Schrauwen Olivier - My Boy

Page from "At the Antwerp Zoo" published in "My Boy".
"My Boy" is Olivier Schrauwen’s first graphic novel, published in 2006.

Olivier Schrauwen: "When I was making My Boy it didn’t feel like a homage or pastiche nor was I trying to learn something, it felt more like forgery. I was enjoying the fact that I could make my comics look as if they were made in the early 20th century."
https://www.du9.org/en/entretien/olivier-schrauwen-2/


"My Boy" presents itself as a collection of short stories set in the same fictional universe, with the same main characters: the rather old father and his son, who is the size of a songbird. The father tries to live a normal life with his child. Together, they go to Bruges, to the Groeninge Museum, to look at paintings by the Flemish Primitives, and they visit the zoo.
From the outset, Schrauwen varies his linework. The book’s prologue, which recounts the boy’s birth and the disappearance of his mother, is drawn in a flat style, without perspective, making the characters in this scene look like puppets. The rest of the book seems to have been drawn in the early twentieth century by a pioneer of the American comic strip such as Winsor McCay or George McManus.
The resemblance does not stop at the linework. Schrauwen uses computer-assisted coloring techniques that mimic the faded colors and poor printing quality of daily newspapers. The contrast could not be greater with the sometimes cruel humor and occasionally barbaric behavior of the characters.
https://www.citebd.org/neuvieme-art/les-bandes-dessinees-dolivier-schrauwen


My Boy was part of the official selection for the Best Album prize at the 2007 Angoulême International Comics Festival.

Olivier Schrauwen has been praised by none other than Chris Ware for his novel "Sunday". "In a word, Sunday is a masterpiece, and it will be a long time before it is completely understood and comprehended—or, I think, bettered."
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/05/29/pure-thought-on-paper-sunday-olivier-schrauwen/

In 2026 Olivier Schrauwen has been awarded the "Bronzen Adhemar" the most important the most prestigious award for comics and graphic novels in Flanders.