Gilles de Geus ("Gilles de Geus") is a Dutch humoristic/historical comics series, created by

Hanco Kolk Hanco Kolk (born 11 March 1957, Den Helder) is a Dutch cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his collaborations with Peter de Wit, with who he made ''Gilles de Geus'' and '' S1NGLE' Kolk married author Isabelle Rosselin in 2016. Bi ...

and

Peter de Wit Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

in 1983. It is set in the 16th and 17th centuries during the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Refo ...

and features the adventures of Gilles, a brave but not always too bright resistance fighter who is part of the

Geuzen Geuzen (; ; french: Les Gueux) was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands. The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called Watergeuzen (; ; frenc ...

, an army who fight the Spanish oppressor in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The series has been compared to ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

'' for being a humoristic comics series set in a historical time period, containing a lot of satirical winks and references. The series has been translated into English as "Bryant the Brigand" and was published by Alibris. It has also been translated into Spanish as ''Tristán el salteador''.

Concept

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

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, drawn by

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. When

collaborated on the scripts the stories took a new direction and became full-length adventure stories. Gilles became a resistance leader within de

and serving under

William the Silent William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Re ...

to combat the Spanish oppressor. He also became more heroic, with the

comic relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

being subjugated to his monosyllabic friend Leo and the vain and arrogant Admiral Lumeij. Despite directly referencing historic events during the

and appearances of real-life historical characters such as Admiral Lumeij,

Cornelis Drebbel Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel ( ) (1572 – 7 November 1633) was a Dutch engineer and inventor. He was the builder of the first operational submarine in 1620 and an innovator who contributed to the development of measurement and control systems, op ...

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

Maarten Tromp Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (also written as ''Maerten Tromp''; 23 April 1598 – 31 July 1653) was a Dutch army general and admiral in the Dutch navy. Son of a ship's captain, Tromp spent much of his childhood at sea, including being captured ...

Michiel de Ruyter Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. Widely celebrated and regarded as one of the most skilled admirals in history, De Ruyter is arguably most famous for his achievements with the Dutch N ...

Rembrandt Van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consi ...

and the Duke of Alba the tone is predominantly humoristic and takes some license with

anachronism An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time per ...

s 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. Visser and Van Dijk would later become famous as the rock band

Bettie Serveert Bettie Serveert is a Dutch indie rock band. The name translates to "Bettie Serves", or "Service to Bettie", which is the title of a book written by Dutch tennis player Betty Stöve, who made it to the Wimbledon Ladies Singles final in 1977. ...

. The series was terminated in 2003, but in 2014 the makers made an attempt to relaunch it through

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

Characters

* Gilles: A

highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...

who is so incompetent that the prices on the "wanted" posters for his capture keep going down. He is later accidentally hired as a resistance leader in the army of

. * Leo: A strong red bearded sailor who is Gilles' best friend, even though he doesn't say much besides the word "Hee..." ("Hey...") * Admiral Lumeij: Based on the real-life admiral, Lumeij is a tiny, self-absorbed man who always thinks he is the best, but is basically an idiot. He is so vain that he doesn't realize that he lacks talent and frequently takes credit for everything Gilles did for him. *

: Based on the real-life Dutch national hero. He often sends Gilles, Leo and Lumeij out on secret missions. *

: Based on the real-life scientist, but depicted more as a

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly amb ...

in the series. *

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba (29 October 150711 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba (, pt, Grão Duque de Alba) in Spain and Portugal and as the Iron Duke ( or shortly 'Alva') in the Netherlands, was a Sp ...

: Based on the real-life Spanish duke. He acts as the series'

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...

. * Hertog Jan van Breda: A charming skirt chaser who is part of the nobility that surrounds William the Silent. * De Bekketrekker ("The Facemaker"): A sadistic gang leader who works for the Spaniards, despite not being affiliated with them. * 90-60-90: A female double spy in both the Spanish as well as the Dutch camps. She seduces every man she meets, save for Gilles who can resist her.

Albums

* "De Struikrover" (2001) (Technically the first album, but released much later in the chronology.) * "De Spaanse Furie" (1985) * "Storm over Dubbeldam" (1987) * "Smeerenburg" (1989) * "De Revue" (1991) * "De Batavia" (1993) * "Spionage" (1995) * "Willem de Zwijger" (1997) * "De 7 Provinciën" (2000) * "90-60-90" (2003)

Sources

External links

* {{official website, http://www.gillesdegeus.com Dutch comic strips 1983 comics debuts 2003 comics endings Comics set in the 16th century Netherlands in fiction Humor comics Satirical comics Adventure comics Comics characters introduced in 1983 Dutch comics characters Male characters in comics Fictional Dutch people Fictional thieves Fictional swordfighters in comics Fiction set in the 1560s Fiction set in the 1570s Fiction set in the 1580s Comics by Hanco Kolk Comics by Peter de Wit Comics set in the Netherlands Works about rebels Works about rebellions Fiction about rebellions Cultural depictions of William the Silent Cultural depictions of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba Works about the Eighty Years' War