The dictatorship of Napoleon, from 'L'Aventure des Belges' (the Dutch-language translation 'België in Beeld'). Dutch-language version.
Louis Haché was a Belgian comic artist and illustrator, active in the second half of the 20th century. After creating historical comics of an educational nature for Tintin magazine. he worked with scriptwriter Georges Dumont on the comic book 'L'Aventure des Belges' ('België in Beeld', 1957), a chronological history of Belgium in comic format. Later in the decade, he created the adventure comic 'Bob Francval et Djinn' (1958) with scriptwriter Michel Greg for IMA, L'Ami des Jeunes magazine, before focusing on a further career in illustration and painting. The comic artist Louis Haché should not be confused with the Canadian writer Louis Haché (1924-2020).
Life and early career
Born in the Brussels suburb of Ixelles in 1922, Louis Haché's career in comics and illustration took off in the 1940s. In 1945, he provided cover illustrations for the first post-war issues of the Catholic boy scout magazine Plein-Jeu. Around that time, Haché was also a member of La Mine Souriante, an association of artists, founded in 1930 by Marcel Antoine and later chaired by Horn. Among its famous members in later years were the comic creators André Franquin, Morris, Peyo, Jean Roba, Maurice Tillieux and Will. Since they were both members of the same group, Haché introduced a young André Franquin to the editors of Plein-Jeu, who hired the future comics legend as illustrator. In 1950, Louis Haché illustrated the Welsh legend 'Perceval' in Feu Sacré, the weekly organ of the Eucharistic Crusade and the Federation of Cadets.
Historical comics
During the 1950s and 1960s, Haché drew several one-shot historical comics for Tintin magazine. These educational short stories, often created by writer Yves Duval in collaboration with varying artists, were meant as a competing feature to Octave Joly's similar 'Les Belles Histoires de l'Oncle Paul' series in Spirou magazine, which also presented historical events in comic form. Just like other authors of educational-historical comics in Tintin, like Fred and Liliane Funcken, the majority of these comics were never collected in book format. Among the stories illustrated by Louis Haché were 'Deux Hommes Dans La Brousse' (1956), 'Ainsi mourut Humphrey Nicholls' (1956), 'L' Albatros' (1956), 'Les Aigles du Romaoro' (1956), 'Victoire sur l'impossible' (1956), 'L'Ordre règne á Topola' (1956), 'Victoire sur le Cervin' (1956), 'Le Gentleman 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). Besides Duval, Haché also worked with the scriptwriters Cary Page (Charles Jadoul) and Jo Pollart.
The death of King Leopold II of Belgium, from 'L'Aventure des Belges'. Dutch-language version.
L'Aventure des Belges/België in Beeld
In 1957, Haché illustrated an ambitious comic book scripted by Georges H. Dumont: 'L'Aventure des Belges', published by De Visscher. The comic offers a chronological history of Belgium from the earliest Celtic settings until the late 1950s. In 1979, it was reprinted by Oyez in an updated version to coincide with the upcoming 150th anniversary of Belgium's independence in 1980. 'L'Aventure des Belges' was also released 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 up to that point. All five of them received 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 that received more attention and pages than others were Belgian independence and the colony Congo.
Dumont and Haché's 'L'Aventure des Belges' is a very serious work, and can be seen as an illustrated essay about Belgium's history, divided by topic and time period. The narrative contains no dialogue or sound effects, but is told through text captions inside the panels. The artwork is realistic, without any 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 adaptation of the history of the Netherlands: 'Van Nul tot Nu' (1982-1994). Their creation was deliberately 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, writer Thom 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 colonization of Congo) in an uncritical positive light, while Roep and Loerakker took 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 as the first post-war comic book to tell the history of Belgium. The only comparable predecessors were George Van Raemdonck's 'De Geschiedenis van België' (1930) and Professor J. Schoonjans (text) and Jean-Léon Huens' illustrated pictures ''s Lands Glorie' (1949-1961), published by the Maatschappij Historia N.V. This latter work was however a collection of stand-alone color illustrations, which had to be collected through trading cards and put into a book before forming 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 Michel Géoris, '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.
'Bob Francval et Djinn'.
Bob Francval et Djinn
In 1958, Louis Haché also appeared in the French monthly IMA, L'Ami des Jeunes, working together with scriptwriter Greg on the 'Bob Francval et Djinn' (1958) series. The two stories centered around Bob Francval, a special agent working for Interpol, and a young Hindu boy named Djinn. While not very successful and forgotten today, the series was translated into 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 crime 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.
Further life and death
In 1960, Haché joined his former Plein-Jeu editor Jean-Jacques Schellens in his new publishing firm Éditions Marabout, illustrating four titles in the 'Marabout-Junior' series of youth novels: 'Opération Zeebrugge' (#175), 'L'Étreinte du Kalahari' (#176), 'L'Aventure des Profondeurs' (#177) and 'Tout Vient du Ciel' (#180). Also active as an oil painter, Louis Haché died in 2013. He was married to Thérèse Debouck (1924-2019), a secondary school teacher at Notre-Dame des Champs in Uccle. Her father was the poet and novelist Désiré-Joseph d'Orbaix (pen name for Désiré-Joseph Debouck), her sister the poet Marie-Claire d'Orbaix. Louis Haché and wife are both buried at the Linkebeek cemetery.
Julius Caesar' invasion of Gaul, where chieftain Ambiorix managed to win a battle against the Romans, from 'L'Aventure des Belges'. Dutch-language version.