Together with Hans G. Kresse's Eric de Noorman and Pieter Kuhn's Kapitein Rob, it is regarded as the Big Three of Dutch comics.

The main protagonists are Tom Poes, a white anthropomorphic cat, and his best friend, the bear lord Oliver B. Bumble (Olivier B. Bommel in Dutch).

[1] In 1931 Marten Toonder was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he met Jim Davis, a former assistant of Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer, creators of Felix the Cat, who taught him some lessons in drawing comics.

[3] The name of the character is a pun on the Dutch pastry "tompouce" and was thought up by Toonder's wife, Phiny Dick.

[4] After the war the stories were published in NRC Handelsblad, De Volkskrant, Ons Vrij Nederland, Revue and Donald Duck.

[1] Tom Poes was originally a children's comic, but as the stories progressed they aimed at a more adult audience by introducing satirical elements and eccentric use of language.