Hidden Gems: PERHAPS THE most famous of Belgium's comic-strip artists is Georges Remi, aka Hergé, whose intrepid Tintin is a journalist who does remarkably little work – surprise, surprise.
Celebrating his 80th anniversary, and translated into 82 languages and dialects, Tintin will really hit the big time when the first of a planned trilogy of 3D films directed by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson appears in 2011.
If you find yourself in Brussels, the Belgian Comic Strip Centre, housed in a magnificent art-nouveau building, pays homage to Tintin and a host of other comic stars, many of whom will be unfamiliar to Irish readers.
Early samples of Remi’s work, information boards and models of objects from Tintin’s adventures will keep young and old happy while introducing characters such as Boule and Bill and Lanfeust of Troy, plus the work of an array of other artists.
Also known on this side of the world are the Smurfs – or, in hard-to- pronounce French, Les Schtroumpfs – after they were turned into cartoons by Hanna-Barbera.
Comic-book fans will also know of Lucky Luke, a small number of whose adventures appear in English, and Blake and Mortimer, who have also been translated.
It all amounts to an introduction to the continental mindset that has elevated the comic strip to high art.
Now 10 years old, the centre has been joined across the street by the Marc Sleen Foundation, a centre dedicated to the creator of Nero, who appeared for decades in a Flemish strip.
* Belgian Comic Strip Centre, 20 Rue des Sables, Brussels, Belgium, 00-32-2-2191980, www.comicscenter.net
* Do you know of a hidden gem? E-mail us at go@irishtimes.com