Spike and Suzy (British title), Willy and Wanda (American title) or Luke and Lucy (in a 2009 film and video game) (Dutch: Suske en Wiske, French: Bob et Bobette) is a Belgian comics series created by the comics author Willy Vandersteen.
The books revolve around the adventures of the eponymous Spike and Suzy, two children (pre-adolescent or adolescent depending on the album), along with their friends and family.
The stories combine elements of comedy, fantasy, and science fiction, such as talking animals, time travel and ghosts.
Later, in De dolle musketiers (book #18, 1953), Jerom (called Jethro in the UK version), the "strongest man in the western hemisphere", was introduced.
In the earliest stories, Willy Vandersteen used fictional countries like "Chokowakije" ("Chocolaslovakia") and "Amoras" (a tropical island, "Hoboken", actually a real town in Belgium, in the English-language version).
While in the early stories large distances were usually traveled using the fictitious Gyronef, an experimental helicopter devised by professor Barabas, starting from the 1960s all air travel is provided by the Dutch national airline KLM, making it an early and prominent example of product placement in European comics.
[4] Willy Vandersteen created Suske en Wiske, beginning publication in De Nieuwe Standaard on 30 March 1945.
[5] The following story was titled De avonturen van Suske en Wiske - Op het eiland Amoras and no longer featured Rikki.
[7] Vandersteen made the adaptation and Suske en Wiske first appeared in Kuifje and Belgian Tintin on 16 September 1948 with the story titled Het Spaanse spook and Le Fantôme Espagnol in the two languages.
[5] To have time for other series such as De Rode Ridder (The Red Knight) and Tijl Uilenspiegel, he gave Paul Geerts the job of creating new albums of Suske en Wiske in 1968.
On 17 December 2022, after 77 years, De Standaard newspaper ended daily publication of Suske en Wiske, following a cost-benefit decision.
The music was composed by Armand Preud'homme and the dialogues were written by Jef Contrijn, whose wife, Germaine Gijsels also designed the costumes.
Between 1974 and 1977, Vandersteen also made a comics series about "Pats" until copyright issues forced him to change the title into "Tits".
[12] In July 2002, a new musical premiered, based on the album "De Spokenjagers" ("The Ghost Hunters"), again touring with huge success in Flanders and the Netherlands.
On 19 July 2009, a video game was released for the Nintendo DS, based on the 3-D animated movie Luke and Lucy: The Texas Rangers.
The misspelling of the name is due to the fact that the early Dutch publications of "Suske en Wiske" called him "Lambiek".
The emblem on the store's sign is an image from the Suske en Wiske story "Prinses Zagemeel" ("Princess Sawdust") (1947–1948) and represents Lambik's metamorphosis into a centaur.