Bert is a Belgian comic strip, written and drawn by

Kamagurka Luc Zeebroek (born 5 May 1956), better known as Kamagurka, is a Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, suc ...

, which appeared exclusively in the Flemish magazine ''

HUMO ''HUMO'' is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television supermarket tabloid. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpar ...

'' since 1977. The cartoons have also been published in the Dutch magazine ''

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly and now monthly magaz ...

'', the French magazine ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; meaning ''Charlie Weekly'') is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication has been described as Anti-racism, anti-racist, sceptica ...

'' and the US magazine ''

RAW Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

''. The series' protagonist, Bert, is Kamagurka's most recognizable character.

Concept

Bert is a middle-aged bespectacled man with a long nose who always wears a sweater and long trousers. His full name is ''Vanderslagmulders'', but is seldom used in the series. He is a

flat character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in ...

, but does demonstrate absurd behaviour. In many cartoons he is giving absurd

monologue In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...

s, often with

misanthropic Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, distrust or contempt of the human species, human behavior or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from the Greek words μῖσ ...

comments. In the early 1990s Bert received his own pet dog: Bobje ("Little Bob"). Bobje is an anthropomorphic dog with a human face. He is often seen walking on two feet or doing things only humans can. Despite all that he is unable to talk and still treats Bert as his master.

History

Bert made his debut on November 3, 1977 in the magazine ''

Humo ''HUMO'' is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television supermarket tabloid. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpar ...

''. Originally the series was named ''Van Maerlantstraat 23'', which was Kamagurka's home address at the time. During the late 1970s the comic sometimes was several pages long, but later it became a one-page

gag-a-day A gag-a-day comic strip is the style of writing comic cartoons such that every installment of a strip delivers a complete joke or some other kind of artistic statement. It is opposed to story or continuity strips, which rely on the development of ...

comic.

Status

Bert is one of

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

s and therefore often used on magazine covers or other related

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

. He was seen in animated form in the opening titles of Kamagurka and

Herr Seele Herr Seele, the pseudonym of Peter Van Heirseele (Torhout, Belgium, 13 April 1959), is a Flemish cartoonist, author, actor, piano tuner and piano collector. He is mainly known for the absurd humor comic strip ''Cowboy Henk'', for which his col ...

's TV sketch show ''Lava'' (1989). During the annual

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiv ...

rock festival in

Werchter Werchter is a small village in Belgium which has been part of the municipality of Rotselaar since 1 January 1977. It is the site of Rock Werchter and the birthplace of the painters Cornelius Van Leemputten and Frans Van Leemputten. The origin ...

, Belgium, when weather allowed it, a meters high inflatable doll of Bert and Bobje was inflated during several of the festival's editions.

Partial bibliography

* "Het Ruikt Hier Naar Onzin", Kritak, 1977. * "Bert maakt het gezellig", Kritak, 1979. * "Het Boeiende Leven der Sukkels",

Uitgeverij De Harmonie De Harmonie is a Dutch publishing company best known today as the publisher of the Harry Potter series of books since the 1990s, though their largest success didn't come until the 2000s and since 14 February 2008 they are located on Herengracht in ...

, 1980. * "Folklore en Wetenschap", Harmonie/Loempia, 1990. * "Berts Bobje", Uitgeverij De Harmonie-Loempia, 1991 * "Bert en Bobje in 't groen", Jef Meert Uitgeverij, 1992. * "Bert en enigszins Bobje", Jef Meert Uitgeverij, 1993. * "Berts Brein", Uitgeverij De Harmonie-Loempia, 1994. * "Bezige Bert", Uitgeverij Maarten Muntinga B.V., 1995. * "Bert Begint", Uitgeverij Maarten Muntinga B.V., September 1997. * "Bert & Bobje met vakantie!", Uitgeverij De Harmonie, December 1997. * "Bert & Bobje in de problemen", Uitgeverij De Harmonie, 1998. * "Bert en Bobje 2", Uitgeverij De Harmonie, 1998. * "Broodje Bert", Rainbow Pockets, Uitgeverij Maarten Muntinga, 1998. * "Beste Bert", Rainbow Pockets, 1999. * "Het Boek van Bert" (The Book of Bert)", Uitgeverij Harmonie 2007. * "De Terugkeer van Bert en Bobje", Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij, 2013.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em Belgian comic strips Belgian comics titles 1977 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1977 Mascots introduced in 1977 Gag-a-day comics Underground comix Surreal comedy Belgian comics characters Male characters in comics Male characters in advertising Fictional characters from Flanders Comics about dogs Comics set in Belgium Magazine mascots Metafictional comics