Merho, born Robert Merhottein on 24 October 1948, is a Belgian comic-book writer and artist, best known for creating the comic strip '' De Kiekeboes''.

Early life

Robert Merhottein was born in Antwerp, 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 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 co ...

, 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 th ...

'' 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 an ...

''. 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 ...

'') 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 unt ...

''), ''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 comics by Marten Toonder or Hans G. Kresse, 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 majo ...

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, how ...

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 ...

*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, Belgium

Notes

Sources

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