Werner is a German comics character, appearing in a number of German
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s and
animated film
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
s. He was created in 1978 by
Brösel (Rötger Feldmann). Werner is the most successful German comic character of all time with over 10 million books sold and over 13 million film admissions. At almost 5 million admissions in Germany, the first movie, ''
Werner – Beinhart!
Werner – Beinhart! (English title: ''Werner and the Wizard of Booze'') is the first German comedy-comic-film adaption based upon the successful German comic Werner by "Brösel".
Production
Shooting took place in Kiel, Flensburg and Berlin ...
'' (1990), is Germany's third most commercially successful film of the 1990s on the German domestic market, and #14 of Germany's most successful domestic market films of all time.
Prior to ''Oder Was?'', the first standalone ''Werner'' book published in 1981, since the late 1970s the ''Werner'' comics appeared in the German satirical magazine
''Pardon''. Indeed, ''Oder was?'' was but a collection of the ''Werner'' comics that had been published in ''Pardon'' by then.
The ''Werner'' books are known for their anarchic humour, often based on Northern German dialects and
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
s.
Standard High German is rarely spoken in the books, when it is used it is usually to portray the speaker as overtly formal and square, whereas most characters employ accents and dialects placed in a lingual continuum between the common modern Northern pronunciation of High German.
Characters
Werner
![Horex regina custom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Horex_regina_custom.jpg)
The character of Werner is based on Brösel's and his brother Andi's experiences. Werner's life is that of an unemployed
biker
Biker or bikie may refer to:
* A cyclist, a bicycle rider or participant in cycling sports
* A motorcyclist, any motorcycle rider or passenger, or participant in motorcycle sports
** A motorcycle club member, defined more narrowly than all motor ...
that consists of consuming large amounts of beer and souping up his motorcycle, a
chopped Chopped can have the following meanings:
* Chopped and screwed
Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a music genre and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and deejaying. It ...
1950s ''
Horex
Horex is a German motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded in 1923 by Fritz Kleemann in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe in Hesse. From 1935 to the mid-1950s, the company operated as Horex-Columbus-Werk K.G.,then as Horex-Werke KG.
The brand name Ho ...
Regina''. Both regularly gets him in trouble with the police and the German vehicle safety agency
TÜV who due to their expressed incompetency and imbecility are usually ignored and duped by Werner. In the movies, Werner is voiced by Northern German band
Torfrock
Torfrock (, lit. "Peat Rock") is a German rock group founded by Klaus Büchner and Raymond Voß in 1976. Guitarist Jürgen Lugge from Hamburg played lead guitar until his unexpected death in 1992. With their Northern German identity, they are nota ...
's singer
Klaus Büchner (whereas Torfrock also wrote part of the original soundtrack of the first movie, and partly did for the sequels as well).
In early comics, Werner's beer of choice was ''
Flensburg
Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...
er Pilsener'' (''"Flens"'' for short) which led to an unsuspected surge in sales for the
Flensburger Brauerei
Flensburger Brauerei is a brewery located in Flensburg in the ''States of Germany, Bundesland'' (federal state) of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is one of the last country-wide operating breweries not being part of a larger brewery group. The c ...
which up to that point had only marketed their beer within Northern Germany and towards an older, more conservative demographic. Due to the success of the comics, the brewery faced an increasing demand among younger age groups all across Germany. The comics and movies would later switch to the fictional brand ''Bölkstoff'', however a real-life version of the beer is now being brewed and marketed by ''Flensburger Brauerei'' as well.
Röhrich
In his younger years, Werner was apprentice to
plumber
A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, and for sewage and drainage in plumbing systems. ''
Meister
''Meister'' means 'master' in German (as in master craftsman, or as an honorific title such as Meister Eckhart). The word is akin to master and maestro. In sports, ''Meister'' is used for the current national, European or world champion (e.g. ...
'' Walter Röhrich – the situations and characters in these stories are based on Brösel's brother Andi's apprenticeship years. In the movies, Röhrich is voiced by Andi, based upon the parodies he had done of his plumber ''Meister'' in real life ever since his apprenticeship.
Due to the master craftsman being a dim-witted, crackpot tyrant, the Röhrich stories involve a lot of slapstick and comical relief. As written by Thomas Platt in the making-of book to the first movie ''
Werner – Beinhart!
Werner – Beinhart! (English title: ''Werner and the Wizard of Booze'') is the first German comedy-comic-film adaption based upon the successful German comic Werner by "Brösel".
Production
Shooting took place in Kiel, Flensburg and Berlin ...
'', Röhrich's explosive plumbing works "usually end in devastation rather than installation" (''"Explosion statt Installation"''), for indeed Röhrich's working sites often look like hit by an airstrike when he is done accidentally blowing up whole buildings or covering city blocks in sewage content. In ''Werner – Volles Rooäää!!!'', Röhrich even manages to accidentally launch a client into outer space.
In-between Röhrich and Werner in rank is Röhrich's
journeyman
A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...
