Character
Ricardo is a gangster with a distinctive stereotypical Italian appearance, down to his crooked nose and black curly moustache. Yet in later albums it is revealed that he was in fact born on the Isle of Malta. Ricardo knows no mercy, can't be trusted and doesn't shy away from shooting anyone who gets in his way. He often misses or only makes a hole in people's hats. Still, sometimes he does wound his opponents, like Abraham Tuizentfloot in "Het Spook van Zoetendaal" ("The Ghost of Zoetendaal") (1979-1980) and Jan Spier in "Het Jaar van Ricardo" ("Ricardo's Year") (1987), but in both cases it's just a grazing shot. [2] [3] Ricardo has murdered people too, like his accomplice Alfredo [4] and a sea captain [5]
Ricardo often engages in bank robberies, kidnappings or ransom crimes. In later stories he tries to act revenge on Nero many times, but always fails. He is a member of several criminal organisaties, such as the Medellín cartel [6] and the "Bende van de Miljardair" [7] Ricardo is also a close friend of Belgian politician José Happart, whom he asks to give his best wishes in "Het Jaar van Ricardo" ("Ricardo's Year") (1987) [8]
Character history
He made his first appearance in De IJzeren Kolonel("The Iron Colonel") (1956-1957), in which he and his accomplice Alfredo try to steal the fortune of the album's titular character. [9] The plan fails and the duo are jailed. In a later story, De Vliegende Handschoen("The Flying Glove") (1957) they are freed. Alfredo tries to better his life, but Ricardo has no interest in this and shoots him dead. [10] In the same story Ricardo steals Nero's equipment to operate the flying glove so that the object can rob banks for him. Ricardo returns in "De Spekschieter" ("The Bacon Shooter") (1964), in which he steals the inheritance of Abraham Tuizentfloot and flees to an Italian island. [11] In "De Gouden Kabouter" ("The Golden Gnome") (1968) Richardo collaborates with two accomplices, Juul and John, to steal a golden gnome and melt him. Near the end of the story Richardo falls in the molten gold himself and seemingly dies.
In "De Kakelende Kaketoe" ("The Clucking Cockatoo") (1970) he appears to be alive and well and is Nero's opponent in a treasure hunt. [12] In "De Verdwenen Ming" ("The Lost Ming") (1975) he steals a Ming vase in which Nero is captured. His accomplice in that album is named Sylvio, but in "De V-Machine" ("The V-Machine") (1979) he is teamed again with Alfredo from "De IJzeren Kolonel" who apparently wasn't shot dead at all or is perhaps a twin brother of the first Alfredo. They both steal the V-Machine in the story, working for a rich, old man. In "Het Spook van Zoetendaal" ("The Ghost of Zoetendaal") (1979-1980) Ricardo disguises himself as a ghost to scare people away and kidnap people to ransom them. In "Papa Papoea" (1980) ("Daddy Papoea") Ricardo works with Alfredo again to steal the crown juwels of Petoetje's father, Papa Papoea. In "De Vierkante Mannen" ("The Square Men") (1980) Ricardo escapes from prison, but he is jailed again by the end of the story. In "Het Gouden Hart" (1981) ("The Golden Hart") Ricardo steals several solid golden hearts from the character Piet Peerdezaag and in "De Gouden Patatten" ("The Golden Potatoes") (1984) he steals Nero's golden potatoes. In "De Zwarte Toren" ("The Black Tower") (1983) he is revealed to have escaped once again and made de Zwarte Toren in Brussels his hide-out. In "Het Jaar van Ricardo" ("Ricardo's Year") (1987) Ricardo sets up a huge and complicated plot to steal Nero's fortune, but fails again. Near the end of the story he decides to leave Belgium and returns to his homeland. Not for long, however, because in "De Kleine Pieterman" ("The Lesser Weever") (1987) Ricardo returns again to steal a lesser weever whom Nero plans to deliver to emperor Hirohito of Japan. In "De Gelukbrenger" ("The Luck Bringer") (1988) Ricardo steals a winning lottery number, but plummets to his doom into the Vesuvius volcano. He wouldn't reappear for several albums.
