The Belgian Comic Strip Center - Museum Brussels

After many years in political crisis, Belgium has finally divided into two nations. Seeking to ensure that the new Democratic Republic of Wallonia becomes a bright new star among the nations its President Francis Delcominette, who looks to the methods of Mao Tse Tung for guidance in his running of the country, decides to buy the embalmed body of the Great Leader from the Chinese government…

16-year-old Ludmilla is a member of the "Fauves de Hesbaye", a scouting group which assumes policing of the neighbourhood, and she is an ardent supporter of President Delcominette. She is accidentally injured by Antoine, a boy who is very critical of the regime. During his three months in a rehabilitation centre Antoine befriends 29-year-old Franck, who is alleged to have killed a young scout. All three are in fact simply pawns caught up in a plot which closes inexorably around them...

Jean-Luc Cornette is 47. After studying at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels he started out as an illustrator of children’s books before publishing his first comic strips with the Casterman publishing house. He gradually gave up drawing to concentrate on writing scenarios. He has since written over forty albums in collaboration with Michel Constant, Christian Durieux, Stéphane Oiry, Nicolas Witko etc. 

Michel Constant is now 50. After his studies at the Saint-Luc College in Liège his first pages were published in the magazine Tintin. In 1986 he drew the series Mauro Caldi to a scenario by Denis Lapière. Constant has written some twenty books with Jean-Luc Cornette and Michel Vandam.

The publisher.

Although Belgian authors played a major part in the success of the European comic strip in the second half of last century, it must be admitted that they have been rather quieter in recent years, particularly in the domain of the auteur comic strip. For this reason the Belgian Comic Strip Center is delighted to welcome two contemporary creators who are very much home-bred and whose works are published by one of the most inspired French publishers of our time. It should be noted that Jean-Luc Cornette, the visionary writer of this fictional political tale, is well acquainted with BCSC, having won the Prix du Lion award in 1995 for his personal album Maxime Maximum.

JC De La Royère, Belgian Comic Strip Center (BCSC)