Willy Vandersteen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Willy Vandersteen
Born	Willebrord Jan Frans Maria Vandersteen (1913-02-15)15 February 1913 Antwerp, Belgium
Died	28 August 1990(1990-08-28) (aged 77) Antwerp, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Area(s)	Writer, Artist
Pseudonym(s)	Kaproen, Wil, Wirel
Notable works	Suske en Wiske De Rode Ridder Robert en Bertrand
Awards	full list

Willy Vandersteen (born February 15, 1913 – died August 28, 1990) was a famous Belgian creator of comic books. Over 50 years, he built a large studio. He published more than 1,000 comic albums in over 25 different series. His comics sold more than 200 million copies around the world.

Many people see him, along with Marc Sleen, as a founder of Flemish comics. He is very popular in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Hergé, who created Tintin, called him "The Brueghel of the comic strip." Because he built his own studio and made so many comics, some called him "the Walt Disney of the Low Countries" (Belgium and the Netherlands).

Vandersteen is best known for Suske en Wiske. This series is known in English as Spike and Suzy, Luke and Lucy, Willy and Wanda, or Bob and Bobette. In 2008, 3.5 million Suske en Wiske books were sold. His other big series include De Rode Ridder with over 200 albums. Also, Bessy had almost 1,000 albums published in Germany.

Willy Vandersteen's Life Story

Early Years (1913–1939)

Willebrord Jan Frans Maria Vandersteen was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on February 15, 1913. His father worked as a decorator and wood sculptor. Their home was near a printer that made De Kindervriend. This was an early weekly magazine for young people in Flanders. Young Willy, only four years old, read the new magazine every week. It even had an early comic strip called Blutske. His mother was interested in ballet and singing. One of her favorite singers, Wiske Ghijs, might have inspired the name "Wiske" for a main character in Spike and Suzy.

Willy loved to be creative from a young age. He drew with crayons on sidewalks. He made up stories for his friends about knights and old legends. He even got his friends to buy him crayons to draw local bike races. At school, he liked telling stories and learning about art the most. He especially remembered a teacher who showed him the art of Pieter Brueghel. Outside school, he read comic magazines and adventure books. He enjoyed stories by Jules Verne and books about Nick Carter and Buffalo Bill. At 13, he studied sculpture at the Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp. Two years later, he started working as a sculptor and decorator, like his father.

In 1935, the market for stone decorations slowed down. Willy took on different jobs. He also became very active in sports like gymnastics, cycling, and wrestling. In 1936, he got a job decorating windows for L'Innovation, a Belgian store chain. That same year, he met Paula Van Den Branden. They married on October 9, 1937. They had their first child, Helena, in 1938. In 1939, they moved to Schilde, a more rural area.

While working, he read an American magazine article called Comics in your Life. This made him very interested in comics. He found The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé and the realistic art of Hal Foster in Prince Valiant. It took a few more years for him to publish his own comics regularly. His first drawings appeared in Entre Nous, the store's internal magazine.

War Years and First Comics (1940–1944)

In March 1940, his second child, Bob, was born. Soon after, World War II started in Belgium. After the first difficult times of the war, Vandersteen went back to work at L'Innovation. From November 1940 to August 1942, he created his first published comic, Kitty Inno. These were short, simple funny drawings. When the German occupiers stopped American and British comics from being published, it opened doors for local artists. On March 19, 1941, his comic strip Tor de holbewoner (Tor the Caveman) appeared in the newspaper De Dag. It ran until January 1942. Soon after, on March 26, 1941, De lollige avonturen van Pudifar (The Funny Adventures of Pudifar) started. This was a weekly comic about a cat. It was later replaced by Barabitje, another cat comic, which ended in October 1941.

In 1942, Vandersteen left L'Innovation. He started illustrating magazines for a government organization about agriculture. During these years, his family moved to Wilrijk, another part of Antwerp.

At this organization, Vandersteen met a colleague whose wife worked at Bravo. This was a weekly Flemish comics magazine. Because of the war, they needed local artists to replace the American comics they used to print. Vandersteen joined Bravo in 1943, and his comic career truly began. He first created Tori, a new version of his prehistoric Tor. A few weeks later, his new comic Simbat de Zeerover (Simbat the Sailor) was published on the cover in color. This was a first for Vandersteen.

