Dutch comics

In Dutch the most common designation for the whole art form is "strip" (short for "stripverhaal" – "strip story" – , though the old-fashioned expression "beeldverhaal" – "picture story" – remains utilized on occasion, particularly in formal texts and treatises on the subject matter), whereas the word "comic" is used for the (usually) soft cover American style comic book format and its derivatives, typically containing translated US superhero material.

[10] After the liberation the publication of comics boomed, with many successful series being published in newspapers, such as Pieter Kuhn [nl]'s Kapitein Rob (1946-1966), Hans G. Kresse's Eric de Noorman (1946-1964), Phiny Dick's Olle Kapoen [nl] (1946-1954, Dick was Toonder's spouse), Marten Toonder's Kappie (1945-1972), Panda (1946-1991) and Koning Hollewijn (1954-1971), Godfried Bomans and Carol Voges's De Avonturen van Pa Pinkelman (1946-1952), Jean Dulieu's Paulus de Boskabouter (Paulus the woodgnome, which spawned a long-running 1955-64 radio show as well as two popular 1968-69 and 1974-75 puppetshows made for television), Henk Sprenger's Kick Wilstra (1949- ... ), Bob van den Born's Professor Pi (1955-1965), Willy Lohmann's Kraaienhove (1962-1972), Peter van Straaten's Vader & Zoon (1968-1987).

The Toonder Studio's turned out to be a fruitful breeding ground for post-war Dutch comic talents, born before or during the war, as the majority of them started out their careers at the company in one way or another, which included such names as Fred Julsing [nl], Lo Hartog van Banda, Thé Tjong-Khing, Dick Matena and Piet Wijn.

[11] Yet, it was partly for these reasons that the Dutch text comic enjoyed its golden age in the era 1945–1960, with Tom Poes, Eric de Noorman and Kapitein Rob as its standard bearers.

[17] Predominately run by (family) heirs and sympathetic professionals, the two foundations in their goal of maintaining the cultural legacy of both artists – aside from safeguarding and maintaining their original art collections – organize exhibitions on a regular basis at the various cultural institutions, publish bibliographical book publications of for example biographies and rare, unknown and previously unpublished works, as well as providing information and illustrations to media interested in reporting on the two comic artists and their work.

[21] While Pieter Kuhn's Kapitein Rob was every bit as renowned as its two counterparts by Toonder and Kresse were at the time, he eventually failed to become the third "Dutch great" and both he and his creation are as of 2020 all but forgotten, only fondly remembered by the oldest still living generations.

[22] Tom Poes Weekblad, featuring the for the Netherlands traditional text comics, had to compete right from the start with Belgian weekly competitors Kuifje[23] and Robbedoes (Dutch magazine) [nl][24] from publishers Le Lombard and Dupuis respectively, which became available in the country around the turn of 1946/1947.

It is not possible to proceed in a legal manner against printers, publishers or distributors of these novels, nor can anything be achieved by not making paper available to them, since this for those publications necessary paper, is available on the free market," further implying that it became the civil duty of parents, teachers and civil servants, including policemen, to confiscate and destroy comic books wherever they found them,[30] or as he had put it, "If you would like to point out, unnecessarily perhaps, to your school personnel that it is desirable to ensure that the students do not bring the graphic novels into school or distribute them to their comrades.(...)

"[31] Less than a month later, a 16-year-old girl was murdered in a bizarre manner on November 19 in the small town of Enkhuizen by her 15-year old boyfriend, who had tied her down to railroad tracks where she was killed by a passing train.

Not only that, but the phenomenon was not entirely without its own supporters, albeit from a freedom of expression point of view, as Dutch literary giant Godfried Bomans had worded at the time in his column of Elsevier, "The reading is healthy.

[33] Yet, from the moment Toonder made Tom Poes truly his own, his eloquent mastery of the Dutch language was quite early on recognized by critics as bonafide Dutch literature, only emphasized by the fact that several recurrent utterances by Oliver Bommel (who was such a popular figure, that he actually took over the series, retitled "Heer Bommel" – "Gentleman Bommel" – as the main protagonist in the later speech balloon versions[34]) have percolated over the years into colloquial Dutch, such as "Als U begrijpt wat ik bedoel" ("If you know what I mean") and "Als U mij wilt verschonen" ("If you will excuse me"), and which was very much met with the approval of the conservative educators mentioned above, and the primary reason why his studio productions became exempt from the 1948/49 purge.

[38] Remarkably, considering the fact that Godfried Bomans was already established as a figure of note in Dutch literature, his De Avonturen van Pa Pinkelman (all but forgotten nowadays) has not been accorded the same status.

1959, and itself susceptible to the cultural changes taking place, especially from the May 1968 events in France onwards), with which Pep now aligned itself with and henceforth increasingly featuring productions from that magazine, had not yet seen a wide dissemination in the Netherlands – and Flanders for that matter.

