Reading a Page

Franco-Belgian Comics: Bande Dessinée

Course 1 · Chapter 10 · Capstone: Reading a Page and Testing the Canon

The course has followed a form from Töpffer's picture stories to the festival halls of Angoulême. This last chapter does three things: it sets the story out as a timeline, it tests the common claims from Chapter 1 against what the course found, and it gives two methods you can use again: a way to read a single comic page closely, and a way to test a "greatest comics" list. Dates are from the earlier chapters and flagged "check" where they were.

A Timeline of Bande Dessinée

Period	Strand (see chapter)
1830s to 1900s	Töpffer's picture stories; Épinal prints; Christophe's first strips (Chapter 2, check)
1900s to 1920s	Children's weeklies; Bécassine, Les Pieds Nickelés, Zig et Puce (Chapter 2)
1929 to 1950s	Tintin and the Brussels school; Spirou and Marcinelle (Chapters 3 and 4)
1959 to 1960s	Pilote, Astérix, the French weekly (Chapter 5)
1960s to 1970s	Satirical press; adult magazines; Métal hurlant and Moebius (Chapter 6)
1980s to 2000s	Auteurs, L'Association, Persepolis; the shift to the album and manga (Chapters 7 and 8)
1974 onward	Angoulême, Brussels, translation, screen adaptations, debates about women creators (Chapter 9)

Myths and Evidence

Claim from Chapter 1	What the course found
Comics are for children.	False as a general claim: adult magazines from the 1970s, the graphic novel and a mixed readership. True of a large part of the classic output.
Tintin and Astérix are the whole of BD.	False: they are two peaks among a vast range, from Spirou to Moebius to Persepolis.
BD was invented by Hergé.	False: Töpffer, Christophe and others came first, though Hergé shaped the modern adventure style.
Franco-Belgian comics are one tradition.	Partly: shared publishers and readers, but distinct Brussels and Marcinelle schools and a Paris centre.
The French have always respected comics.	False: the respect came from the 1960s onward through critics, magazines, festivals and institutions.
The "greatest" comics are an objective list.	False: lists reflect who votes, which markets and languages are covered and which works are in print (see below).

Reading a Comic Page: Six Questions

1. Layout

How many panels, what shapes, how big? Where does your eye go first, and does the grid speed up or slow down the page?

2. Line and colour

Clear line, scratchy, painted? Flat or modelled colour? What does the style say about tone and period (Chapter 3 against Chapter 6)?

3. Words

Who speaks, in which balloons and lettering? How much text is there, and how does it relate to the picture: repeating it, adding to it, or contradicting it?

4. Sequence

What happens between panels (the gap, or gouttière)? How much time passes, and what must the reader infer?

5. Context

Which magazine, publisher, year and audience? Was it drawn for a weekly page or for a book?

6. Effect

What does the page make you feel or think, and which of the earlier answers produce that effect?

Worked example: a gag page in the Marcinelle manner 1. Layout: a regular grid of equal panels, which gives a steady rhythm for a gag that builds. 2. Line: rounded figures, bright flat colour, exaggerated faces. 3. Words: short speech balloons and a sound effect in large letters; the picture does most of the talking. 4. Sequence: each panel shows one step of a chain reaction, with the last panel delivering the disaster. 5. Context: a one-page gag from a weekly, to be read in a minute and collected later into an album (Chapters 4 and 8). 6. Effect: comic satisfaction from a pattern that is familiar and varied. Doing the same exercise on a page from Persepolis or Tintin will bring out how different the answers are.

Testing a "Best of" List

Who chose? Critics, readers, booksellers or sales? Each gives a different list.
From what pool? French-language only, or all comics? Works in print and in translation have an advantage.
On what criterion? Influence, popularity, craft, originality or personal taste?
Who is missing? Look for women, small-press authors, manga and creators outside France and Belgium (Chapters 7 to 9).
What would change the list? A different year, a different jury or a new translation.
Verdict. A list is evidence of a taste at one moment, not a ranking of quality.

A British comparison The same methods work on British lists, such as polls of the greatest comics or graphic novels, which typically favour Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The Beano and 2000 AD characters and tell you about the voters as much as the works (check). Try the six-question page reading on a Beano page and a Tintin page side by side: the layout, the words and the context show most clearly how the two traditions differ.

Check the details The timeline and tables summarise the earlier chapters, and their "check" items still apply. The verdicts are conclusions from the sources used in this course, not proof, and a different set of sources might shift the emphasis.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Choose one page from a comic you own and apply the six-question reading to it in a short paragraph for each question.

→ Solution

Exercise 2

Pick a published "best comics" list and test it with the questions about lists. What does it tell you about its makers?

→ Solution

Exercise 3

Write a one-page personal canon of five Franco-Belgian works for a newcomer, justifying each choice by a different criterion and saying what the list leaves out.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

Page reading: layout, line and colour, words, sequence, context, effect
List testing: who chose, from what pool, on what criterion, who is missing, what would change it
Verdict on Chapter 1's myths: comics are not only for children, Hergé did not invent BD, respect was earned from the 1960s

Course complete You have finished Franco-Belgian Comics: Bande Dessinée: the term and the form, Töpffer and the early strips, Tintin and the Brussels school, Spirou and Marcinelle, Pilote and Astérix, the adult and auteur revolution, the graphic-novel turn, the business of the album, the festivals and the wider world, and methods for reading a page and testing a canon. Related courses include French Film & Television, French Literature, French Music and Jeux Sans Frontières.