Jef Nys (later continued by Gerd Van Loock (drawings and writing), Hugo de Sterk, Philippe Delzenne (drawings) and Jan Ruysbergh (writing) [1]
Launch date
30 October 1955
Genre(s)
Humor comics, Adventure comics, Children's comics
Jommeke is a Belgian comic strip series in publication since 1955. It was created by Jef Nys and can be defined as a humoristic children's adventure series. Jommeke, an 11-year-old boy, is the series' main protagonist. It was originally published in Kerk en Leven, before moving to Het Volk, where it ran until the newspaper ceased to exist in 2010. It is now published in Het Nieuwsblad, De Gentenaar and De Standaard.
Jommeke is very popular in Flanders and, together with Suske en Wiske, is the best-selling comic strip in the region.[citation needed] However, its success has always remained a phenomenon in Belgium and the Netherlands, and attempts at marketing foreign translations have all failed.[citation needed]
History
The first appearance of Jommeke was on 30 October 1955, as a gag-a-day strip in the Flemish magazine Kerk en Leven.[2] After moving to another newspaper, Het Volk, in 1958, Jommeke became a full length adventure comic strip, while Nys also continued Jommeke gag pages in't Kapoentje. Jommeke has sold 51 million albums in Belgium alone, which means an average of about 4.5 albums per person. This makes Jommeke the best-selling comic book series in Belgium behind Suske en Wiske. There's also a newspaper for children called "Jommekeskrant", which is delivered weekly together with popular Belgian newspaper "Het Nieuwsblad".
Main characters
Statue of Jommeke and his parrot Flip in MiddelkerkeStatue of Annemieke and Rozemieke in Middelkerke
Jommeke: An 11-year-old boy who lives with his parents in Zonnedorp. He has a parrot named Flip who accompanies him everywhere. He is clever, honest, brave, loves adventure, and is recognizable by his distinct blonde haircut.
Flip: A red-winged, green parrot who is Jommeke's pet. Flip is able to talk like a human and is highly intelligent, if somewhat arrogant. His real name is "Filipus", but he prefers "Flip". He is cool-headed and has on several occasions saved the day using his wit and his unique abilities as a bird such as flying, using his beak and taking advantage of his small size to spy and sneak. Although his age is unspecified, he has shown adult behavior, on a few rare occasions, by consuming alcohol and smoking cigars. He is also quite the womanizer, usually unsuccessfully, due to the fact he is a parrot and not a human.
Filiberke: Jommeke's best friend, Filiberke joins him on most of his adventures. His pitch-black hair color contrasts nicely with the protagonist. He is creative, and a bit odd too. Many albums start with Filiberke engaging in some crazy activity relating to the main story (e.g. he's "playing a cucumber" at the start of album 146 Komkommer in 't zuur). He also often pretends to be sick to the annoyance of the other characters.
Pekkie: Filiberke's black poodle.
Annemieke and Rozemieke: Two identical twin girls, notable for their pony-tails. Their names are often shortened to "The Miekes". They are also good friends with Jommeke. Annemieke even has somewhat of a crush on Jommeke, and Rozemieke on Filiberke. The Miekes are notable for their motherly traits, including cooking and washing.
Choco: Choco is a chimpanzee in a sailor suit. He is the Miekes' pet. He earned his nickname due to the fact that he loves to eat chocolate spread (or "choco", as it is named in Belgian Dutch.)
Professor Gobelijn: An absent-minded professor, notable for his large walrus moustache. He is good-hearted, but frequently makes mistakes because of his absent-mindedness. For instance, he states the exact opposite of what he means, only to correct it immediately afterwards: I.e. "We will arrive next year, I mean tomorrow", "I have completely forgotten, I mean I remember it now." His inventions include pills that make people fly, a car that runs on grass, a submarine in the shape of a whale etc. In "Purpere Pillen" (Purple Pills) Jommeke and Filiberke saved Gobelijn's life. A plaque on his mansion states that he is a "Professor in Everything", i.e. he has a degree on any subject imaginable.
Anatool: The main antagonist of the series. He is an untrustworthy butler who often resorts to theft and often fulfills the role of antagonist in the stories. He always wears old-fashioned shoes with elevated heels.
Kwak and Boemel: Two hoboes who live in an underground house in the middle of the forest. Sometimes they side with Jommeke and his friends, but most of the time they are their opponents. They don't shy away from stealing, kidnapping and collaborating with Anatool to get rich. Also notable are their speech impediments. Kwak makes unnecessary use of the letter "h" in front of words that start off with a syllable. Boemel switches the letters "b" and "p" and the letters "d" and "t" in every word he says.
De Koningin van Onderland: Prutelia van Achterberg, better known as "The Queen of Onderland", is a mentally ill woman who thinks she is a queen. She is Jommeke's most dangerous and ruthless opponent and the true villain of the series. She frequently escapes from her local asylum and then flees to her castle in Zonnedorp. In the third album "De Koningin van Onderland" (1959) she kidnapped all the children in Zonnedorp to become her personal slaves.
List of albums
As of June 2020, the following Jommeke albums exist:
Apart from some editions for the Netherlands, Jommeke has been translated into French, English, Finnish and Swedish. These translations were not commercially successful. [citation needed]
A German edition was published from 1971 until around 1980 and lasted 32 volumes (the original comics were printed out of order and volumes 27-28 do not exist!) by Gemini Verlag (1-18) and Europress (19-26, 29-34). The series title was (Die tollen Abenteuer von) Peter + Alexander, obviously a play of words on Austrian actor and singer Peter Alexander.
