Dutch Comics - History

History

For the start of the history of Dutch comics the Dutch Comic history of Lambiek goes all the way back to 1493, but the oldest work that is still really part of the public mind in the Netherlands is Mijnheer Prikkebeen, an adaptation of Rodolphe Töpffer's "Monsieur Cryptogame" by J.J.A. Gouverneur in 1858, with Töpffer's pictures with little funny poems describing what happened under it. The black &white text-under-pictures format would dominate the form of the comics produced in the Netherlands well into the second half of the 20th century. In humoristic and satirical magazines (of which there were about 20 around 1890) illustrations developed to illustrated stories and even stories entirely told in illustrations, with which the art form was already present in the country before the end of the century, but it remained confined to one-shots. The series started in the newspapers, with in 1919 the (reputedly) first Dutch newspaper comic: Yorbje en Achmed. The first success was "Jopie Slim en Dikkie Bigmans"(originally "Billy Bimbo and Peter Porker") in De Telegraaf in 1921, originally published by the London Evening News. As a reaction many papers got their own comics produced either in the Netherlands, or imported. Rupert Bear is an example of such an import becoming a sort of icon for a paper. In 1922 the first Dutch popular stars appeared: "Bulletje en Boonestaak" their socialist engaged series was published into 1937 (as seen in them going to the London Evening News to beat up (rightwing) Jopie Slim and Dikkie Bigmans). Their series was the first Dutch series to be translated into German (1924) and French (1926). Later that year the first Dutch comics magazine came on the market. They didn't last long, but weren't the last ones either. Others followed, with both home products and (Anglo)-American imports. The use of imported characters in comics produced in the Netherlands was not very unusual. The German occupation in 1940 prevented further Anglo-American imports and led initially to a greater production of native material. Of course Nazi censorship and paper shortage worked to the detriment of the comics field, but it was the time to give birth to Dick Bos and the "Beeldroman".

After liberation the publication of comics boomed, initially mostly so in picture novel format, which was followed in the late 40's by the anti-comics furor, which did hardly or not include the newspaper comic strips. The 50's saw the truly Dutch comics and the arrival of Donald Duck on the Dutch scene. The 60's were the time of the magazines and the first US-superheroes. The mid 70's were the start of the decline of the comics magazines, which continued through the 80's and 90's. Nowadays the market is fragmented: there are always imports, the small press circuit, the reprints, the online comics and Donald Duck and whatsoever is the latest rage for kids, the great names still active, but as it always has been the art form is alive and kicking, with kicking to be understood as being engaged in politics and society in a rather outspoken way.