For the Antwerp publisher Ons Volk, he created three comics that were published as books. Piwo, about a wooden horse, became his first comic album in 1943. Two more Piwo books followed in 1944 and 1946. These comics were also published in French. He also illustrated 11 children's books for the same publisher. In these years, he drew covers for novels from other publishers too. In 1944, he started working for two more magazines, De Rakker and De Illustratie. He made comics and many illustrations for them. To help with all this work, his wife Paula often inked his pencil drawings.

Post-War Success (1944–1949)

After Belgium was freed in September 1944, many new magazines for young people appeared. Vandersteen worked for many of these. He continued publishing Lancelot in Bravo. He also contributed to French magazines like Franc Jeu.

A very important moment for his career came in 1944. He was invited by Standaard Boekhandel, a chain of bookstores that also published books. They were interested in his work. Vandersteen showed them ideas for a daily comic strip. They put that on hold and first ordered four children's books from him. These were published in 1945 and 1946 in Dutch and French.

On March 30, 1945, the daily comic strip Rikki en Wiske began in the newspaper De Nieuwe Standaard. It was an instant hit. The first story ran until December 15, 1945. However, Vandersteen was not happy that the editor changed the name to Rikki en Wiske. He wanted it to be Suske en Wiske. He also felt Rikki looked too much like Tintin.

In the next story, Rikki disappeared. The long series of adventures of Suske en Wiske then began with the story Op het eiland Amoras. It became much more successful than the author expected. The first album came out in 1946. This story introduced most of the main characters and ways to travel through space and time. It set the stage for the whole series. By 1946, it was also published in the Dutch newspaper De Stem.

On December 22, 1945, three days after Suske en Wiske op het eiland Amoras started, the first page of De Familie Snoek (The Family Snoek) appeared. This was a weekly series of funny drawings about a modern Flemish family. It lasted for 11 albums.

Vandersteen also made other comics during these years. His work for Ons Volkske was very important. This was a youth supplement that became its own comic magazine. Marc Sleen was the main editor. Vandersteen created realistic stories of about 20 pages each. He developed his own style, moving beyond the influence of Harold Foster. In August 1946, he created the funny strip De Vrolijke Bengels (The Happy Rascals). More adult comics appeared in Ons Volk magazine.

In 1947, two publishers had a legal fight over newspaper names. Vandersteen worked for both for a while. He then switched to the new owners of De Standaard. He continued to work for Ons Volkske, which was renamed 't Kapoentje. The publishers of De Standaard also continued the Suske en Wiske album series. The first albums of De Familie Snoek also appeared. With big advertising campaigns, they sold very well. The first Snoek album was already in its third printing by 1948. Vandersteen's popularity was huge. About 25,000 readers switched to the Standaard newspaper when he did.

Vandersteen worked for De Standaard for the rest of his life. He also contributed to their other publications. These included Ons Volkske (a new newspaper supplement) and Het Nieuwsblad (a more popular newspaper). He made illustrations and comics as needed. For Ons Volk, he made realistic stories until 1951.

Vandersteen was now very productive as a solo artist. He also started contributing to Kuifje journal (Tintin magazine), which published Hergé's work. This magazine was very popular in Wallonia. A popular Flemish author like Vandersteen could boost sales in Flanders. It could also help Vandersteen become known in the French-speaking market. Hergé, as editor-in-chief, had very high quality standards. Vandersteen had to improve his drawing style. He also had to remove some of the more local Flemish parts of his comics. Vandersteen agreed, and the Suske en Wiske stories he made for Kuifje are now seen as some of his best. The first one, Het Spaanse Spook (The Spanish Ghost), started on September 16, 1948, and is considered a masterpiece. Because of his work for Kuifje, Hergé called Vandersteen "The Brueghel of the Comic Strip."

