puts his sons to the test, without realising that he has just signed a pact with the devil. This fantasy story includes traditional storytelling aspects, highlighted by delightful drawings and colouring. “I reconstructed the facts from this letter, in which Vidal admitted to me what he referred to as ‘his pictorial crimes’ as he gave me his latest painting…”

For Natures mortes [Still Lives] (Dargaud, 2017) Zidrou intertwined reality and fiction, and told the imaginary story of the eventful and mysterious life of the Catalan painter Vidal Balaguer, witnessed through the eyes of one of his friends. Balaguer moved in the artistic circles of 19th century Barcelona. His enigmatic talent raised many eyebrows. Oriol’s colours make the

story come to life, and his drawings look like paintings, even though they were designed digitally.

7.4 History as a Source of Inspiration

In collaboration with Matteo: Marina and intriguing Venice “Born the daughter of a Chief Magistrate of Venice or doge, she will die as a pirate.” Marina (Dargaud, 2013-2016) is a historical series set in the Venetian laguna in the year 1342. Marina Dandolo, the daughter of the doge, and her brother are kidnapped by a gang of pirates. They will suffer the worst ordeal imaginable. Vengeance and betrayal form the core themes of this tragedy that covers two eras: 14th century and contemporary Venice. Matteo came up with the idea to give La Serenissima a lead role. This story offered him the opportunity to study Venetian history, and he took (an almost sensual) pleasure in drawing this magical city. At the same time, his aim was to make the

readership aware of the city’s problems (the acqua alta [high water], the endless stream of tourists). La Mondaine [The Socialite]: Jordi Lafebre depicts the Parisian vice squad "You are not at Chanel here, but at 'La Mondaine'." La Mondaine [The Socialite] (Dargaud, 2014) is a complete two-part story that takes us deep into the city of Paris and the vice squad world around the year 1940. By walking in the footsteps of a young inspector by the name of Aimé Louzeau, Zidrou provides us with all the fine detail of a period that quickly veers from nonchalance to the drama of wartime and of the occupation. Francisco Porcel inspired by the Great War Zidrou used the comic book Folies Bergères (Dargaud, 2012) to explore World War I. In the trenches, the soldiers of the 17th infantry company suffer the horrors of war, which Porcel illustrates with a great sense of realism. The soldiers’ only comfort is spending precious little time in ‘Folies bergère’. This is a place which they have created to relax, and have named after the famous Parisian music hall. After completing Bouffon [Jester], Zidrou wrote a story for Porcel entitled Chevalier Brayard [The Bawling Knight] (Dargaud, 2017). Once again, this is a historical account, which Zidrou approaches with great wit and humour. Lord of Porcel-Sainte-Gertrude, the aristocratic knight Brayard [Bawling] returns from the crusades accompanied by his servant. On his way home to his castle, he bawls/sings at the slightest provocation. An encounter with a princess upsets all his plans, and signals the start of an exciting adventure! The artist’s treasured notebooks show the numerous sketches he has had to draw for this project. 7.5 Social Chronicles and Snippets of Life La vieille dame qui n’avait jamais joué au tennis [The old lady who had never played tennis]: A major collection The publishers Dupuis published this collection of 14 realistic short stories in 2009, and it is an oeuvre with a mission. These Feel Good short stories are the work of 9 graphic artists, mostly Spanish authors with whom Zidrou will subsequently collaborate on a regular basis. These short stories are both funny and moving, and they touch upon topics, such as old age, family ties and human relations with great humour and tenderness. One of the graphic artists is Jordi Lafebre, who illustrated four of the stories.

A second collection of short stories by Zidrou was published in 2010: Joyeuses nouvelles pour petits adultes et grands enfants [Joyful short stories for little adults and big children]. Illustrated by A. Kispredilov, J. Lafebre, Roger and Oriol, to mention just a few of the graphic artists.

Lydie: A Successful collaboration on a deeply moving comic book "Our Lord had had enough of hearing my Lydie cry all day… so he asked all his angels in heaven to bring her back to me." Lydie was first published by Dargaud in 2010. This deeply moving story has certainly left its mark on comic strip fans. Camille, who is somewhat backward, loses her baby. She is in denial about her loss, and one day she announces that her child, Lydie, has been returned to her. She introduces the imaginary baby to the entire neighbourhood, and everyone responds very caringly and compassionately. It is a Madonna statue that tells the story and reports the events, and the Madonna gives this message: “After all, why would you cause any hurt, when it is so easy to do good?”