Author Marc Sleen had intended Ricardo's death to be terminal, but in "De Drie Wrekers" ("The Three Vigilantes") (1992) it is revealed that Ricardo is still alive and even collaborates with other old antagonists of Nero, Ratsjenko [13] and Matsuoka in a plot to kill Nero. [14] In "De Kroon van Elizabeth" ("The Crown of Elizabeth") (1993) Ricardo steals the crown of Elizabeth II and in "De Steen van Abraham" ("Abraham's Stone") (1993) he kidnaps Abraham Tuizentfloot, who has swallowed a diamond from this crown. In "De Hond van Pavlov" ("Pavlov's Dog") (1994) Ricardo works for an envious mad scientist so his pet dog can bite off Nero's nose. Ricardo is hired by Geeraard de Duivel [15] in "De Duivelsklauw" ("The Devil's Claw") (1995) In "Operatie Ratsjenko" ("Operation Ratsjenko") (1996) Ricardo teams up again with Matsuoka and Ratsjenko. When Tuizentfloot gets the Midas touch in "De Roos van Sakhti" ("Sakhti's Rose") (1996) he is kidnapped by Ricardo. In the final Nero album "Zilveren Tranen" ("Silver Tears") (2002) Ricardo teams up with all the big antagonists in the series to murder Nero for once and all, but like all of them he is killed off for good.
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, Knight 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.
The Bronzen Adhemar is the official Flemish Community Cultural Prize for Comics, given to a Flemish comics author for his body of work. It is awarded by the Flemish Ministry of Culture during Strip Turnhout, the major Flemish comics festival, once every two years.
Krimson is a Flemish comic book character and the main antagonist in the Belgian comic strip series Suske en Wiske. He is a doctor, billionaire and supervillain who wants to take over the world.
Adhemar is a Flemish comic book character. He is the son of Nero in the eponymous Belgian comic strip series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen and one of the main protagonists. He is a child prodigy who is both a professor as well as an inventor. His full title is doctor professor Adhemar. He is easily recognizable due to his beret and tuxedo.
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.
Abraham Tuizentfloot, in full Oscar Abraham Tuizentfloot, is a Flemish comic book character from the Belgian comic book series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. He is a crazy little man who dresses up as a pirate and has a tendency to attack people. In the series he is one of Nero's personal friends.
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.
Madam Pheip is a character from the Flemish comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. In the series she is one of Nero 's personal friends and married to Meneer Pheip, with whom she has one child, Clo-Clo. Madam Pheip also adopted two children, Petoetje, and Petatje.
Meneer Pheip is a Flemish comic book character from the Belgian comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. In the series he is part of Nero's personal circle of friends, despite often being up in arms with him. He is the husband of Madam Pheip, father of Clo-Clo and adoptive father of Petoetje and Petatje.
The Geeraard de Duivelsteen is a 13th century gothic architecture building in Ghent, Belgium. It served as defense of the Portus Ganda, the city's port.
Het Rattenkasteel is a 1948 comic book album in the Belgian comics series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. It's the fourth album in the series and acclaimed as one of Sleen's best. In the 2000s the story was collected and re-published by the Flemish newspapers Het Belang van Limburg and Gazet van Antwerpen in a special series entitled "De beste 10 volgens Marc Sleen", where Sleen choose his ten favorite "Nero" stories. He placed "Het Rattenkasteel" first.
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.
Oktaaf Keunink was a Belgian comics series, written and drawn by Marc Sleen. It was published between 16 November 1952 and 4 April 1965 in the magazine Ons Zondagsblad.
Petoetje is a Belgian comics character from the comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. He is a teenage black boy who originates from Papua New Guinea, but was adopted by Madam Pheip and Meneer Pheip, along with another orphan child, Petatje.
Petatje is a Belgian comics character from the comic strip The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen. She is a teenage girl who was adopted by Madam Pheip and Meneer Pheip, along with another orphan child, Petoetje.
