Franka
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- For the German athlete, see Franka Dietzsch.
Franka is a popular Dutch comic book series and strip cartoon, drawn and written since the mid 1970s by the graphic artist Henk Kuijpers. The principal character is a strong female sleuth who solves mysteries in exotic locales.
Franka has been published in a variety of languages, including German, French, and Spanish.
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[edit] Principal character
Franka (Francesca Victoria), the lead character that the series is named after, is a young, attractive and adventurous female private investigator[1] living in Groterdam, a city so closely based on Amsterdam that she eventually resides in the real thing (starting off with 1993's Flight From Atlantis). Her cases often take place in the worlds of art, antiquities, fashion and film, and also often feature exotic locales full of smugglers, pirates and other shady businessmen.
Dominant women are a recurring theme of the series, similar to other Franco-Belgian comics series such as Yoko Tsuno. In the most recent volumes Franka has however acquired a male partner and love interest, the reformed art thief Rix. She is almost always accompanied by her dog Bars.
[edit] Drawing style
Franka is an example of the ligne claire style frequently associated with European comics, and Kuijpers' drawing style is noted for its high artistic standards, particularly clarity of line and accurate detail of elements like cars and buildings.[2] The panels often contain additional little interesting or humorous details not relevant to the main storyline.
The style of drawing has developed significantly from the early comics, in which for example the characters had large eyes and squat proportions, to the more realistic figure drawing of the middle volumes to the slightly more stylized, less rounded look of the latest issues. Also changed were the visual depiction of females - the Franka of the later volumes is a much more sexual creature than in the early volumes, were she only had friends, but never partners. While the early volumes rarely show nakedness, the middle and late volumes often play with erotic poses and show Franka and other characters naked, though sexual acts are no more than hinted at.
[edit] Publications
[edit] Publication history
Franka has been published over a period of years in numerous comic books, which form a connected series, incidents from previous volumes being frequently referred to in later episodes, although the individual volumes can also be read independently.
For many years Franka was also serialised in Veronica Magazine, the magazine of Veronica TV, which with weekly sales of over 1,000,000 was among the most widely circulated Dutch periodicals.
Franka has also been published in German, Spanish and the Scandinavian languages, as well as in French, serialised in Spirou.[2][3]
[edit] Albums in the official series
The following are the Dutch language editions. From volume 1 to volume 8 the publisher was Oberon, from volume 9 to 15, Big Balloon, and from volume 16 Franka BV.
- Het Misdaadmuseum (Museum of Crime) (1978)
- Het Meesterwerk (Masterpiece) (1978)
- De Terugkeer van de Noorderzon (Return of the Northern Sun) (1978)
- De Wraak van het Vrachtschip (The Wreck of the Freighter) (1979)
- De Terugkeer van de Noorderzon and De Wraak van het Vrachtschip together form one episode.
- Circus Santekraam (1981)
- includeds the episode Day of the Animals.
- Het Monster van de Moerplaat (The Swamp Monster) (1982)
- also includes the episodes Pyromaniac and Saboteur.
- De Tanden van de Draak (The Dragon's Teeth) (1984)
- De Ondergang van de Donderdraak (The Dragon's Fall)(1986)
- De Tanden van de Draak and De Ondergang van de Donderdraak together form one episode.
- Moordende Concurrentie (Murderous Competition) (1990)
- Gangsterfilm (Gangster Film) (1992)
- De Vlucht van de Atlantis (Flight from Atlantis) (1993)
- De Blauwe Venus (The Blue Venus) (1994)
- De Dertiende Letter (The Thirteenth Letter) (1995)
- Het Portugese Goudschip (The Portuguese Gold Ship) (1996)
- De Ogen van de Roerganger (The Eyes of the Oarsman) (1997)
- Het Portugese Goudschip and De Ogen van de Roerganger together form one episode.
- Succes Verzekerd (Success Guaranteed) (1999)
- Eigen risico (At Your Own Risk) (2001)
- Succes Verzekerd and Eigen Risico together form one episode.
- Kidnap (2004)
- Het zwaard van Iskander (The Sword of Iskander) (2006)
- De Witte Godin (The Gordian Knot) (in preparation)
- Het zwaard van Iskander and De Gordiaanse Godin together form one episode De reis van de Ishtar (The Journey of Ishtar)
[edit] Albums not in the main series
- The Cadillac Club (1988)
- Harley Collection (1998)
- Kerstkaarten, Overschakelen and Aquarellen(2000)
- These three volumes ("Christmas Cards", "Dust Jackets" and "Watercolours") appeared in the "kill them pirates" edition produced by Franka BV as a reaction to pirated publications of Franka items after a quantity of Kuijpers' drawings had been stolen.
- Felle Flitsen (2002), specially produced for strip cartoon week by the publishing house Silvester of 's-Hertogenbosch.
- Het geheim van de archiefkast ("The Secret of the Muniment Chest") (1989)
- Het halssnoer ("The Noose") (date of publication unknown) - early version of "Moordende Concurrentie".
- Technicolor Widescreen (date of publication unknown)
[edit] References
- ^ Note that some references incorrectly describe her as an archaeologist, though she has no professional training, nor is interest in archeology a major element. She does however start the series working for a criminology museum (Album #1, 'Misdaadmuseum'), and later on has her own PI agency, supporting the private investigator assessment.
- ^ a b Henk Kuijpers. Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
- ^ BDoubliées. Franka publications dans Spirou (French).
[edit] External links
- Franka official site at Uitgeverij Franka BV (Dutch)
- Detailed list of Franka publications (Dutch)
- Epsilon Verlag, German publishers (German)
