Visits to famed European cities can easily be dominated by taking
pictures in front of grand buildings or trekking from one location of a famed
historical event to another. It’s easy
to let monuments in honor of battles or stone structures erected centuries ago dominate
a trip. With all that history to take in
and ponder, playfulness can be left out of a trip. So, scheduling time to visit a museum that
celebrates a playful aspect of life can add a welcome break to a trip heavy
with historical sites. The Comics Art Museum/Belgian
Comic Strip Center provides such a break.
Displays throughout the museum explain the deep history
behind modern-day comics. In fact, the
museum credits monks from the Middle Ages for creating the structure and format
of comic strips. Many monks chose to
decorate the texts that they copied with elaborate illustrations that divided
the work into panels and used dialogue balloons, which are techniques commonly employed
in popular comic strips today. The
museum provides several examples of this format to help visitors see how it
resembles the comics we see in newspapers every day. Over time, artists and authors developed the
medium of combining art and text until a common understanding of what a comic
strip is emerged. As one display
explains, “a comic strip is a series of images forming a narrative, in which
the scenario is incorporated into the images.”
It is up to the artist to see how far she can stretch her imagination to
create something new and meaningful while working within that definition.
Once visitors understand the history of the comic strip, they
can browse displays that explain how comic strips are created and printed. Displays illustrate the step-by-step process
artists use to craft the comics starting with rough sketches and concluding
with polished images and incorporated text.
A brief film walks the reader through the process for taking the final
drafts of a comic and turning them into a published work, such as a graphic
novel, that is then marketed to consumers.
A seemingly simple medium is revealed to be quite complex.
The final section of the museum explores the history and
importance of several well-known comic strips and authors. The Smurfs get a lot of attention, and
visitors can climb through mushroom houses while looking at samples of the
comic and its evolution throughout the years.
Most of the featured comics are popular in Europe, which makes the
displays all the more interesting for an American visitor who may not be
familiar with the storylines yet. In
addition to the child-friendly exhibits on popular comics such as the Smurfs and
Tintin, the museum offers background information and examples of comics that
aim to share social and political messages.
The exhibits explain how the light-hearted and the serious can
intersect.
By the conclusion of a visit to the
Comic Art Museum, visitors understand what a comic is, how one is created, and
which ones are popular enough to be noted in history books. Visitors also have the chance to snap a
picture next to a favorite character and capturing a moment of playfulness
before leaving the museum to seek out the next historical site on the must-see
list.
