Where Are the Belgian Comics?

Belgium, along with its renowned Region of Wallonia, plays a significant role in global exports, with a substantial portion comprising chemical and pharmaceutical products, followed by diverse categories like machinery and metalworks. However, when envisioning Belgium, iconic products such as beer, chocolate, and fries immediately come to mind. Remarkably, these Belgian delights, including waffles, are readily available in Mexico. Yet, as a Belgian residing in Mexico City for the past three years, I've observed a notable absence of another Belgian cultural gem – the distinctive Belgian-French type of comics.

Each comic book comprises around 50 pages with realistic drawings and a hard cover. Born in Belgium, the stories were serialized in a weekly publication. It first started with Le journal de Tintin, followed by Le journal de Spirou. Hergé, Robert Velter or Edgar P. Jacobs are a few of the famous authors who published the stories of their characters such as Tintin, Spirou and Blake and Mortimer. 

In Mexico, you can find The Adventures of Tintin or those of Asterix and Obelix (French), the most famous European comics in the world. But why can’t we find other successes or at least a few of them in our favorite Mexican bookstores?

Comics stores are an institution in Belgium. You can find several in every city. Some of our citizens also spend hours in secondhand stores trying to find the title missing from their collection. And I must admit that visiting these stores is always a part of my routine when I go back to Belgium each summer.

Interesting to note, the comics industry has never been in such good shape as the last two years. If we look at the French market, turnover has jumped from €557.6 million (US$604 million) in 2019 to €924.6 million in 2021, an increase of 65.8% in just two years. In 2022, it stabilized at €921 million.(1)

It’s interesting to note that Japan’s mangas have 41% of the market and the Belgian-French comics only 31%, followed by the youth segment(20%). American comics only represent 5% of the market.(2) 

According to several sources, Mexico is a growing market for the comic book industry. According to a survey by Animal Político magazine in 2020, 1 out of every 10 Mexicans considers himself to be a comic book reader.(3) In addition, since 2021, searches for the word "comic" on Google have shown a slight growth.(4) Mangas are a world success and American comics have their own influence on Mexican consumers but is there more room for European comics? 

I find that comics offer an alternative to those too tired to read books with only text or to watch their favorite TV series on another screen after a day of work. Belgian comics  also make an excellent present, with nice hard covers and beautiful drawings. After reading, there is always a nice spot for it in the library at home. 

My favorite characters from these comics are all linked to finance/business and adventures. Just to name a few, Largo Winch (a young billionaire who inherited his fortune from his adoptive father, and all the problems that come with it), XIII (an amnesiac who seeks to discover his past) and Tintin have all been part of my will to travel and live abroad. Comic books are linked to our youth and are  also some of the first books our kids will pick up in our library. With time, their tastes change but these comics always bring back memories and sweet emotions. 

Belgian comics can also represent an alternative investment opportunity. A first edition can sometimes be worth a few thousand euros. Websites such as Catawiki have weekly auctions for works by authors such as Hergé (every Friday on Catawiki). 

Interestingly enough, out of 4 million Tintin books sold each year, 2.5 million are sold in China, maybe due to the fact that one of the most popular adventures was the Blue Lotus, first published in 1934 in black and white. 

If you want to know more about Belgian comics, you can visit the Museum of Comics in Brussels or the Museum of Hergé in Wallonia (Louvain-la-Neuve). And if you are still not convinced it could be a good market in Mexico, you can still enjoy a beer, some fries and a waffle after visiting them.