Eckat (from "Eckhardt"). Eckat is considerably smarter than Röhrich and occasionally he jokes with Werner about Röhrich's incompetency behind his back, but Eckat is mostly loyal to his ''Meister'' whenever Röhrich is around.
It is not quite clear though whether Werner's apprenticeship years are really a thing of the past as stories involving occasional working for Röhrich remain a mainstay within the Werner comics.
Röhrich's full company name (or company slogan) is ''Firma Röhrich, Gas, Wasser, Sanitär ''("Röhrich company – Gas, Water, Sanitation"), parodied by Eckat as'' Firma Röhrich, Gas, Wasser, Scheiße'' ("Röhrich company – Gas, water, shit"); the latter three words (''Gas, Wasser, Scheiße'') have become a humorous synonym for plumbing companies and plumbing works in Northern German slang due to the first movie's popularity. A common catchphrase of Röhrich's is ''"Ich glaub', die Russen sind da!"'' (approximately "The Russians have arrived!") which has become a phrase synonymous to "the end of the world" in German since WWII, but Röhrich even goes so far as that he has Werner and Eckat seek for imaginary "Russians" hiding in his cellar.
MC Klappstuhl
Werner is a member of the biker and
rocker club ''MC Klappstuhl'' (folding chair) led by their ''Präsi'' (short for ''Präsident'', "president") partly based upon band Torfrock's guitarist and singer
Raymond Voss
Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...
(who also voices the ''Präsi'' in the movies). Due to his choleric temper, the ''Präsi'' has little tolerance for cops or other people hindering them in their free-wheeling biker lifestyle. Being a roughneck and firebrand better not to mess with, when angered he will stereotypically bellow out that he'll "count to one" and then he and his gang will wreck the place down (''"Ich zähl' bis oins, und denn is Achterbahn!"'') – which usually happens on the spot. In more recent stories, the ''Präsi'' even partly turns into a werewolf for comical effect during his notorious anger fits. If the ''Präsi'' gets too much out of control, several ''MC Klappstuhl'' members have to hold him down and feed him
Sago
Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is ...
as a kind of rage antidote.
Another important member is the vice president ''Herbert''. He is the exact opposite of ''Präsi'' as he always speaks with an intimidating calm voice.
Other members of ''MC Klappstuhl'' include Röhre (lit. "Tube") who modified his bike into a mobile coffee machine (in order to cure common beer hangovers), and Walze ("Barrel") who drives a large mobile beer tub.
Other recurring characters
Andi is Werner's brother, basically a comic-book version of Brösel's real-life brother of the same name (who also voices Andi in the movies).
Bruno and Helmut are the series' commonly appearing two police officers. A kind of
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...
pairing, Bruno is short, chubby, and very anal about all kinds of laws and regulations, while getting Werner and Andi locked up for any of their various misdemeanors (such as speeding, drunk driving, and illegal vehicle modifications) is his eternal dream, whereas Helmut is tall, skinny, and asinine, usually helpless when he is not ordered around by Bruno. Considering himself righteous law incarnate (''"denkt, er ist der Staat"'', as the official ''Werner'' website puts it
), pedantic Bruno is scared only by the ''Präsi''. Their characters are illustrated well in a short story included in ''Werner Eiskalt'', where Bruno orders Helmut to "measure the
phon
The phon is a logarithmic physical unit, unit of loudness level for tones and complex sounds. Loudness is measured in sone which is a linear unit. Human sensitivity to sound is variable across different frequencies; therefore, although two diff ...
volume" of Werner's chopper bike's tail pipe in order to prove that it violates
disturbance regulations. Helmut then uses a folding rule to measure the flame and smoke shooting from the pipe, and loyally reports to his superior Bruno that it's "ten meters fifty of phon".
Ölfuß ("Grease Foot") is another member of ''MC Klappstuhl''. Being the series'
Gyro Gearloose
Gyro Gearloose is a cartoon character created in 1952 by Carl Barks for Disney comics. An anthropomorphic chicken, he is part of the Donald Duck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and anyone w ...
of vehicle modifications, engineering, and repairing, he wears a red overall and is usually seen with welding equipment, welder's goggles, and a wrench. Ölfuß is based upon a real-life acquaintance of Brösel and Andi with the same nickname, but also on real-life Andi's passion for weird metal engineering, a feature which Andi's comic persona lacks. Ölfuß, both in real life and in the comics, is also the mastermind behind the ''Red Porsche Killer'', a drag-bike with 4
Horex
Horex is a German motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded in 1923 by Fritz Kleemann in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe in Hesse. From 1935 to the mid-1950s, the company operated as Horex-Columbus-Werk K.G.,then as Horex-Werke KG.
The brand name Ho ...
-engines, and the ''Dolmette'', with 24
Dolmar
Makita Engineering Germany GmbH (Dolmar) is one of the oldest manufacturers of portable gasoline chainsaws and is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company founder, Emil Lerp
Emil Lerp (1 January 1886 – 1 January 1966) was a German bus ...
