Merho, born Robert Merhottein on 24 October 1948, 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, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

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 ...

writer and artist, best known for creating the comic strip ''

De Kiekeboes ''De Kiekeboes'' is a comic strip series created by Belgian artist Merho in 1977. The series appears in Dutch. It is first published in the newspapers ''Gazet van Antwerpen'' and ''Het Belang van Limburg'' and then published as comic books by St ...

''.

Early life

Robert Merhottein was born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium in 1948.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Merho". In België gestript, pp. 140–141. Tielt: Lannoo. As a child, he already loved the comics by

Marc Sleen Marcel Honoree Nestor ( ridder) Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. He was mostly known for his comic '' The Adventures of Nero and Co.'', but also created gag comics like '' Piet Fluwijn ...

and

Willy Vandersteen Willy Vandersteen (15 February 1913 – 28 August 1990) was a Belgian creator of comic books. In a career spanning 50 years, he created a large studio and published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 series, selling more than 200 million c ...

, and wanted to become a comics artist when he grew up. He studied at the Sint-Lukas Art School in

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 ...

in the 1960s.

Career

Merho's first two comics, ''Comi en Dakske'' and ''Zoz and Zef'', were made when he is only a teenager. Afterwards, he worked for five years as an assistant on ''

Jerom Jerom is a Flemish comic book character and one of the main cast members in the Belgian comic strip, ''Suske en Wiske'' by Willy Vandersteen. He is the series' strongman and well known for his physically impossible powers that often make him the d ...

'' and ''Pats'' with

Studio Vandersteen A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

, but then started his own series, ''Kiekeboe'', in the newspaper ''

Het Laatste Nieuws ''Het Laatste Nieuws'' (; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and ...

''. Contrary to the other major Flemish newspapers like ''

De Standaard ''De Standaard'' (meaning ''The Standard'' in English) is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Mediahuis (formerly Corelio and VUM). It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and F ...

''/''

Het Nieuwsblad ''Het Nieuwsblad'' (; en, The Newspaper) is a Flemish newspaper that mainly focusses on "a broad view" regarding politics, culture, economics, lifestyle, society and sports. History and profile In 1929, ''Het Nieuwsblad'' was published by ...

'' (with ''

Spike and Suzy ''Spike and Suzy'' (British title), ''Willy and Wanda'' (American title) or ''Luke and Lucy'' (in a 2009 film and video game) (Dutch: ''Suske en Wiske'', french: link=no, Bob et Bobette) is a Belgian comics series created by the comics author Wil ...

'') and '' Het Volk'' (with ''

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

''), ''Het Laatste Nieuws'' had no local,

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; ...

comic strip but only published

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

comics by

Marten Toonder Marten Toonder (2 May 1912 – 27 July 2005) was a Dutch comic strip creator, born in Rotterdam. He was probably the most successful comic artist in the Netherlands and had a great influence on the Dutch language by introducing new words and expr ...

Hans G. Kresse Hans G. Kresse (Amsterdam, 3 December 1921–Doorwerth, 12 March 1992) was a Dutch cartoonist. He was the winner of the 1976 Stripschapprijs. Biography Hans G. Kresse, born in the Netherlands in 1921, started his career as a comics artist in 1938 ...

, which left an opportunity for Merho. ''Kiekeboe'' is a typical Flemish comic, about a normal family which unwillingly gets into all kinds of adventures. Filled with humour (mostly puns and misunderstandings), adventure, movie references, and some slight eroticism with the promiscuous teenage daughter Fanny, the comic became an instant success. The first story was serialized in the newspaper starting on 15 February 1977 and continues almost uninterrupted, although the comic has switched from ''Het Laatste Nieuws'' to ''Gazet van Antwerpen''. With more than 100 albums, the Kiekeboe series is one of the three most successful Flemish comics and sells over 100,000 copies with each new album and 1 million albums per year in total. The series does not have any success abroad, with only a short-lived French, German and English translation, and an unsuccessful rebranding for the Dutch market.

Bibliography

Awards and honours

*1983:

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 Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

*1991: Award for Best Flemish Comic of the Flemish chamber of Comics Experts *2000: Stamp with ''Kiekeboe'' issued by the Belgian Post *2002: Honorary citizen of

Zoersel Zoersel () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of , , and Zoersel proper. In 2021, Zoersel had a total population of 22,142. The total area is 38.65 km2. Sports The women's A s ...

, Belgium

Notes

Sources

* 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

Merho biography
on Lambiek Comiclopedia
Official site (in Dutch)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merho 1948 births Living people Belgian comics artists Belgian comics writers Belgian humorists People from Zoersel