The valorization of comics has relied on its early collectors. Alain Van Passen, a Belgian member of the Club de la bande dessinée, assembled a large collection of children’s illustrated periodicals that integrated, in 2018, the shelves of the Ghent University Library. The move was facilitated by Philippe Capart and coordinated by Maaheen Ahmed, for research use as part of the ERC-funded program “Children in Comics”. In the basement of the Faculty of Philosophy & Arts library, Paul Buschman, Beatrijs Goegebuer and their colleagues have moved the items from carboard boxes and plastic bags into acid free boxes and archival folders. The The 16th issue of LA CRYPTE TONIQUE magazine, “From Private to Public”, follows this trajectory. It can be read every week as daily illustrated episodes for Bimbo Club members and as weekly chapters here below.
A new article on the Van Passen collection! (8/30/2023)- Prof. Hugo Frey, affiliated member of the COMICS team, has recently discussed the Van Passen collection in a new entry of Paper Trails, the BOOC (living online book) edited by University College London Press and dedicated to "The Social Life of Archives… Read more
Chapter 1 — An Active Reader (10/11/2021)- Five-year-old Alain opens his first periodical, TARZAN, launched in Septembre 1946 at the same time as the TINTIN magazine. The first offers colorful stories imported from the U.S., the second, local stories with colors in good taste. One is decried… Read more
From Private to Public (10/1/2021)- What do you remember from your readings? “Everything,” seems to be Alain's answer. Over six decades, his Brussels home has been transformed into a depot. The maze of stacks and shelves is so dense that it is difficult to access… Read more