The Studio Vandersteen (1950s)

Vandersteen could no longer handle all the work by himself. In 1949, he hired his first helper, François-Joseph Herman. Herman stayed for three years. This was the start of the large Studio Vandersteen, which still continues the series today. Karel Boumans joined in 1952. He worked mainly on De grappen van Lambik, a Suske en Wiske spin-off. He also inked many Suske en Wiske comics, including those in Tintin. Vandersteen focused more on creating the stories and the first pencil drawings. He saw this as the artistic part, while inking was more of a craft.

The years from 1949 to 1953 are often seen as the best time in Vandersteen's career. He made many comics that were consistently high quality. The stories, jokes, characters, and art were all great. The unique charm of his early work mixed well with the clear drawing style of Hergé. Many of these stories were based on popular classics. These included stories by Alexandre Dumas, tales of Buffalo Bill, and even parts of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. A highlight was his two-part comic about the legend of Till Eulenspiegel, made for Kuifje.

From this time on, Vandersteen spent more time researching for his comics. His early comics came mostly from his imagination. They visited made-up countries or stayed close to home. Now, he started traveling to visit real places for new comics. Trips to Bruges, Monaco, and Venice inspired three stories in Kuifje.

In 1953, after Tijl Uilenspiegel was finished, Vandersteen created a new funny strip for Kuifje. 't Prinske told the funny adventures of a young prince in a made-up country. It ran until 1959 and had about 300 comics.

In 1951, Vandersteen met Karel Verschuere, a young artist. Vandersteen hired him, and Verschuere soon became his main artist for the realistic comic series. His first series was Judi, a retelling of the Old Testament in four albums. It first appeared in Ons Volkske. Verschuere also helped with the second part of Tijl Uilenspiegel. His most important work for Vandersteen was on Bessy. This was a Western series inspired by the popular dog Lassie. It started in 1952 in the Walloon newspaper La Libre Belgique. The series appeared under the name WiRel, which combined Willy and Karel. This showed how important Verschuere's work was. He worked with Vandersteen until 1967. He helped with many realistic series Vandersteen created, including Karl May, Biggles, and especially De Rode Ridder.

The success of Bessy, which also appeared in Dutch from 1953, led to the creation of the Studio Vandersteen. This showed that many comics were no longer made by Willy Vandersteen alone. With the comics in Kuifje, Vandersteen became popular in Wallonia too. All Bessy and Suske en Wiske comics were published in French.

Expanding the Studio (1960s)

In 1966, Vandersteen moved back to the Antwerp area, to Kalmthout. There, next to his house, he built the main location for his Studio.

The Bessy comics were also published in Felix, a German comic magazine. From 1965, the German publisher wanted a brand new story every month. This increased to twice a month in 1966. Vandersteen could not produce comics that fast. He had to make his Studio much bigger. Led by Karel Verschuere, a team of about ten young artists mass-produced the comics. These comics were not always as high quality. The most important artists were Frank Sels and Edgar Gastmans. Many stories were written by Daniël Janssens. In late 1967, Verschuere left. At the same time, the German publisher wanted one complete comic every week. The Studio was then split up. Sels and Gastmans started working as freelancers. The next year, they tried to sell directly to the Germans without Vandersteen. Vandersteen then had to reorganize the Bessy Studio. He hired Jeff Broeckx. The Studio continued until 1985. It produced more than 900 Bessy comics.

The German publisher also asked Vandersteen for a second weekly series. Superheroes, like Batman, were very popular. So, Vandersteen suggested a spin-off series of Suske en Wiske based on Jerom, the strongman of the series. Called Wastl in German, 173 stories were made between 1968 and 1972. Sales reached 150,000 copies at their peak. The best of these stories were also published in Dutch. But the stories were not very strong, and the series ended after only four years.

The main artists in Studio Vandersteen in the 1960s and later were Karel Verschuere, Frank Sels, Eduard De Rop, Eugeen Goossens, Karel Biddeloo, and Paul Geerts. Eduard De Rop joined in 1959 and stayed for over thirty years. He worked mostly on smaller series like Jerom and Pats. But he also helped with almost all series, including Suske en Wiske. He contributed to the early adventures of De Rode Ridder. De Rode Ridder was created by writer Leopold Vermeiren in 1946. It was published in books from 1954. Its success led to a comic series. The main contributors were Verschuere, Eduard De Rop, and Vandersteen's son Bob. De Rode Ridder became Vandersteen's third big success. It is now the longest-running series after Suske en Wiske. Frank Sels replaced Karel Verschuere in 1963.