In 2011, German editor stainlessART began republishing the German version of Jommeke, keeping original names and places. As of April 2021, 26 titles have been published in this series.[3]
The series was also published in translation as Jeremy in Indonesia, by children's book publisher BIP (Bhuana Ilmu Populer) in 2013.[4]
In 2018, a Chinese translation was published in cooperation with Bright Media, with an initial run of 25 titles.[5]
Jommeke in other media
In 1968, Jef Nys directed a live-action film called "De Schat van de Zeerover" ("The Pirate's Treasure"), which was a low-budget adaptation of the eponymous Jommeke album. It was essentially an amateur project, made by him and his family members and starred his own son in the main role.[6]
Jommeke in popular culture
Mural painting in Antwerp
On 31 July 1997 [7] Jommeke was the first comic book character to receive his own statue in Middelkerke, in front of the casino.[8] It was sculpted by Valeer Peirsman.[9] On 26 March 2014 Jommeke's statue became a victim of vandalism. It had to be restored and was placed back again on 28 June 2014.[10][dead link] On 29 July 2006 Annemieke and Rozemieke also received a statue in Middelkerke, near the Theresiastraat.[11] It was sculpted by Monique Mol.[12] In 2015, it was announced that two other characters from the franchise, Filiberke and Pekkie, would also receive statues on the Zeedijk of Middelkerke.
On 27 May 2015 a special comic book wall was made in the Lokvogelstraat in Laeken, Belgium. It features a huge wall painting starring Jommeke and the main cast members.[15]
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.
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.
De Rode Ridder is a Belgian Flemish comic book series set in medieval Europe. It stars the title character Johan, the Red Knight, easily recognizable by his red tunic. It appeared six days a week in the newspaper De Standaard and a few other ones.
Jozef "Jef" Nys was a Belgian comic book creator. He was best known for his comic strip Jommeke.
The Blue Series is the name of one of the series' of the Suske en Wiske books, written by Willy Vandersteen. The Blue Series is shorter than the other two series - The Red Series and the "specials" - but is possibly the most popular. The Blue series is so called because the covers of the books were blue.
Tomas Ross is a Dutch writer who is famous for his historical criminal thrillers.
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.
Bulletje en Boonestaak was one of the first very successful Dutch newspaper comic strips, the first Dutch comic moralists, and the first Dutch comic translated into other languages.
Maurits Binger was a Dutch film director, producer and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed 39 films between 1913 and 1922 and is considered one of the pioneers of fictional films in the Netherlands. Binger's studio and base of operations was in Haarlem, North Holland. Between 1919 and 1923 he was managing director of Anglo-Hollandia an attempt to break into the larger British market. There is a film institute in the Netherlands in his name. He is sometimes referred to as Maurice Binger.
Guus Kuijer is a Dutch author. He wrote books for children and adults, and is best known for the Madelief series of children's books. For his career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" he won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2012, the biggest prize in children's literature. As a children's writer he was one of five finalists for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2008.
Jacques Vriens is a Dutch children's author and playwright. He is known for his 1999 book Achtste-groepers huilen niet, which was twice adapted into a film. Vriens formerly worked as a schoolteacher and has written for the show Tien torens diep. In 2001 he was appointed to the Order of the Netherlands Lion by Queen Beatrix.
Nero is a Flemish comic book character and the main protagonist in Marc Sleen's long running comic book strip series The Adventures of Nero (1947–2002). He is one of the most recognizable comic book characters in Belgium and comparable to Lambik from the Suske en Wiske series by Willy Vandersteen.
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.
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.
Bessy was a long-running Belgian comics series created by Willy Vandersteen and Karel Verschuere in 1952. Together with Suske en Wiske and De Rode Ridder it was once one of his most popular and best-selling series, with successful translations in Dutch, French, German and Swedish. It was terminated in 1997.
Detective Van Zwam is a Flemish comics character in the Belgian comics series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. He is a brilliant detective and able to find clues from even the tiniest of evidence.
F.C. De Kampioenen is a Belgian comic strip created by Hec Leemans since 1997 and published by Standaard Uitgeverij. The comics series is based on the television sitcom comedy series of the same name on Flemish television. The series ran for 94 albums with numerous special versions and editions.
In the Netherlands, the Vlag en Wimpel award is an honourable mention awarded by either the jury of the Gouden Griffel and Zilveren Griffel awards or the jury of the Gouden Penseel and Zilveren Penseel awards. The award is organised by the Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek. Starting in 2022, instead of Flags and Pennants, Bronze Griffels and Bronze Brushes will be awarded. The name change is intended to underscore the purpose of these awards: to highlight the best children's books.
The Masked Singer is a Belgian reality singing competition television series based on the Masked Singer franchise which originated from the South Korean version of the show King of Mask Singer. It premiered on VTM on 18 September 2020. The first two series were hosted by Niels Destadsbader. The winner of the first series was Sandra Kim. The winner of the second series was Camille Dhont. The third and fourth series are hosted by Jens Dendoncker. Aaron Blommaert won the third series.
Robert en Bertrand is a Flemish comic strip series set during the 19th century, in the Low Countries and France. The comic series was created by cartoonist Willy Vandersteen, known for the Suske en Wiske series.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
