At first, authors like Jijé in Spirou and Edgar P. Jacobs in Bravo continued unfinished American stories of Superman and Flash Gordon, and simultaneously by imitating the style and flow of those comics vastly improved their knowledge of how to make efficient comics.

* Spirou et Fantasio by André Franquin, Jijé and others

Jijé was then producing many of the comics that were published in the comics magazine Le Journal de Spirou, including its flagship series Spirou et Fantasio.

Jijé passed the Spirou et Fantasio strip to Franquin, five boards into the making of Spirou et la maison préfabriquée, and from Spirou issue # 427 released 20 June 1946, the young Franquin held creative responsibility of the series.

First he asked Jijé to draw the series, but Jijé thought there would be a conflict of interest, since he was a regular artist at Spirou, a competing comic magazine.

After a few years, they started their now classic series like Buck Danny by Hubinon and Charlier and Lucky Luke by Morris, while Franquin took over Spirou from Jijé.

The authors of the magazine, many of them pupils of Jijé, were grouped stylistically in the Marcinelle school, the counterpart of the Ligne Claire exhibited by the artists grouped around Hergé in Tintin magazine, the main competitor for Spirou between 1946 and 1959.

Joseph Gillain, better known as Jijé ( 13 January 1914 – 20 June 1980 ), was a Belgian comics artist, best known for being a seminal artist on the Spirou et Fantasio strip ( and for having introduced the Fantasio character ) and the creator of one of the first major European western strips, Jerry Spring.

* Jijé publications in Le journal de Spirou BDoubliées

* Spirou et l ' aventure by Jijé, Dupuis

Done in a retro 50s style similar to his influences Jijé and André Franquin, both former artists on the Spirou feature.

* Spirou et l ' aventure by Jijé, Dupuis

* Tanguy et Laverdure by Jean-Michel Charlier, Jijé and others

* Tanguy et Laverdure-Jean-Michel Charlier, Albert Uderzo, Jijé etc.

At this time affinity between the styles of Giraud and Jijé was so close that Jijé penciled pages 17 – 38 of the fourth Blueberry album, " The Lost Story ", when Giraud was traveling in the United States.

During this time, Morris and Franquin were coached by Joseph Gillain ( Jijé ), who had transformed a section of his house into a work space for the two young cartoonists and Will.

Later students of Jijé, not really working in the Atom style or the School of Marcinelle, include Jean Giraud ( aka Moebius ), Jean-Claude Mézières and Guy Mouminoux.

Famous examples are Jerry Spring by Jijé, Blueberry by Giraud, and Thorgal by Rosiński.

* Jerry Spring by Jijé

Jijé used Giraud as his assistant on an album of his Western series Jerry Spring, " The Road to Coronado " which Giraud inked.

In 1954, Jijé created the realistic western comic Jerry Spring, and in 1957 Franquin introduced the anti-hero Gaston Lagaffe.

But Jijé was also the first master of the Franco-Belgian realistic comic, with Jerry Spring.

* 1977 Jijé ( Joseph Gillain )

Artist Jean Giraud started working in the style of Jijé before developing his own style.

Major comics writers like René Goscinny, Jean-Michel Charlier, Greg, Pierre Christin and Jacques Lob were featured in the magazine, as were artists such as Jijé, Morris, Albert Uderzo, Jean ( Mœbius ) Giraud, Enki Bilal, Jean-Claude Mézières, Jacques Tardi, Philippe Druillet, Marcel Gotlib, Alexis, and Annie Goetzinger.

Introduced to Benoit Gillain ( son of the famous comics artist Jijé ) by Jean Giraud, Mézières and Gillain entered into a partnership and opened a studio in 1963.

* Spirou ( character ), the eponymous main character of the comics series Spirou et Fantasio and Le Petit Spirou

* Spirou et Fantasio, comics series published in the serial journal and in hardcover book format

* Spirou et Fantasio ( comic book ), a 1948 comic book that precedes the official Spirou et Fantasio series

* Spirou et Fantasio ( 1993 TV series ), 1993 animated series

* Spirou et Fantasio ( 2006 TV series ), 2006 animated series

Belgium has numerous well-known cartoonists, such as Hergé ( The Adventures of Tintin ), Peyo ( The Smurfs ), Franquin ( Spirou et Fantasio, Marsupilami, Gaston ), Willy Vandersteen ( Spike and Suzy ), Morris ( Lucky Luke ), Edgar P. Jacobs ( Blake and Mortimer ), Jef Nys ( Jommeke ) and Marc Sleen ( Nero ).

André Franquin who was then in charge of Spirou et Fantasio, the primary series of Le journal de Spirou, first introduced the character Gaston in issue n ° 985, published February 28, 1957.

However, the pacifism and concern for the environment that formed the basis of Franquin's politics and would be expressed much more bluntly in Idées noires were already surfacing in Gaston ( and Spirou et Fantasio ).

André Franquin ( 3 January 1924 – 5 January 1997 ) was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best known comic strip creations are Gaston and Marsupilami, created while he worked on the Spirou et Fantasio comic strip from 1947 to 1969, during a period seen by many as the series ' golden age.

Following Jijé's lead in the 1940s, Franquin coached a younger generation of cartoonists in the 1950s, notably Jean Roba, Jidéhem and Greg, who all worked with him on Spirou et Fantasio.

In 1967, Franquin passed Spirou et Fantasio on to a young cartoonist, Jean-Claude Fournier, and began to work full-time on his own creations.

Within this group, Franquin ’ s influence was uncontested, especially among the authors that continued the series Spirou et Fantasio after he left.

Other Franco-Belgian authors that show Franquin ’ s influence were Dino Attanasio and Mittéï ( Jean Mariette ), both responsible for the series Modeste et Pompon after he left, Jidéhem ( Jean De Mesmaeker ), a usual collaborator of Franquin for Spirou et Fantasio and Gaston Lagaffe, Batem ( Luc Collin ), artist of the Marsupilami series, or Pierre Seron, who cloned Franquin ’ s style in his series Les Petites Hommes.

* Spirou et Fantasio, 1940 – 1950, 2 albums and some short stories

* 1958 – The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves, later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series, appear for the first time in the story La flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo which is serialized in the weekly comics magazine Spirou.

Yoko Tsuno first appeared in the comics magazine Spirou on September 24, 1970 with the 8 page short Hold – up en hi – fi.

The period 1945 – 1960 has been described by critics as the golden age of Spirou magazine and of Belgian comics in general, partly incited by the 1946 appearance of the successful competitor magazine Tintin.

* Jean-Claude Fournier: Spirou et Fantasio ( 1969 – 1979 ), Bizu ( 1967 – 1994 ), Crannibales ( 1995 – 2005 )

* André Franquin: Spirou et Fantasio ( 1946 – 1969 ), Gaston Lagaffe ( 1957 – 1991 )

* Janry, Spirou et Fantasio ( 1981 – 1998 ), Le Petit Spirou ( 1987 –), Passe – moi l ’ ciel ( 1990 –)

* Tome: Spirou et Fantasio ( 1981 – 1998 ), Le Petit Spirou ( 1987 –), Soda ( 1985 –)

* Yann: Les innomables ( 1980 – 1982 ), Spirou et Fantasio ( 2006 – 2009 )

The unfinished story has been collected in the album Spirou et Fantasio – Hors Série, No. 4 ( Dupuis, 2003 ).

Bobo first appeared in a mini – récit ( mini-story ) in Spirou on May 11, 1961 In the early years, it was written by Rosy, who also took artistic responsibility during a brief period in the 1970s.