In 1984 Le Lombard asked Bob De Moor to create a ‘Happy Birthday’ card. It was one of several which he would make for Le Lombard in the eighties and would underline his good relations with the publisher. It’s no coincidence that after he completed “Mortimer contre Mortimer” in 1989, that he was nominated artistic director at Le Lombard.

But back to the HB-card. It consists of two parts, the front and the inside of the card. The front shows several colored text balloons on a black background with the following content: laughter, “Attention!”, “Chut” (Eng.: “Be quiet”), “Encore un instant.” (Eng.: “One more second”) and “Silence…”.

When you open the card you’ll see the whole Barelli gang gathered to wish you a Happy Birthday. On the card we see from left to right inspector Moreau, Anne Nannah, Barelli, then an unknown character (presumably from Le Lombard?), the Lord of Gonobutz and Sophia Barelli who switched on the light. It’s unclear what was the reason for this particular card. Maybe it was created for the birthday of Raymond Leblanc (22 mei 1915) that year? If someone has more info, feel free letting us know!

The print on the card wasn’t exactly the best as you can also see from the scan we took but it’s sufficient to enjoy it. Bob De Moor seemed to love cakes, as you can also see in this article on a collaborative effort between Bob De Moor and Dirk Stallaert with… a cake.