Karel Verschuere also started the Karl May series in 1962, based on famous books. Vandersteen's help with this and similar series like Biggles was small. He mainly supervised and made some first sketches. Frank Sels continued the series between 1963 and 1966.

Vandersteen had to deliver many pages each week for the newspaper supplement Pats. This increased to 16 pages in 1965. Eduard De Rop brought back De Familie Snoek with new funny drawings for a few years. Other series like Karl May were also published here. Biggles, another realistic series started by Verschuere in 1965, took the place of Karl May in the main newspaper.

When Frank Sels left the Studio in 1967, Karel Biddeloo took over most of Vandersteen's realistic series. He made Karl May from 1967 to 1969. He also took over Biggles, which ended in 1969. It was replaced by the jungle series Safari, inspired by Daktari. At the start of Safari, Vandersteen did most of the creative work. But after a few albums, he left most of the work to Biddeloo. The series ended in 1974. Biddeloo then spent most of his time on De Rode Ridder. He started inking the stories by Vandersteen in 1967. He took over completely in 1969 when Vandersteen lost interest. He continued working on it until he passed away in 2004.

Later Years (1970s–1980s)

Paul Geerts joined the Studio in 1968. He first worked as an artist on the German Jerom comics. In 1969, he replaced De Rop as the main inker for Suske en Wiske. Geerts also got Vandersteen's attention when he suggested some stories for Jerom. In 1971, he made his first story for Suske en Wiske. From 1972, he became the main creator of the main series Suske en Wiske. He continued it until the late 1990s. De Rop and Goossens became the main inkers again. Geerts was in charge of the stories and pencil art. In these years, Suske en Wiske became most popular. Older stories were republished in color. In 1975 and 1976, Dutch television showed six puppet movies with new Suske en Wiske stories. They were very successful. Sales of new albums reached over 200,000 copies. The business of selling products related to the comics also grew. Making comics for companies became a big new job for the Studio.

Two new artists, Erik De Rop and Robert Merhottein, joined the Studio. Merhottein was the only artist to leave Studio Vandersteen and start his own successful series.

Vandersteen, now free from the daily comic work, started a comic series based on a novel he read as a youth. This was Robert en Bertrand, about two Flemish travelers at the end of the 19th century. The series started in De Standaard in 1972. This series made Vandersteen excited about comics again. The art and stories were much better than most of the Studio's work at that time.

For the newspaper supplement Pats, he also created the title series in 1974. But he left most of the work to Merhottein. The series changed its name to Tits in 1977 after a legal issue. It ended in 1986.

In 1976, Vandersteen's wife Paula passed away. He remarried on June 25, 1977, to Anne-Marie Vankerkhoven. Vandersteen was now a famous artist with TV shows made about him. He continued to work on his comics. In 1977, he received a special Alfred award for the best story at the Angoulême International Comics Festival for the Robert en Bertrand story De stakingbreker (The Strike Breaker). In 1978, a Suske en Wiske statue was put up in the Antwerp Zoo.

Final Years and Legacy (1980s)

Vandersteen & Geerts (1985)

The 1980s had mixed results for his comics. Some smaller or less successful series ended. Robert en Bertrand, which critics liked but did not sell well, stopped in 1993. This was 8 years after Vandersteen stopped writing the stories. Jerom and Bessy were updated but ended a few years later, in 1988 and 1993. Pats, later called Tits, ended in 1986.

Suske en Wiske continued to be a steady success. Although sales dropped from the highest points of the 1970s, it remained one of the most popular Flemish comics.

Willy Vandersteen created one last new series in 1985: De Geuzen. This was a historical, funny comic set in Flanders in the 16th century. It was similar to his older Tijl Uilenspiegel series. This comic combined many of Vandersteen's interests, including the art of Pieter Brueghel the Elder. It had his most developed characters, unlike the simpler characters in his earlier series. The art quality was very high, similar to his work for Kuifje. These comics were not published in newspapers first. Vandersteen mostly created them alone. This ensured high quality but also made the publication slower. Only ten albums were released. The series ended when Vandersteen passed away.

