A Research Blog on Early Comics

This is my research blog on Early Comics published in Belgium before Hergé's Tintin (1929). . 
In 1996 I organised for the Belgian comics museum in Brussels a conference on the forerunners of the modern comic strip and I edited Forging A New Medium, The Comic Strip in the 19th Century.
In 2006 I conducted a research project on broadsheets for the folklore museum Het Huis van Alijn in Ghent. From 2008 till 2010 my research was supported by the research council of Sint-Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design (Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussel). 

Publications on Early Comics 

• Lefèvre, Pascal (2025) 'Illustrated Weeklies Introducing Graphic Sequences in Flanders (1868-1900)' International Journal of Comic Art, Vol. 26, N° 2, p. 58-81
• Lefèvre, Pascal (2024) 'In het schamel vertrek van den werkman als in de salons van de rijken. Het beeldverhaal in Vlaamse geïllustreerde weekbladen (1868-1900) ' reeks De oertijd van de strip, Stripgids, N°16, p. 72-83.
• Lefèvre, Pascal (2011) 'Not just Black and White. Divergent Colonial Period Representations of Africans in French and Belgian Broadsheets (1880-1914),' SIGNs, Vol. 2, N° 2, December 2011, p. 3-14, print.
• Lefèvre, Pascal (2009) 'Panorama van het vroege beeldverhaal in België (1870-1929)[Panorama of early comics in Belgium] in Sint-Lukas Galerie Brussel. 
• Lefèvre, Pascal (2010) 'Le Dernier Film van Fernand Wicheler. De eerste Belgische krantenstrip?' [Le Dernier Film by Fernand Wicheler. The very first regular Belgian comic strip?] in Brabant Strip.
• Lefèvre, Pascal (2006) 'The Battle over the Balloon, The conflictual institutionalization of the speech balloon in various countries, in: Image (&) Narrative, Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative, N° 14, May 2006.
• Lefèvre, Pascal (90% ed.) & Dierick, Charles (10% ed.) (1998 & 2000) Forging A New Medium, The Comic Strip in the 19th Century, Brussel: VUB University Press,  214 p.

Short biographical comics about early comics artists

 

• script  'Henri Cassiers', Zandstraal 19 (2025)  p. 22-23,  drawings Thibau Vande Voorde.
• script  'Henri Cassiers', Le Dessableur 19 (2025)  p. 22-23,  drawings Thibau Vande Voorde.
• script 'Et si... monsieur Beulemans avait existé pour de vrai.' Le Dessableur11, (2023)  p. 22-23,  drawings Thibau Vande Voorde.
• script 'Wat als... meneer Beulemans echt bestaan had.' Zandstraal 11, (2023)  p. 22-23,  drawings Thibau Vande Voorde.
• script 'Tomate rouge & Crâne d'oeuf. Le remue-ménige imaginaire pour Boule-de-Gomme et Fil-de-Fer.' Le Dessableur4, (2022) p. 18-19, drawings Greg Shaw. 
• script 'Gepeld Eitje en Rode Tomat. De ingebeelde brainstorm voor Bulletje en Boonestaak.' Zandstraal 4, (2022)  p. 18-19,  drawings Greg Shaw. 

 

Coming publication

 

- Pascal Lefèvre (planned in 2026) 'Early Journalistic Graphic Sequences in Belgian Illustrated Weeklies (1886-1900)', in:  Leonora Flis & Robert Alexander (eds) Comics Journalism and the Art of Truth,  Routledge.

Presentations at conferences 

- The mischief gag comic, an international phenomenon. Ruichi Yokohama’s “Fuku-chan” and its friends in Europe and the Americas, invited paper, University of Cologne, Intercultural Crossovers, Transcultural Flows: Manga/Comics, 29 Sept - 1 Oct 2010. 

- Untamed Ferocious Children in the Comic Strips of the Belle Époque. 19th Biennial Congress of IRSCL (The International Research Society for Children's Literature), Literature and Cultural Diversity in the Past and the Present, 8-12 August 2009.

- Comics in Belgium before Hergé’s Tintin (1877-1929), IBDS (International Bande Dessinée SocietyInstitut Français London, 19 - 20 June 2009.

- Researching early comics. A case study: Belgium in relation to other countries (1880-1930), paper, ICAF, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 9-11 October 2008.

- Imperialist propaganda for Children ? Representations in French and Belgian Broadsheets (1880-1914), paper. Amsterdam, IAMHIST XXII Media and Imperialism, Press, Photography, Film, Radio and Television in the Era of Modern Imperialism, July 18-21, 2007.

- Shocking News! A case study of two Belgian illustrated periodicals, De Zweep and La Feuille illustrée, at the end of the 19th century, paper, Research Society for Victorian Periodicals-conference, University of Ghent, Image and text, Image in text, July 2004. - De Belgische volksprenten [Belgian popular prints],invited lecture, Het Huis van Allijn, Gent, June 2004.

- The Battle over the Balloon, paper, Universität Hamburg, July 2002.