Background and concept
The strip originated from an idea by Willy Linthout. [4] In 1982, Linthout imagined creating a comic strip about comedian Urbanus. [4] Publisher Jef Meert was able to arrange a meeting at his house, in which he proposed the concept and showed Urbanus the drawings. [4] [5] Urbanus liked Linthout's idea and his drawings. [5] Urbanus started as an experiment, but after the first album was released, Linthout was already working on the sequel. [5] Linthout made the first two albums alone. [5] The first album sold 50,000 copies right away. [5] From December 16, 1982, until April 25, 1996, all albums were published by Uitgeverij Loempia, [3] a publishing company created by Linthout and Jef Meert. Since 1996 Standaard Uitgeverij does the publishing.
Linthout and Urbanus explained how a comic book of Urbanus was made: Linthout came up with an idea, wrote the synopsis, and submitted it to Urbanus. Then, the two started writing together, and eventually Linthout drew the comic book. [5]
In the series Urbanus is portrayed as an eleven to twelve-year old version of himself, despite his full-grown beard. Just like the real Urbanus he lives in Tollembeek, but here end all similarities. Urbanus is portrayed as a bad young boy who frequently tries to trick the local villagers, his parents, his teacher, his fellow students and gets into trouble for it. [6] The style of comedy is absurd, black and often vulgar. All animals in this comic strip are able to talk. Pop culture references to TV shows, comics, cartoons, films and Urbanus' own merchandise are frequently made. The authors deliberately use Flemish dialect instead of standard Dutch and also deliberately keep the drawing style naïve and simple, inspired by the series of Marc Sleen.
The albums are usually long adventure stories, but some are one-page gags as well.
On 26 October 2022, after 201 stories, the series was discontinued. [7]
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.
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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.
Urbain Servranckx, better known as Urbanus, is a Belgian comedian, actor, singer and comic book writer. Although he is most famous as comedian, some of his songs became hits, such as Bakske vol met stro (1979), Madammen met een bontjas (1980) and Hittentit (1982). In Flanders and the Netherlands Urbanus is one of the most popular and famous entertainers of all time.
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Willy Linthout is a Belgian comics author, best known for the Urbanus comics and his graphic novel Years of the Elephant.
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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.
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.
Ons Volkske was the youth supplement of the Flemish newspaper Ons Volk Ontwaakt. It was published without interruption from 1932 until 1988, except for the years during World War II. The magazine was notable for its comics and together with 't Kapoentje it was the most important comic book magazine in Flanders.
't Kapoentje was a youth supplement published by the Flemish newspaper Het Volk from April 3, 1947 until 1989. It was notable for its comics and, together with Ons Volkske, the most important comic book magazine in Flanders.
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.
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.
Celebrity comics are comics based on the fame and popularity of a celebrity. They are a byproduct of merchandising around a certain media star or franchise and have existed since the mass media and comics came into existence in the 19th century. Celebrity comics are usually not held in high esteem by critics, because of their purely commercial nature. They are solely created to capitalize on media trends and therefore published so quickly and cheaply that drawings and narratives tend to be of very low quality.
Years of the Elephant is a Flemish graphic novel by Willy Linthout. Linthout was awarded the 2009 Bronzen Adhemar for this work.