Willy Vandersteen died on August 28, 1990. He had a lung disease that made him weak. He kept working until shortly before his death. His Studio still continues today, with Suske en Wiske and De Rode Ridder as its main series.

Themes and Influences in Vandersteen's Work

Willy Vandersteen used many different themes and ideas in his comics from early on. He made fairytales, historical series, Westerns, science fiction, and many comics about modern life. Some series, like De Familie Snoek and Bessy, stayed very close to their original idea. De Familie Snoek was about an everyday Flemish family. Bessy was about a pioneer family in the American Old West. Other series were more flexible. De Rode Ridder, about a medieval knight, traveled through different time periods. It went from Arthurian tales to the crusades and explorations of the 15th and 16th centuries. Later, it included elements of sword and sorcery and fantasy.

Suske en Wiske is a modern series. But many stories used time travel, either by a machine or other magical ways. This allowed stories to happen in many different periods, often in the Middle Ages. Vandersteen also used local legends from Antwerp and Limburg. He made fun of American superhero series like Batman and used science fiction. Popular TV series also gave him ideas. Vandersteen also got ideas from his long trips, like his journey to the Far East in 1959. Some of Willy Vandersteen's earliest realistic comics clearly show the strong influence of American comics like Prince Valiant and Tarzan. But he later created his own unique style.

International Popularity

Vandersteen always wanted his comics to be successful beyond Flanders. He soon made his comics less specific to Flemish culture after his first works. He already worked and published in French during the War. In the 1940s, he expanded Suske en Wiske to the Netherlands through newspaper publications. He also reached Wallonia and France through Tintin magazine. All Suske en Wiske albums, and many albums from other series like De Familie Snoek, were also published in French. Bessy was even first created for a Walloon newspaper before being translated into Dutch. By 1978, an estimated 80 million Suske en Wiske albums had been sold in Dutch.

Other countries and languages soon followed. The first German translations appeared in 1954. In the 1960s, Bessy and, to a lesser extent, Jerom were hugely successful in Germany. They had over 1000 weekly comics with about 200,000 copies sold. Later in the 1950s, comics were published in Chile and Portugal. Spain followed in the 1960s. In the following years, Vandersteen's comics, especially Suske en Wiske, were published in many languages. However, in most cases, only a few albums were translated. More than 9 albums were published in the United States. In Sweden, 69 albums were published, along with related products. The Finnish series also became popular.

Merchandise and Products

In the 1950s, products related to Suske en Wiske started to appear. Vandersteen was a good businessman as well as an artist. He was excited when he got the idea to make a puppet show of the series. As early as 1947, the first puppets were for sale. These were followed by a series of 5 hand puppets in 1957 and a Jerom-themed game in 1960. In 1955, two years after television started in Flanders, an animated Suske en Wiske adventure was shown every Saturday afternoon. Other products included Suske en Wiske drinking glasses in 1954. There were also 5 large hand-painted ceramic statues of the main heroes in 1952. Coloring books, calendars, and puzzles soon followed. Two records were released by Decca in 1956. Vandersteen also created comics for companies using Suske en Wiske. He started with a comic for the province of Antwerp to promote tourism in 1957.

Awards and Recognition

• 1959: Honorary citizen of Deurne (a town near Antwerp)
• 1977: Angoulême International Comics Festival prize for Best Foreign Author, France
• 2007: Prestige award at the Prix Saint-Michel in Brussels
• Vandersteen is also an honorary citizen of Kalmthout. A statue of Vandersteen is located on Willy Vandersteen Square.

According to UNESCO's Index Translationum, Vandersteen is the sixth most translated Dutch language author. He is after Anne Frank, Dick Bruna, Cees Nooteboom, Guido van Genechten, and Phil Bosmans. He is more translated than famous authors like Janwillem van de Wetering, Harry Mulisch, Hugo Claus, and Johan Huizinga.

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