It is set in the 16th and 17th centuries during the Eighty Years' War and features the adventures of Gilles, a brave but not always too bright resistance fighter who is part of the Geuzen, an army who fight the Spanish oppressor in the Netherlands.

"Gilles de Geus" was pre-published in the Dutch comics magazine Eppo and later in Sjors en Sjimmie Stripblad.

[4] Originally it was a gag-a-day comic, drawn by Hanco Kolk and written by Wilbert Plijnaar, with stories that lasted only a few pages and were mostly about Gilles' failed attempts at robbing stagecoaches and his confrontations with incompetent Spanish militaries.

Despite directly referencing historic events during the Eighty Years' War and appearances of real-life historical characters such as Admiral Lumeij, William the Silent, Cornelis Drebbel, Desiderius Erasmus, Maarten Tromp, Michiel de Ruyter, Rembrandt Van Rijn and the Duke of Alba the tone is predominantly humoristic and takes some license with anachronisms as a result.

In 1986 Peter Visser and Carol van Dijk recorded a song about "Gilles de Geus" for a fan club of the series.