Concept
"Boes" is a pantomime gag-a-day comic about an anthropomorphic ox who walks on clogs in a landscape that resembles the farm lands in the Netherlands. He works as a farmer. Many gags that focused on his comedic interactions with animals. While many gags are child-friendly there are also gags which have more risqué humour involving sex, toilet humor and obscene gestures. The series has a few recurring characters who are unnamed in the comics, but received names in the animated series. They are Dolly the tortoise, Shampoo the gorilla and Saffie the dog. While in the English dub for the series, they are named Jack, Gaylord, and Sammy.
Between 1981 and 1982, William-Dickens Productions published two albums with gags. Between 1986 and 1989, 14 albums were published in oblong format by Uitgeverij Drukwerk (nrs. 1–10) and Standaard Uitgeverij (nrs. 11–14). Standaard Uitgeverij republished four albums with gags between 1989 and 1993 and gave them distinguishable titles: "Ossehaas" (1989), "Kippevel" (1991), "Hamsterwoede" (1992) and "Stierengevecht" (1993). [2]
In 1988, three comic book albums were published by Standaard Uitgeverij where Boes has longer stories and in which he and other characters talk to one another. These albums were titled: "Een harde noot" ("A hard nut"), "Een nieuw erf" ("A new yard") and "De schaapscheerder" ("The sheep shearer"). [2]
In 2011, three new albums with gags were published by Nona Arte. [1]
Animated series
Between 1988 and 1991, the comic series was adapted into an animated television series, produced by Telecable Benelux B.V., Teleimage Japan Inc., and Meander Studio. [3] A total of 101 episodes were made and aired internationally in 10 languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, Portuguese, French, German, Swedish and Croatian. [4]
The Adventures of Nero or Nero was a Belgian comic strip drawn by Marc Sleen and the name of its main character. The original title ranged from De Avonturen van Detectief Van Zwam in 1947 to De Avonturen van Nero en zijn Hoed in 1950, and finally De Avonturen van Nero & Co from 1951. It ran in continuous syndication until 2002. From 1947 until 1993 it was all drawn by Sleen himself. From 1992 until 2002 Dirk Stallaert took over the drawing while Sleen kept inventing the stories.
Spike and Suzy, Willy and Wanda or Luke and Lucy is a Belgian comics series created by the comics author Willy Vandersteen.
Marcel Honoree Nestor (ridder) Neels, known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. He was mostly known for his comic The Adventures of Nero and Co., but also created gag comics like Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke, De Lustige Kapoentjes, Doris Dobbel, Oktaaf Keunink and De Ronde van Frankrijk.
Willy Vandersteen was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, selling more than 200 million copies worldwide.
Ox Tales, also known as The Tales of Boes' Gang is an anime television series produced by Telecable Benelux B.V. in association with Saban Entertainment and animated by Telescreen Japan. It was a co-production between Japan and the Netherlands based on the comic strip Boes created by Wil Raymakers and Thijs Wilms. The series ran on the Japanese network TV Tokyo from 7 April 1987–29 March 1988. It consists of 102 fifteen-minute episodes, that were regularly broadcast as 51 half-hour shows of two episodes each. The series currently has two English dubs. The 1989 dub produced by Saban and the 2010 dub produced by m4e, the current owner of the Telescreen library. Ox Tales is still remained to appear as a column strip in several Dutch daily and weekly newspapers.
Tom Bouden is an openly gay Belgian artist, best known for his comics albums, which often satirize old-fashioned Belgian comics.
Notable events of 1945 in comics. See also List of years in comics.
De Kiekeboes is a comic strip series created by Belgian artist Merho in 1977. The series appears in Dutch. It is first published in the newspapers Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg and then published as comic books by Standaard Uitgeverij. The series is the best-selling comic in Flanders, but is unsuccessful abroad, with only a few publications in French and English.
Willy Linthout is a Belgian comics author, best known for the Urbanus comics and his graphic novel Years of the Elephant.
Cowboy Henk is a Belgian absurd/surreal humour gag-a-day comic strip series drawn by Herr Seele and written by Kamagurka. It was originally published in the newspaper De Morgen, but later taken over by the magazine HUMO, in which it is still published today and for whom Henk is now their mascot. The series was in continuous syndication from 1981 until 2011. After the brief interruption it was continued again in the spring of 2013.
Biebel is the title character of a Flemish satirical comic strip series written by Marc Legendre, under the pseudonym of Ikke. It was created in 1983 for the magazine Robbedoes and was published until 2002.
Professor Barabas is a Flemish comic book character from the Suske en Wiske series by Willy Vandersteen. He is the absent-minded professor/scientist archetype in the franchise.
Lambik is a Flemish comic book character from the Belgian comic strip series Spike and Suzy by Willy Vandersteen. In the English translations he is known as Orville or Ambrose. Lambik is the breakout character of the franchise and one of the most popular and recognizable comic book characters in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Jerom is a Flemish comic book character and one of the main cast members in the Belgian comic strip, Suske en Wiske by Willy Vandersteen. He is the series' strongman and well known for his physically impossible powers that often make him the deus ex machina who solves every problem. Jerom's popularity with readers is so huge that he inspired at least two spin-off series: Jerom de Gouden Stuntman (1962–1991) and J. ROM - Force of Gold (2014).
Piet Fluwijn en Bolleke was a Belgian gag-a-day comic strip series drawn by Marc Sleen from 1944 until 1965. It was continued by artists Hurey and Jean-Pol until 1974.
De Lustige Kapoentjes was a long-running Flemish comic book series, which existed under different titles and was drawn by different artists, among whom Marc Sleen and Willy Vandersteen are the most well known. The series was published in 't Kapoentje, the youth supplement of Het Volk, and in Ons Volkske, the youth supplement of De Standaard. They were the mascots of 't Kapoentje from 1947 until the magazine's demise in 1985.
De Ronde van Frankrijk was a Belgian gag cartoon comic strip series by Marc Sleen, in which he made a comedic report of every daily tournament of the annual cycling contest the Tour de France. Sleen drew the strip each year, from 1947 up until 1964, for the Flemish newspapers Het Vrije Volksblad and Het Volk.
Schanulleke is a Flemish comic book character, also known as Schabolleke with an 'o', who originated in the Belgian comics series Suske en Wiske. In the series she is Wiske's beloved rag doll. Between 1986 and 1993 Schanulleke received her own spin-off series. The character's name in English is Molly, Sawdust or Muffin.
Suske en Wiske Weekblad was a Belgian comics magazine which debuted in September 15, 1993 and ran in weekly syndication until December 24, 2003. It was based on the popularity of Suske en Wiske and notable for being the last attempt in Flanders to release a new comic book magazine.
Urbanus was a Flemish celebrity comic strip created by Willy Linthout and loosely based on Flemish comedian and singer Urbanus. The stories were written by Willy Linthout, Urbanus and Ann Smets, and drawn by Linthout. The first story was published in 1982 and was such a success that Urbanus ran for more than 40 years, becoming the longest-running and most successful Flemish comic strip based on a celebrity. It is also the longest-running celebrity comic in the world made by the same writer/artist team. The series sells well in the Netherlands too, due to Urbanus' popularity there.