Two powerful dramas illustrated by Benoît Springer Jointly with Benoît Springer, Zidrou tackled difficult topics, such as mourning or incest. He always does this with great tact. Le beau voyage [The Beautiful Journey] (Dargaud, 2013) is a moving story, in which we gain an insight into Lea’s life, who picks up the pieces of her life after her father’s death. L’indivision [Inseparable] (Futuropolis, 2015) looks into the destructive incestuous relationship between a brother and his sister, who tear each other apart, but who also love each other. A thriller project will soon be published by Dupuis entitled ‘La petite souriante’ [The Smiling Girl], a new collaboration between both of these authors. In collaboration with Roger: A moving story about disability When the King of Prussia was at war, who was darning his socks? (Dargaud, 2013). This comic book tells the story of the everyday life of a mother caring for her 43-year-old son, who has become disabled due to an accident. Using a series of little anecdotes, Zidrou very sensitively talks about the major responsibility of having a disabled dependant. Africa portrayed in three comic books with drawings by Raphaël Beuchot Raphaël Beuchot was given the script for ‘Le montreur d’histoires’ [The Puppeteer] by Zidrou, after he had been awarded the Raymond Leblanc prize. The authors enjoyed working together, and turned the story into a trilogy. These three volumes are completely independent works, but their common denominator is Africa and Congo. Each volume touches upon sensitive subjects through personal stories. Le montreur d’histoires [The Puppeteer] (Le Lombard, 2011) talks about the fate of Souleymane, nicknamed ‘Once upon a time’. Jeopardising his own life, he travels the country performing puppet shows. Even though this is a story of cruelty, it is nevertheless deeply poetic. Tourne-disque [Record Player] (Le Lombard, 2014) is a story about the friendship between a Belgian violinist, who travels to Congo to perform at the centenary of Belgian Independence, and the 100th birthday of Tourne-disque, a house servant who is passionate about music. Zidrou, always the humanist, tackles the injustices of colonialism and pays tribute to fraternity.

Un tout petit bout d’elles [A little piece of them] (Le Lombard, 2016) is a serious storyline that denounces the racism of a number of Chinese workers towards the African peoples. He also addresses the traumatic phenomenon of circumcision among many African women. In collaboration with Mai Egurza: Les promeneurs sous la lune [Walking in the Moonlight] Les promeneurs sous la lune [Walking in the Moonlight] (Rue de Sèvres, 2015) is a story on the topic of sleepwalking. This strange sleepwalking phenomenon spreads through a village like wildfire, and even specialists in snoring cannot resolve the problem! This funny comic book is a gentle story drawn by Mai Egurza on a digital tablet. In collaboration with Arno Monin: A collaboration based on emotion Arno Monin and Zidrou were both working for Editions Bamboo. The Collection Manager put them in touch with each other, and Zidrou offered the illustrator, Arno Monin, the script of Merci [Thank You] (Bamboo, 2014). This is a story full of poetry. Merci, a young teenager, is forced to do community service. She comes up with a project and calls it the ‘Poets’ Party’. Initially no-one believes in it, but it slowly becomes successful. This comic book with its endearing characters pays tribute to youth and teenagers, the citizens of tomorrow! “You can’t steal love! You can’t buy love! You can only deserve love!” After completing Merci, the two authors continued to work together. Arno Monin received various offers for projects from Zidrou, including the sensitive story of L’adoption [The Adoption] (Bamboo, 2016-2017). This is a complete two-part story that is delicate, powerful, and deeply moving. Following a major earthquake in Peru, Qinaya, a four-year-old Peruvian girl, is adopted by a new family. She slowly but surely settles in and becomes close to Gabriel, the rather grumpy granddad with a heart of gold. Each family member enjoys this togetherness, until the hard reality catches up with them. The emotion in the dialogues and in the attitudes is expressed with great tenderness in the drawings and in the colours.

Les Beaux Étés [Beautiful Summers]: Jordi Lafebre draws sunny holidays ‘We are going on holiday to the south of France in our Renault 4L!’ After Lydie and La Mondaine, Zidrou and Jordi Lafebre worked together on a positive, feel good series. Les Beaux Étés [Beautiful Summers] (Dargaud, 2015-2017) is the delightful story of a Belgian family spending their summer holidays in the south of France. Some of the rituals dictate the pace of the storyline of each comic book, i.e. having to wait for dad to finish his drawings, then head to the sunshine in the Renault 4L, whilst singing and following the “Flee the north” compass! The highly original script takes us on a journey through time, switching from one year to another, with each summer taking up one comic book. The first book takes us to the Ardèche region in 1973, and the second to the rocky inlets of Marseille in the year 1969. The third book flashes back to 1962, which signals the arrival of the family’s red Renault 4L referred to as ‘Miss Estérel’. Jordi Lafebre gives each character such expression and personality, that the reader cannot fail to become attached to them. Zidrou is quite upfront about it: He would like to see the series last throughout his whole life as a scriptwriter!

Zidrou wrote the script for Emma G. Wilford, an adventure project illustrated by Edith. This will be published by Soleil at the end of the year as part of the Noctambules collection. Edith drew numerous sketches and did much preparatory research before approving the final digital drawings. There are plenty of other projects in progress and still to come, always performed in a spirit of conspiracy and with emotion. As Zidrou puts it so well himself: "It is only a battle, let’s continue with the start!".

BELGIAN COMICS ART MUSEUM

An accomplished attraction located in the heart of Brussels, the Comics Art Museum has been honouring the creators and heroes of the 9th Art for more than 25 years. The regularly renewed permanent exhibitions and a diversified programme of temporary exhibitions enable visitors to discover the countless aspects of comics art. Tintin and the Smurfs lead the way towards further adventures, an encounter with a world where creativity has no limits. Enhanced by an exceptional Art Nouveau home designed by Victor Horta, the Comics Art Museum is just as much a tribute to the pioneers as a glimpse of contemporary comics art.

(Photo © Daniel Fouss/ Belgian Comics Art Museum)

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