Top half of Anton Marin's comic for Hooverphonic's 2015 'Badaboum' single.
Anton Marin is a Belgian graphic designer, who runs the design agency Power & Glory. He is best known for his collaborations with the Belgian pop and electronica band Hooverphonic. For the group's 2015 single 'Badaboum', he created a promotional comic strip. Marin is also known as the house artist of the concert hall De Casino in the Belgian town Sint-Niklaas.
Life and career
Anton Marin is the founder of Power & Glory, a design agency located in the city of Sint-Niklaas in the province of East Flanders. Through his firm, he has created promotional artwork for the local concert hall De Casino, as well as designs for record covers. Most of Power & Glory's music commissions were done for Belgian pop and rock artists, but also for the classical musician Jan Van Der Roost. Among Marin's regular clients has been the band Gorki, for whom he livened up the albums 'Eindelijk Vakantie' (2000, in collaboration with Bent Van Looy), 'Homo Erectus' (2006), 'Voor Rijpere Jeugd' (2008) and 'Research & Development' (2011). Ozark Henry had Power & Glory design the covers for his albums 'Birthmarks' (2001) and 'Intersexual' (2002). Other acts for whom Anton Marin has done design work are Arid ('Everlasting Change', 2002), Betty Goes Green ('The Well', 1998), Crumb ('Organic Machine', 1994), Glenn Claes ('Back Where My World Began', 2015), Tom Helsen ('More Than Gold', 2004), Isabelle A. ('De Macht der Gewoonte' [2008], 'Zo Zal Het Zijn' [2017]), Kiss Me Twice ('Blue and Broken', 2016), Kolk ('Nachtschade', 1999), Maanzaad ('Amok', 2013), Muffler Men ('Trigger and Fly', 2011), Reena Riot ('Reena Rit', 2013) and Spacca ('Spacca', 2004).
Hooverphonic
Power & Glory is, however, best known for its collaborations with the Belgian pop/electronica band Hooverphonic. The brainchild of bass player Alex Callier and guitarist Raymond Geerts, Hooverphonic has risen from one of the best-selling bands in Belgium to one of the most popular groups in Europe. Their hit '2Wicky' (1996) was used on the soundtrack of Bernardo Bertolucci's film 'Stealing Beauty' (1996) and the 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' slasher movie franchise. Songs like 'Renaissance Affair' (1998) and 'Eden' (1998) were used in TV commercials. During the opening ceremony of the European Football Championship (2000) in Brussels, Hooverphonic was introduced to millions of European viewers, increasing their fame. Their album 'The Magnificent Tree' (2000), with lead single 'Mad About You', became a bestseller with raving reviews, paving the way for several other successful singles and albums in the decades beyond. In 2021, they represented Belgium during the Eurovision Song Contest, but stalled at the 19th place.
Over the years, Power & Glory has designed the covers for all of Hooverphonic's albums and singles. Between 8 May and 6 June 2021, the exposition 'Mad About Hooverphonic' was on display in De Casino concert hall in Sint-Niklaas. It chronicled the band's history and success. One room was dedicated to Power & Glory's contributions, under the title 'The Power & Glory of (H)Artwork', while Marin's designs in general were promoted as the common thread in the 25th anniversary of the band's career.
Badaboum
In 2015, Hooverphonic released 'Badaboum', a promotional single from their upcoming album 'In Wonderland' (2016). The song, with a French-language refrain but otherwise English-language lyrics, features a dialogue between a man and a woman. The woman (vocals by Emilie Satt, pseudonym of Emilie Sattonet) is stuck in an abusive relationship, but denies the graveness of the situation. The man (vocals by Litlo Tinz) warns her that she lives in a fantasy and should leave her partner. Unfortunately, she rejects his well-intended advice, causing him to comment: "If that's the way you feel, it's best I go."
For the single's promotion, Marin adapted parts of the song's lyrics in a one-page black-and-white comic strip. The comic was printed in several Belgian newspapers and magazines. Strangely enough, the comic wasn't featured in the sleeve of the 'Badaboum' single itself, nor the 'In Wonderland' album. Nevertheless, the song did well in the Flemish Ultratop 50 charts, reaching as high as the Top 3 spot for several weeks. It is unknown whether Anton Marin has made other comics.
Bottom half of Anton Marin's comic for Hooverphonic's 2015 'Badaboum' single.