De Rode Ridder
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De Rode Ridder (The Red Knight) is a Belgian comic book series set in medieval Europe. It stars the titular character Johan, the red knight, easily recognizable by his red tunic. It appears six days a week in the newspaper De Standaard and a few other ones.
The Red Knight was originally conceived by Leopold Vermeiren as the main character in his short stories in 1946. Willy Vandersteen (most famous for his Spike and Suzy series, in cooperation with Leopold Vermeiren and Karel Verschuere, wrote the first comic in 1959. Verschuere was replaced with Frank Sels in 1963.
In 1966 the comic was declining in popularity, and Willy Vandersteen considered ending it. The remaining fans protested, however, and it was decided to continue the comic, written by Karel Biddeloo, who took the comic less in the direction of 'knightly tales' and more in the direction of 'sword and sorcery', to the displeasure of Vandersteen[citation needed]. Still, the comic remained popular. In 2004, after the 206th album, Biddeloo died, and was replaced with the team of the Dutch writer Martin Lodewijk and the German artist Claus D. Scholtz.
Johan's character embodies the chivalric ideal. He is brave to the point of intrepid, virtuous, loyal and an expert swordsman. Most of the albums portray him as a travelling knight, owning nothing except his horse and his equipment. Often he will enter a community under threat by evil. This can be mundane (bandits, barbarian tribes or ruthless noblemen) or magical (evil sorcerers, monstrous races or old curses). Sometimes these present straight out fights, while at other times, Johan has to investigate to find his foe. In the end, Johan and the forces of good are usually triumphant.
His travels have brought him far as well. Egypt, South America, China and even outer space have been the background for Johan's heroics. Chronological accuracy is not much of a concern, Johan having encounered King Arthur from the Dark Ages, as well as having fought in the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302.
Some recurring characters include Bahaal, the Prince of Darkness. An evil creature, initially mortal and slain by King Arthur, he returned as a demonic nemesis. Often, Johan's magic-using antagonists are revealed to be working for him. Galaxa, the Faerie of Light is a benevolent creature first seen in De toverspiegel. In this comic, Johan fell in love with her, but because of Bahaal's actions she can no longer stay in the real world for longer than a few moments. Demonia is Bahaal's henchwoman. Beautiful and malicious, she regularly clashes with Johan. Still, some romantic tension has been suggested between the two.
While generally acting as a lonely knight, Johan has - on occasions - settled down. For a while, together with Lancelot, he was one of the Knights of the Round Table serving under King Arthur, until the king's death in De laatste droom (one of Vandersteen's final comics in this series). Later on, King Arthur would be 'revived' by Biddeloo. Also, Johan stayed at the Castle of Horst for a while, which served as his 'birthplace' and changed the meaning of "Rode" completely, as Johan turned out to be a member of the family of the Lords of Rode, which gave his name a dual meaning, the Red Knight and the Rode Knight, as in the Knight from Rode.