Chainsaw-engines.
Holgi, based upon another real-life acquaintance of the Feldmann brothers, is Werner's and Andi's rival. Holgi is a fanatic
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
lover, considering his car far superior to any motorbike as those fancied by most other characters in the series. In fact, above-mentioned ''Red Porsche Killer'' was designed especially for a race against Holgi that first occurred in the comic book ''Werner Eiskalt'' (1985), and in 1988 even became a real-life event between Brösel and Holgi with thousands of ''Werner'' fans gathering for the race at
Hartenholm
Hartenholm is a municipality in the district of Segeberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after R ...
. The race was repeated in 2004 at the
Lausitzring
The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bo ...
and another repeat is planned for end August 2018 at the original location.
Books
The first book was published in 1981 and compiled shorter works from previous years, drawn in different styles. Starting with the second book the stories became longer and more coherent. While the first books were dominated by black and white line drawings, Feldman added shades of gray starting with book five, later going full color.
Werner comics were first published by the German Semmel-Verlach, later by Achterbahn. German publisher
Heyne Verlag
The Heyne Verlag (formerly Wilhelm Heyne Verlag) is a German publisher based in Munich, which was founded in Dresden in 1934 and sold to Axel Springer in 2000. In 2004 it became part of Random House. Heyne was one of the largest publishing houses ...
reissued the first seven books in 2002. Book 12 was published by
Ehapa
The Egmont Ehapa Publishing Company (officially named Egmont Ehapa Verlag GmbH) was created in 1951 as a subdivision of the Egmont media group.
The name "Ehapa" was taken from the initials of its founder: Egmont Harald Petersen. Ehapa is known ...
, later this publisher also started the release of an annual hardcover edition that was planned to include the first 12 books including sketches and character studies, but was canceled due to poor commercial success. Book 13 later was published by Feldman's own Bröseline. Starting in 2019 Bröseline also published reissues of the first 12 books.
Semmel Verlach
* 1. ''Werner – Oder was?'' (1981)
* 2. ''Werner – Alles klar?'' (1982)
* 3. ''Werner – Wer sonst?'' (1983)
* 4. ''Werner – Eiskalt!'' (1985)
* 5. ''Werner – Normal ja!'' (1987)
* 6. ''Werner – Besser is das!'' (1989)
Achterbahn
* 7. ''Werner – Ouhauerha!'' (1992)
* 8. ''Werner – Wer bremst hat Angst!'' (1994)
*''Werner – Wer bremst hat Angst!'' Interactive
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
* Special volume ''Werner, geht tierisch los'' (1995)
* 9. ''Werner – Na also!'' (1996)
* 10. ''Werner – Exgummibur!'' (1998)
* 11. ''Werner – Volle Latte!'' (2002)
Ehapa
* 12. ''Werner – Freie Bahn mit Marzipan!'' (2004)
Bröseline
*''13. Werner - Wat nu!?'' (2018)
*''1. Werner - Oder was?'' (2019 - reissue)
* 2. Werner - Alles klar? (2019 - reissue)
* 3. Werner - Wer sonst? (2019 - reissue)
* 4. Werner - Eiskalt! (2019 - reissue)
* 5. Werner - Normal ja! (2019 - reissue)
* 6. Werner - Besser is das! (2019 - reissue)
* 7. Werner - Ourhauerha! (not yet published - reissue)
* 8. Werner - Wer bremst hat Angst (2020 - reissue)
* 9. Werner - Na also! (2019 - reissue)
* 10. Werner - Exgummibur! (2019 - reissue)
* 11. Werner - Volle Latte! (2019 - reissue)
* 12. Werner - Freie Bahn mit Marzipan! (not yet published - reissue)
Ehapa hardcover edition
* 1. ''Werner – Oder was?'' (Oktober 2006)
* 2. ''Werner – Alles klar?'' (Juni 2007)
* 3. ''Werner – Wer sonst?'' (Februar 2008)
* 4. ''Werner – Eiskalt!'' (Februar 2009)
* 5. ''Werner – Normal Ja!'' (Februar 2010)
Films
*''
Werner – Beinhart!
Werner – Beinhart! (English title: ''Werner and the Wizard of Booze'') is the first German comedy-comic-film adaption based upon the successful German comic Werner by "Brösel".
Production
Shooting took place in Kiel, Flensburg and Berlin ...
'' (1990)
*' (1996)
*' (1999)
*' (2003)
*' (2011)
See also
* ''
Ogri'', a similar British cartoon
References
External links
Official site (in German)*Korn, Thomas (1999)
''Werner III – A Movie Triple or a German Culture Study?'' ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE – ISSUE 4.4 – JULY 1999, English essay on the ''Werner'' series and franchise, published on the occasion of the third film's release
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
German comic strips
1978 comics debuts
Fictional German people
Fictional unemployed people
Comics characters introduced in 1978
German comics characters
Humor comics
Satirical comics
Adult comics
German comics adapted into films
Comics adapted into animated films
Comics adapted into video games