Editing André Franquin (section)

===Franquin's later period===
The 1960s saw a clear evolution in Franquin's style, which grew more loose and intricate. This graphical evolution would continue throughout the next decade. Soon, Franquin was considered an undisputed master of the art form, on par with the likes of [[Hergé]] and his influence can be seen in the work of nearly every cartoonist hired by ''Spirou'' up until the end of the 1990s. Early comic [[fanzine]]s from around 1970 featured Franquin's ''Monsters'', individual drawings of imaginary beasts highlighting his graphical craftmanship.

[[File:Idées_noires.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.70|''Idées noires'', 1977 by Franquin]]

The last, and most radical, shift in Franquin's production happened in 1977, when he went through another nervous breakdown and began his ''[[Idées noires|Idées Noires]]'' strip (lit. ''"Dark Thoughts"''), first for the ''Spirou'' supplement, ''Le Trombone Illustré'' (with other cartoonists like [[René Follet]]) and later for ''[[Fluide Glacial]]''.<ref name=Weyer/> With ''Idées Noires'', Franquin showed the darker, pessimistic side of his nature. In one strip, a pair of flies are seen wandering through a strange landscape, discussing the mistakes of their predecessors. In the final panel, we see the landscape is a city made from human skulls, and one fly responds: "Don't be too hard on them, they did leave us such splendid cities". Drawn entirely in black and white, ''Idées Noires'' is much more adult-oriented than Franquin's other works, focusing on themes such as death, war, pollution, and [[capital punishment]] with a devastatingly sarcastic sense of humour. Franquin also shows clear opposition against [[game hunting]], the [[death penalty]], [[nuclear power]] and [[nuclear war]]. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/f/franquin_andre.htm|title=André Franquin|website=lambiek.net}}</ref>

From 1978 to 1986, he was part of the team that developed the concept of ''[[Isabelle (comics)|Isabelle]]'', the adventures of a little girl in a world of witches and monsters. The character was named after Franquin's daughter.

Proof of his popular and critical appeal, Franquin was awarded the very first [[Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême]] in 1974. Many books by Franquin have been published, many of which are considered classics of the genre. They have been translated into many languages. Several books have been written about [[Franquin]], such as [[Numa Sadoul]]'s ''Et Franquin créa la gaffe'', an exhaustive interview with the artist covering his entire career.

Franquin died in 1997 in [[Saint-Laurent-du-Var]] at the age of 73 from a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]]. He was previously married to Liliane Servais. In 2004 took place the first major museum retrospective of his work, an exhibit called "Le monde de Franquin"', in Paris' [[Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie]].  This exhibition was continued in 2006 in the city where he was born, [[Brussels]], the latter was fully bilingual (French/Dutch). In 2005, a [[Wallonia|Walloon]] survey elected him as the "18th greatest Belgian ever".