Boule et Bill
Boule et Bill (known in English as Billy & Buddy) is a popular comic, created in 1959 by Belgian writer-artist Jean Roba in collaboration with Maurice Rosy. In 2003, the artistic responsibility of the series was passed on to Roba's former assistant Laurent Verron. The stories center on a typical family: a man and his wife, their young son Boule and Bill the cocker spaniel. History. "Boule et Bill" first appeared in the Belgian comics magazine "Spirou" on December 24, 1959. The ambition was to make a sort of European Peanuts. The debut was made in  a so-called "mini-récit" (mini-story), a story in 32 very small pages, printed on the inner spread of the magazine. Roba had until then mainly made illustrations for the magazine and had helped some other authors (including André Franquin), and now started with his own series. A few months later, a four-page comic with the same heroes appeared, and shortly thereafter Roba created a weekly one page comic. For the next twenty-five years, "Boule et Bill" was one of the most popular series of the magazine, and appeared mostly on the back cover. Some of the  strips were even published in the rival "Le Journal de Mickey", which was based mainly around Walt Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. From 1961 to 1965, the strip appeared in British comic Valiant, renamed "It's A Dog's Life". Boule's name was changed to Pete and Bill's was changed to Larry. Apart from those changes this strip was mostly the same. 21 Albums were edited by Dupuis until 1985, containing one long story and some 800 gags. Thereafter, Roba changed from editor, moving to Dargaud. In 2006, Jean Roba died, but he had announced  that he wanted the series to be continued, and had appointed Verron as his successor. Story. "Boule et Bill" relates the homely adventures of seven-year-old boy Boule and his dog Bill, a Cocker Spaniel, as well as that of Boule's mother and father and Caroline the turtle. Bill, while slightly anthropomorphized, basically acts as a normal dog, and the whole series places comical adventures in the realistic setting of a normal family in a normal town, with normal lives. Most of the gags happen in or around the house, but also include an almost yearly holiday setting  with the family travelling away from home, usually at the beach. Original albums. Boule et Bill were first published by Dupuis, then from 1988 by Dargaud. English translations. Cinebook has published three books in English, with "Boule and Bill" renamed "Billy and Buddy", respectively. Impact. "Boule et Bill" is among the best-selling French-language comics, with 300,000 copies for the new album by Verron in 2009. Film adaptations. In 2013 a Belgian-French-Luxembourgian film was released, "Boule et Bill", based on the comics. It stars Franck Dubosc as the father, Marina Foïs as the mother, and Charles Crombez  as Bill. It received bad reviews, but was commercially successful enough to warrant a sequel "Boule et Bill 2", released in 2017. Television adaptations. Four animated television series based on "Boule and Bill" were produced: Video game adaptations. A Nintendo DS video game based on the comic was launched in 2008 by Atari and Anuman Interactive. Tributes. In the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels the permanent exhibition brings homage to the pioneers of Belgian comics, among them Jean Roba and his series "Boule et Bill". Boule et Bill is among the many Belgian comics characters to jokingly have a  Brussels street named after them. The Rue au Beurre/ Boterstraat has a commemorative plaque with the name "Rue Boule et Bill / Bollie en Billie straat" placed under the actual street sign. In 1992 a wall painting representing "Boule and Bill" was painted in the Rue du Chevreuil in Brussels. It was designed by G. Oregopoulos and D. Vandegeerde. In 2000 a statue of Boule and Bill was erected in Jette, Belgium, next to where Roba lived. It was sculpted by Tom Frantzen. In 2014 the statue was subject of vandalism. In 2002 La Poste, France's post office system, issued  two postage stamps illustrating Boule and Bill. Three out of eight were semi-postal stamps benefiting the French Red Cross.