Our masterworks
Peyo, Johan and Peewit, The Smurfs and the Magic Flute
Alongside Tintin, the Smurfs are the most important figures of Belgian comic strips. Their global celebrity is due to some 300 medium-length cartoon films directed by Hannah-Barbara in California between 1981 and 1990. Since then, the Smurfs were unrivalled. However, the invention of their universe and their unparalleled success for a person born in Europe, are indeed Belgian.
Willy Vandersteen, Willy and Wanda, An Island called Hoboken
In the Dutch-speaking part of the country, Spike and Suzy are, for most readers, at least as important as the adventures of Tintin created by Hergé. For them, Willy Vandersteen is the father of Flemish comics as we know them today: printed in a newspaper, with a family in the lead role recognisable to all, popular with the young and the old.
