Abstract
The article discusses a fierce polemic over conflicting views as to the date when bande dessinée, or comic strip, can be said to have begun. According to the Centre national de la bande dessinée et de l'image in Angoulême, the founder of the medium was Rodolphe Töpffer, and so 1996 was accordingly celebrated as the 150th anniversary of his death. Meanwhile, in Brussels, the Centre belge de la bande dessinée declared the American R.F. Outcault to have been the inventor of the comic strip and 1996 was celebrated as the centenary of his invention. In examining the issues involved in this debate, the article will reconsider the essence of the ninth art. It will discuss the 'centenary' as one initiative in the long struggle to confer legitimacy on bande dessinée through the construction of a historical narrative, and will conclude by suggesting that, given that bande dessinée prefigured many filmic conventions, there is some logic in setting a date for its foundation which acknowledges that it predated the invention of cinema.
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