The 5th Comics Festival, an initiative of the Brussels-Capital Region’s Government with the support of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, the City of Brussels and COCOF (College of the French Community Commission) and organised by visit.brussels, came to an end Sunday last and was a great success.
On Friday and Saturday evening, the Comic Strip Nights in the Park of Brussels were a real hit. The drawing concerts, the water shows and the open air cinema all managed to captivate the audience.
On Saturday afternoon, the Place des Palais was the venue for the start of the Balloon’s Day Parade, a parade of helium-filled balloons inspired by the American tradition, but Brussels’ version was mainly made up of comic book characters. This year, Tintin, Kid Paddle, Boule and Spirou were joined by Lucky Luke.
Once again this year, Moulinsart joined forces with the Comic Strip Festival to whisk visitors away into the world of our favourite little reporter. More than 60 classic cars and bikes featured in the Tintin stories were on show this Sunday 7 September. The rally set off on a journey around some of the comic book highlights of Brussels, taking in the Hergé Museum in Louvain-la-Neuve as well. The vehicles ended up in the Place des Palais, where a panel of judges from Moulinsart awarded the prizes for the cars that best matched Hergé’s drawings.
Last but by no means least, the Comics Festival –which for the first time took place in the Park of Brussels – enchanted young and old alike under a 3,000m² marquee, bringing together Brussels’ bookshops and comic book collectors including the Belgian Comic Strip Centre, the MOOF, Forbidden Zone, the Musée Hergé, the Spirou Festival and more than 150 different authors.