Number 11, February 2006

* Luc Cromheecke 'Taco Zip' exposition
* Strips in Stereo at the Paradiso
* Lewis Trondheim wins at Angoulême
* Comiclopedia News
* Books available now
* Last issue: New book about Dutch comics

See the recent newsletter, or old newsletters in the archive.

Luc Cromheecke exposition
'100 years of Taco Zip'

We welcome you to the opening of the exposition '100 Years Taco Zip' by Belgian comic artist Luc Cromheecke and his old schoolmate, Fritzgerald.

Taco Zip was born in 1906, but it took until 1985 before it was put to paper by Cromheecke and Fritzgerald. It was published in the magazine Robbedoes, and featured Officer Piep, Vantilt and Plunk, in one of the most absurd Flemish comic series ever.

Since 1989, comic-loving Holland could enjoy this on a daily basis when it was published in the Volkskrant newspaper. The very light-hearted comic found a solid reader base, and a lot of fan-websites were created. Taco Zip is still being published in different newspapers, and most of the themes revolve around modern art, music, the environment and business administration.

Since this year is the 100th anniversary of Taco Zip, a lot of celebrations are going on! Not only is there a the special anniversary book of Taco Zip, but there was also an anniversary exposition in Turnhout, Belgium. Thereafter, the expo is traveling through Europe, starting at Galerie Lambiek in Amsterdam on Friday, 24 February 2006 at 5:00 pm. See you there!

Strips in Stereo: A book, a CD and a big party

Lewis Trondheim wins at Angoulême

At last.... Lewis Trondheim won the Grand Prix of Angoulême in January 2006! Not only is Trondheim the fastest writer of the west, he is also a huge inspiration for artists all over the world. He is best known for his ungoing series 'Donjon', which he is doing in collaboration with several artists, like Joann Sfar, Christophe Blain and Manu Larcenet. This is just a small part of his enormous oeuvre he realized over the last 15 years. He is also a true master in the wordless comic 'Mister O' & 'Mister E', 'La Mouche' and 'Little Santa' (with artist Thierry Robin). Some good examples of his styles (in English) can be found in 'The Nimrod' comic, published by Fantagraphics Books. If you can't find them in your bookstore, you can always order from Lambiek. We have many good books by Trondheim currently in stock, and for a relatively low price, we have some other great new books from Angoulême.

Comiclopedia news

Frequent visitors of our Comiclopedia know, but those who have a look only once in a while probably don't realize that every week dozens of new artists are added or updated. This time, we'd like to draw your attention to the artist of the girls magazines 'La Semaine de Suzette' en 'Fillette' from the beginning of the 20th Century. If you like Art Nouveau and Jugendstil, then have a look at artists like Henri Avelot, Jean d'Aurian, Dam, Falco, Guydo, Chéri Herouard, A. Huguel, Marius Monnier or Ymer.

Previous pages for artists of that period have also been updated, like Raymond de la Nezière, Louis Forton, and Le Riverend. Also, important comic artists like André Franquin and Frank Frazetta have updated pages. An interesting new addition is Jacques Eggermont, who worked with Franquin, Morris and Paape at the CBA animation studio in the 1940s. You will find more recent Comiclopedia updates listed on our 'new additions' page.

Some new books available from Lambiek

Here are a few samples of what we brought back from Angoulême. There are many others, but quantities are limited, so don't delay. You can email Lambiek if you'd like to order anything...

Sunday funnies by George Herriman

We have managed to get hold of a big collection of black-and-white and color Sunday pages of the legendary newspaper comic, Krazy Kat, by George Herriman. In September 2005 there was an exibition of these pages at Galerie Lambiek, and many are still for sale at reasonable prices.

Lambiek's website, and especially the Comiclopedia, is attracting thousands of visitors a day, and the pages are read by people from a lot of countries, such as France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria, Poland, China, Australia, USA, UK, Mexico and the Philippines.

Recently we had to re-organize the Comiclopedia to allow for future expansion, and as a result we moved some 7,000 pages and about 20,000 graphics into new, lettered sub-folders. Please update your links to us, and let us know if you find anything that doesn't work. It's always nice to hear from fellow comic enthusiasts abroad, so let us know what you think.

That's all for now folks!

The Reporter is made by:
Klaas Knol, Bas vd Zee and your friendly neighborhood Spiderman