World Cup 2018 is Franco-Belgian Comics’ Civil War
Friday, July 6, 2018 will go down as a landmark date in Franco-Belgian comics history. It’s the day both France and Belgium had winning teams in FIFA’s World Cup.
This coming Tuesday, July 10, on a pitch deep in Russian territory, the French and Belgian soccer teams will meet in the semi-finals.
Two teams enter. Only one team wins.
Time to Pick Sides!
As a bandes dessinees fan, who do you root for?
I thought it might be helpful to give you an aid in picking a side. I know this must be tough on you. It’s tough on all of us. But I wanted to help.
Let the comics be your guide!
Pick Your Comic
Tintin vs Asterix
It’s the ages-old battle, and pretty clear cut: The adventures of the last free French? Or the adventures of the Belgian boy reporter?
I have a big problem here. I’m a Belgium fan, but I vastly prefer the French comic.
Let’s keep moving:
Pick Your Creator
OK, let’s skip the character based matches, and line up the talented creators based on the countries they’re from. This is a mostly random smattering of cartoonists, chosen from books I’ve reviewed in the past on this site.
Morris vs. Didier Conrad
Lucky Luke’s Belgian Papa versus France’s current Asterix artist!
Rob-Vel vs. Franquin
Spirou’s French Father against Marsupilami’s Belgian creator!
Peyo vs. Bruce Cossu
Belgium’s blue creature daddy versus France’s family-friend FRNK father!
Jean Roba vs. Bruno Dequier
Belgium’s Boule et Bill founder verses France’s Louca auteur. Dequier wins this one, since his comic is about soccer. Kind of tough to beat that. I’m not going to even look up a picture of the boy and that dog for this. It’s over.
Do the Math(s)
Total them up. Which country has your favorite creators? As much as I like all of them, I’m an old school Marcinelle School kind of guy. I lean towards Belgium still.
If that still doesn’t help, maybe you have a more personal connection to help you?
Purely Selfish Reasons
From Ellis Island, here’s the record of my grandfather coming to America from Belgium in 1896. He was 2 years old.
I’m already in the bag at that point. And if you haven’t picked a side, then I’ll welcome you gladly to Team Belgium now.
Pass the frites, but hold the mayo (I’m American. I just can’t bring myself to doing that.)
The Highlander Rule
There can be only one.
Go, Belgium!
East Coast USA time in the States, the big game is Tuesday at 2:00 in the afternoon. Follow along on Twitter for all the hijinks!
Hehe that’s a fun post, I completely forgot about your origins, you must have mentioned it at some point but I always assumed that was a dutch name.
Anyway, this is tough for me because I am French and I’ve lived in Belgium for years. I don’t care much for football but everyone around me is so I’m expected to pick a side. If you’re looking for a good BD about the game, check out Section R from Raymond Reding, not sure there’s an english version but it’s a classic from Tintin magazine that I used to read back in the day, must have been good because back then I enjoyed it albeit I already had zero interest in sports 😉
I vaguely remember there was also a B&W british strip about a football team, but I can’t remember the name, maybe Dan or Colin can chime in.
The Dutch confusion is super common. My ancestors came from the Flemish side, so it’s not that far off.
And I’m not much of a soccer fan, either, but I’m going to run with this one. It’s too much fun. =)
Looks like everyone had the same idea 😀
http://bdzoom.com/131786/actualites/france-belgique-en-demi-finale-de-la-coupe-du-monde-de-football-victoire-de-la-bd-franco-belge/attachment/jdd-2/
It’s far too obvious a gag for me to be alone with it. But mine is a timely bit of clickbait manufactured to cash in on a trending keyword. VERY timely. I stayed up late Friday night putting this together… 😉
Now excuse me while I go pull out “Asterix in Britain” so I can borrow some panels from that soccer game for social media posts in the next couple days…. (If Belgium goes on to face England in the finale, it’ll be HUGE. Expect another post…)
Huh … Augie, my man, I like you, but if you illustrate a story on soccer with images from a rugby game, I might just have to fly over to torch-and-pitchfork your backside, man. :p
Also you’ll look silly as the balls aren’t even the same shape!
Personally I’m hoping for a Belgium/Croatia final. Something unexpected. That way we also get the France/England grudge match for third place!
Ack! That’s right, “Asterix in Britain” WAS rugby, wasn’t it? Crap, there goes Plan A. I THINK I would have realized it when I pulled the book out. I hope I would have.
I shall do my best to keep all these sports-that-aren’t-popular-in-North-America separated! But do get out the pitchfork if I put a cricket image up there….
I’ll let your British/Australian readers do that – I don’t have a dog in that race. :p
This is the day. Be ready. Find online some tutorials on how to do proper homemade mayonnaise, there’s nothing like it. I was a latecomer to it myself (used to proper Dijon mustard from birth, not that yellow cr@p from north America), now I can’t do without. My heart is rooting for Belgium but my brain know that France is the superior team. All bets are off now.
Well, there you go. Belgium had a great run this time.
What’s your pick for Croatia-England tonight?
My heart goes to Croatia, but as a Frenchman, we enjoy kicking Brit @ss every now and then, it’s called tough love hehe 😉
I just noticed that we haven’t heard anything from Dan or Colin on this one. Where are you guys?