The dictatorship of Napoleon, from 'L'Aventure des Belges' (the Dutch-language translation 'België in Beeld'). Dutch-language version.
Louis Haché was a mid- to late 20th-century Belgian comic artist and illustrator, about whom not much is known. Between the 1950s and 1970s, he was active for the Belgian magazine Tintin and drew in a highly realistic style. For this magazine he created the nowadays obscure adventure comic 'Bob Francval et Djinn' (scripted by Michel Greg, 1958) and various historical comics of an educational nature. One of these was a chronological history of Belgium, scripted by Georges Dumont and published under the title: 'L'Aventure des Belges' ('België in Beeld', 1979). Louis Haché should not be confused with the Canadian writer Louis Haché (1924-2020).
Early life and career
Louis Haché was born in 1921. His comic career took off in the 1950s. Together with scriptwriter Greg, he drew the 'Bob Francval et Djinn' (1958) series for the magazine Ima, L'Ami des Jeunes, which was published in Paris from 1955 to 1958. The stories centered around Bob Francval, a special agent working for Interpol, and a young Hindu boy named Djinn. While not very succesful and forgotten today, the series was translated in Dutch and published in the comic magazine Sjors as well. 'Bob Francval et Djinn' also proved to be a testing ground for Greg's later police comic series 'Bernard Prince' (1966), published in Tintin and drawn by Hermann. Greg recycled most of the original concept and narratives, down to the fact that Prince was also a police inspector with a young Hindu sidekick named Djinn.
'Bob Francval et Djinn'.
Historical comics
During the 1950s and 1960s, Haché drew several one-shot historical comics for Tintin magazine. These were created for educational purposes and a direct rival to Octave Joly's similar 'Les Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' in Spirou magazine, which also narrated historical events in comic book form. Just like other authors of educational-historical comics in Tintin, like Fred and Liliane Funcken, the majority of these comics were never published in album format. Among Haché's titles were 'Deux Hommes Dans La Brousse' (1956, scripted by Pollart), 'Ainsi mourut Humphrey Nicholls' (1956, scripted by G. Page), 'L' Albatros' (1956, scripted by Yves Duval), 'Les Aigles du Romaoro' (1956, with Pollart), 'Victoire sur l'impossible' (1956), 'L'Ordre règne á Topola' (1956, with Duval), 'Victoire sur le Cervin' (1956), 'Le Gentlement du Pôle' (1957) and two stories exclusively printed in the Tintin editions for the market in France: 'Les Égouts de Stredlitz' (1965) and 'Le Venin de la Colère' (1966), both scripted by Yves Duval.
L'Aventure des Belges / België in Beeld
In 1957, Haché illustrated an ambitious comic book scripted by Georges H. Dumont: 'L'Aventure des Belges'. The comic offers a chronological history of Belgium from the earliest Celtic settings until the late 1950s. In 1979, it was reprinted in an updated version to coincide with the upcoming 150th anniversary of Belgium's independence in 1980. 'L'Aventure des Belges' was also published in a Dutch translation as 'België in Beeld'. The work addresses several key points in Belgian history. Most topics are told in one page each, apart from the life stories of each individual Belgian king. All five of them up to that point receive two full pages, with the exception of Baudouin/Boudewijn, whose reign was still ongoing at the time and therefore not as comprehensive as his predecessors. Two other topics which receive more attention and pages than others are the history of the Belgian independence and the colony Congo.
The death of King Leopold II of Belgium, from 'L'Aventure des Belges'. Dutch-language version.
'L'Aventure des Belges' is a very serious work. It's literally an illustration of an essay about Belgium's history, divided by topic and time period. It could be described as a text comic, with the difference that the text doesn't appear beneath the images but in rectangular blocks within the illustrations. Everything is drawn realistically, without any speech balloons, onomatopeia or graphic indications of movement, giving it an overall static impression. When Dutch comic authors Thom Roep and Co Loerakker read the book, it motivated them to make their own comic book adaptation of - in their case - the history of the Netherlands: 'Van Nul tot Nu' (1982). Though they deliberately tried to make their version a bit more engaging by using an actual narrative with fictional protagonists, more dynamic artwork and above all a lighter, more comedic tone. In an interview Roep said he felt 'L'Aventure des Belges' was well-intended, but just too dry in its writing and too static in terms of drawings. Another difference between both books is that 'L'Aventure des Belges' presents certain nowadays controversial historical characters (Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon, Leopold II) and events (the colonisation of Congo) in an uncritical positive light, while Roep and Loerakker took the precaution to offer more critical viewpoints about certain people and events.
The murder of John the Fearless (the Duke of Burgundy) in 1419, from 'L'Aventure des Belges". Dutch-language version.
Nevertheless, 'L'Aventure des Belges' is historically significant for being the first comic book to tell the history of Belgium. The only comparable predecessor was the book collection ' 's Lands Glorie' (1949-1961), written by Professor J. Schoonjans and illustrated by J-L. Huene, published by the Maatschappij Historia N.V. But this was more a collection of stand-alone colour illustrations, which had to be collected through trading cards and put into a book to follow an actual chronological narrative. 'L'Aventure des Belges' paved the way for similar 'national history comic books', such as 'Bruxelles Babel. Chronique illustré de Bruxelles' (1979) by Jean-Louis Lejeune and M. Georis, 'De Geschiedenis van Vlaanderen' (1985) by Hugo Leyers, 'Brussel in Beeldekens' (2009) by René Bergmans, Jan Bosschaert, Tom Bouden, Jeff Broeckx, Charel Cambré, Ross Cappaert, Kurt Cassauwers, Ivan Claeys, Reinhart Croon, Pieter De Poortere, Luk Bey, Lode Devroe, Rik De Wulf, Steven Dupré, Lectrr, Hec Leemans, Merho, Randall Casaer, Ben Seys, Wim Swerts, Sascha Van Laeken, Patrick van Oppen, Jos Vanspauwen, Marc Verhaegen, Els Verlaak and Peter Willems, and 'De Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis' (2013) by Kamagurka and Herr Seele, starring their character Cowboy Henk. However, all these versions were deliberately humorous in nature. In 2023, a new two-volume comic book about the history of Flanders, 'Het Verhaal van Vlaanderen', was released, scripted by Harry De Paepe and drawn by Frodo De Decker.
Julius Caesar' invasion of Gaul, where chieftain Ambiorix managed to win a battle against the Romans, from 'L'Aventure des Belges'. Dutch-language version.