Arthur Berckmans (3 May 1929 – 28 December 2020), better known as Berck, was a

Belgian comics Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regio ...

author, best known for ''

Sammy Sammy is a nickname, frequently for people named Samuel, and also an English spelling of the Arabic name Sami. People Music *Sammy Adams (born 1987), American rapper and songwriter * Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), American songwriter * Sammy Davis Jr. ...

''.

Biography

Arthur Berckmans was born in Leuven in 1929.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Berck". In België gestript, pp. 91-92. Tielt: Lannoo. He studied drawing at the

Art academy An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-seco ...

of Leuven and at the

Institut Saint-Luc The Institut Saint-Luc () is an arts school in Brussels, Belgium. It consists of six departments, with a total of 2,200 students and 430 employees, spread over five locations in Ixelles and Saint-Gilles. History The school was founded by members ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. His first job as an illustrator was in 1948 for the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Jesuit magazine ''Pro Apostolis''. He also illustrated some youth novels, and started to work at PubliArt, a publicity division of

Le Lombard ''Le Lombard'', known as ''Les Éditions du Lombard'' until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when ''Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard is now part of Média-Participations, alongside publishers Dargaud and Dupui ...

, where he made many drawings and a few publicity comics, appearing in many Belgian newspapers and magazines. In 1958, Berck was asked by ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

'' magazine to collaborate with

René Goscinny René Goscinny (, ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Raised largely in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he attended French schoo ...

on a new comical series, ''Strapontin''. The series became a moderate success, and Berck created a few other series for the magazine, the most notable being ''Rataplan''. In the meantime, he also started working for ''

Zonneland ''Zonneland'' is a Belgian Dutch-language youth magazine published by Averbode since 1920. A French version called ''Petits Belges'' also started in the same year. It changed its name to ''Tremplin'' in 1960. History and profile ''Zonneland'' was ...

'', the youth magazine of Altiora Averbode, the publishing house of the abbey of Averbode. In later years, he contributed to ''Sjors'', one of the major Dutch comics magazines, where he created the series ''Lowietje''. But his main breakthrough came when he worked for '' Spirou magazine''. His first series, ''Mulligan'', did not make much of an impact, but when he teamed up with

Raoul Cauvin Raoul Cauvin (26 September 1938 – 19 August 2021) was a Belgian comics author and one of the most popular in the humorist field. Biography Raoul Cauvin was born in Antoing, Belgium in 1938.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Raoul Cauvin". In België ges ...

for ''

'', a series about an unlikely pair of bodyguards in Chicago at the time of Al Capone and

Eliot Ness Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone and enforce Prohibition in Chicago. He was the leader of a team of law enforcement agents, nicknamed The Untouchables. ...

, he quickly became one of the more popular artists of the magazine, and the albums got impressive sales. Berck ceased his work on all other series to focus solely on ''Sammy''. In 1994, Berck announced that he would retire. While this is usual in Belgium at the age of 65, it was an almost unprecedented move for a comics artist. ''Sammy'' was continued by the experienced artist Jean-Pol.

Bibliography

This bibliography only lists the comics Berck made which were published as an album in French or Dutch. He further made many short stories, illustrations, and comics for magazines only (e.g. 59 short comics featuring Mischa). His work has been translated into

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

, German and Spanish.

Awards

* 1973:

Prix Saint-Michel The Prix Saint-Michel is a series of comic awards presented by the city of Brussels, with a focus on Franco-Belgian comics. They were first awarded in 1971, and although often said to be the oldest European comics awards, they are actually the s ...

for Best Comical Artwork, Brussels, Belgium * 1975: Prix Saint-Michel for Best Comical Comic * 1985:

Bronzen Adhemar The ''Bronzen Adhemar'' (Dutch for "Brass Adhemar") is the official Flemish Community Cultural Prize for Comics, given to a Flemish comics author for his body of work. It is awarded by the Flemish Ministry of Culture during Strip Turnhout, the maj ...

Turnhout Turnhout () is a Belgian municipality and city located in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. In 2021, Turnhout had a total population of 45,874. The total area is . The agglomeration, ho ...

, Belgium

Notes

Sources

* Béra, Michel; Denni, Michel; and Mellot, Philippe: "Trésors de la Bande Dessinée 1999-2000". Les éditions de l'amateur,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, 1998. * Matla, Hans: "Stripkatalogus 9: De negende dimensie". Panda,

Den Haag The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, 1998.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berckmans, Arthur Writers from Leuven 1929 births 2020 deaths Belgian comics artists Belgian comics writers