It was Pep which introduced Dutch readership to great Franco-Belgian comic classics from the Dargaud stable like Roodbaard (Charlier and Hubinon), Blueberry (Charlier en Giraud; The previous introduction in 1965 of these two having failed in Fix & Foxi, as that magazine targeted an entirely different age readership, thus remaining unnoticed), and most conspicuously Asterix (Goscinny and Uderzo), which ran in the magazine from its very inception to become one of the all-time most popular comic series in the Netherlands, as indeed it became in the rest of Europe.

In this, Kresse became the forerunner of such artists as the Swiss Derib (Buddy Longway, Celui-qui-est-né-deux-fois), the Frenchmen Michel Blanc-Dumont and Laurence Harlé (Jonathan Cartland) and the Dutchman Paul Teng (Delgadito), who later on explored the social intricacies of the Native-American world in greater detail in their creations.

This held especially true for Piet Wijn's Douwe Dabbert and Henk Kuijper's Franka – both of them far less beholden to Dutch current affairs than the others – , which have seen translations in more European languages afterwards.

Incidentally and concurrently, the same holds conversely true for Dutch-Belgium, whose comic artists, like Marc Sleen or Jef Nys for example, find the appeal of their work mostly limited to native Flanders.

[31] Being granted a stay of execution, Dick Bos managed therefore to hold on to live for quite some time, but did not make it into the 1970s eventually, thereby relegating the genre and format to history permanently.

It was rather common for the magazines to contain a mix of Dutch material and imported stories, though the few surviving ones, such as Tina, (new) Eppo and StripGlossy currently almost exclusively feature native creations.

"[61] Furthermore, the entire comic phenomenon had to increasingly compete with an ever-expanding alternative range of pass-time options, most conspicuously television and home media formats, later augmented with the various products and services of the digital age.

Aside from this, there was actually a second reason for the demise of the translated versions; After the war, English became increasingly the preferred choice as second language in the Netherlands (exemplified by the fact that many primary schools and colleges in the country currently offer their students bi-lingual courses), replacing German and especially French as such, and with the vast majority of the population having nowadays at least a basic understanding of English, readers prefer to read their American (and British) comic books in the original language.

Consequently, comic books, the adopted English expression now exclusively in use for the original format, are therefore still being read and sold in the Netherlands, but these are predominantly untranslated US and, to a lesser degree, British imports.

Typically, these pockets were printed in black and white on low-grade paper, reflected as such in their relatively low retail prices, with the panel count limited to 1-4 per page and predominantly sold as newsstand sales with series volumes released on a bi-weekly or monthly basis.

[69] Nowadays the Dutch market is fragmented: there are always the imports, the small press circuit, the reprints, the online comics and Donald Duck and whatever is the latest rage for kids.

It therefore has neither achieved the revered status of "Le Neuvième Art", the medium has in its southern neighbors Belgium and France, nor has it been accorded the formal recognition as such by cultural authorities – the creations of Marten Toonder and Joost Swarte excepted to some extent, as both men have received royal knighthoods, albeit only for (illustrated) literature and visual arts (its strips origins notwithstanding) manifestation respectively, instead as being awarded for comics – , or seen as such by Dutch society at large.

[76] Despite the reluctance of cultural authorities to become engaged with comics – who in effect have never formally rescinded Rutten's 1948 missive,[59] meaning that it is, legally at least, still in force as an official ministry directive and actually still adhered to by some Bevindelijk gereformeerden [nl] communities located in Holland's small but discernible Bible Belt – , the letter from Kolk and van Tol did initiate some action from a latter-day successor of Theo Rutten, Minister of Education and Culture Ronald Plasterk.

Plasterk appointed comic scholar and journalist Gert Jan Pos as the "stripintendant" (=comics intermediary) for his ministry in 2009, with a relatively modest annual budget of €250,000 to advance the medium as a cultural phenomenon.

[77] A somewhat half-hearted attempt and with the country in the throes of a severe economic recession, it was from the start intended as a two-year temporary measure only, though Pos (in conjuncture with Kolk) did manage in the window of time allotted to him to get the Netherlands its first and only "Comic Design" learning course[78] at the "ArtEZ Art & Design Zwolle [nl]" art academy in the city of Zwolle (though it has remained a modest affair compared to the prestigious "Beeldverhaal" course[79] of the Belgian "Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussel"), but failing at the same time to change the attitudes of other agencies and institutions that concerned themselves with the advancement of printed media, unable to get "strips" on their agendas, most notably that of Holland's most important book organization "Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek".

By 2012 all state support had ceased; "The government is a fickle partner," Pos sighed after he was let go from the ministry, with Kolk, indirectly referring to the 1948 incident, adding, "The comic had already in the 1950s been the ugly duckling [in the cultural landscape].

[87] As the name already suggests, the magazine is executed as a glossy lifestyle-like publication with space exclusively reserved for Dutch comic talents, both old and new, and the first of its kind in decades, somewhat alleviating the concerns Kolk and van Tol had expressed back in 2008.