De Kiekeboes

De Kiekeboes
'Kiekeboes', a mural in Hasselt, 1996.
Created by	Merho
Publication information
Publisher	Standaard Uitgeverij
Schedule	quarterly
Formats	Original material for the series has been published as a set of ongoing series and graphic novels.
Original language	Dutch
Genre	Action/adventure
Publication date	1977
Main character(s)	Marcel Kiekeboe Charlotte Kiekeboe Fanny Kiekeboe Konstantinopel Kiekeboe
Creative team
Writer(s)	Merho
Artist(s)	Merho
Penciller(s)	Thomas Du Caju Kristof Fagard
Inker(s)	Peter Koeken
Colourist(s)	Ria Smit Ine Merhottein Kristof Fagard
Creator(s)	Merho
Reprints
The series has been reprinted, at least in part, in French and English.

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 Standaard Uitgeverij. The series is the best-selling comic in Flanders, but is unsuccessful abroad, with only a few publications in French and English.

History

De Kiekeboes first started in 1977. Merho had previously worked with Willy Vandersteen but wanted to create his own series. The first story, De Wollebollen, started in Het Laatste Nieuws. on 15 February 1977.^[1]

New albums in the series appear every three months, and sell over 100,000 copies each.^[2] Like most Flemish comic strips, De Kiekeboes comics are steady sellers, with most of the series available for sale at any one time. New titles are the best selling comics in Flanders, with some 80,000 copies sold in the first year of publication. In 2007, only the Dutch translation of the final Harry Potter book sold more copies.^[3]

After being assisted for a while by Steve Van Bael and then by Dirk Stallaert, Merho announced that from 1 January 2006 on, the comics would be drawn by Steve Van Bael and Thomas Du Caju, who would each produce two comics a year. Merho continues to write the stories and to make early sketches.^[4]

To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the comic strip in 2007, an exposition was held in the Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art and a wall painting was unveiled in Antwerp.^[2] Statues of Kiekeboe and of his daughter Fanny are placed in Middelkerke.^[5] Another statue of Kiekeboe can be found in Halle-Zoersel.^[6]

Characters

Ordered by approximate number of appearances.

Marcel Kiekeboe: protagonist of the comic book series, sort of an 'average Joe' with an average job, attracts adventure and goes along with it.
Charlotte Kiekeboe: Marcel's wife, housewife, often (mostly unwillingly) joining the adventures. She's smarter than Marcel and this usually helps the family getting out of trouble.
Fanny Kiekeboe: their daughter, around 20 years old. Socially engaged (feminism, animal rights,...), self-conscious, sexy and adventurous, she often gets in trouble. Before the 100th album, she had a new boyfriend in every story. After that, she was in some more or less steady relationships.
Konstantinopel Kiekeboe: their son, extremely smart (certainly in the first stories), in his early teens. Sometimes a troublemaker and never cautious.
Jens: a professional stuntman and boyfriend of Fanny in a solid relationship around the 100th albums. Until Fanny breaks up with him. He still appears now and then, and tries to help Fanny when she's in trouble. However, Fanny also ends up saving Jens quite often.

Leon Van Der Neffe: neighbour of the Kiekeboe family, war veteran, ill-tempered and paranoid. Big enemy of Marcel - but never the 'bad guy'.
Carmella Van Der Neffe: Leon Van Der Neffe's (ex-)wife.
Joeksel and Froefroe: Leon and Carmella Van Der Neffe's children, friends with Konstantinopel, much to the chagrin of their parents.

Fernand Goegebuer: other neighbour of the Kiekeboe family, all-around good guy, but spits while he speaks.
Jozefien "Moemoe" Kiekeboe: Marcel's mother, always complaining about/to him and talking about the 'adventures' of her (never shown) best friend Mrs. Stokvis.
Inspecteur Sapperdeboere: Inspector in local police, is more interested in food than in his cases, which is why the main family has to solve them themselves.
Firmin Van De Kasseien: Marcel's boss, constantly has extramarital affairs with young beautiful women and often needs Marcel to keep them hidden.
Balthazar: 'self-employed' thief, 'the only burglar in the golden pages', tries to do small crimes but constantly fails.
Mevrouw Stokvis: unseen best friend of Moemoe, even when the story revolves around her (#56), it's because she 'disappears' and she is not seen.
Dédé La Canaille: French criminal, is caught because of Marcel and subsequently wants to kill him whenever he regains his freedom (similar to Sideshow Bob).
Mona: old love of Marcel, until she gets bitten by a vampire and becomes a sexy vampirewoman, tries to seduce Marcel every time she shows up.
Timothea Triangl: short, transsexual 'master'-criminal.
Nonkel Vital: Marcel's uncle, brother of Marcel's father, lives in the countryside
Leo Van Der Neffe: Leon Van Der Neffe's twin brother, works as a prison guard.

The fat lady: recurring extra, appears in at least one image every album, but never has any role of significance in the story (although she does sometimes have an influence).

Titles

De Wollebollen
De duivelse driehoek
De dorpstiran van Boeloe Boeloe
De onthoofde sfinx
Tegen de sterren op
Kiekeboe in Carré
De schat van Mata Hari
De Haar-Tisten
De zwarte Zonnekoning
De doedelzak van Mac Reel
Spoken in huis
De Trawanten van Spih
Kies Kiekeboe
Een zakje chips
Mysterie op Spell-Deprik
Meesterwerken bij de vleet
Fanny Girl
Bing Bong
Geeeeef acht!
De Ka-Fhaar
De pili-pili pillen
De omgekeerde piramide
De snor van Kiekeboe
De anonieme smulpapen
Het plan SStoeffer
Album 26
De getatoeëerde mossel
Over koetjes en kalfjes
De zoete regen
Het lot van Charlotte
Klavertje vier
Het edelweissmotief
De een zijn dood
De zaak Luc Raak
Kiekeboeket
Het witte bloed
Jeanne Darm
Prettige feestdagen
De fez van Fes
Villa Delfia
De bende van Moemoe
De spray-historie
De spookfirma
Hotel O
Een koud kunstje
Konstantinopel in Istanboel
De taart
Black-out
De Medusa-stichting
Afgelast wegens ziekte
Met de Franse slag
De wraak van Dédé
De roze Rolls
Gedonder om de bliksem
Schiet niet op de pianist
Het Stokvis-incident
Zeg het met bloemen
Haaiman
De kus van Mona
Het gat in de kaas
De zes sterren
Doorgestoken kaart
Moet er nog sneeuw zijn
De onweerstaanbare man
De comeback van Dédé
De hoofdzaak
Het geslacht Kinkel
Thantomthant
Zand erover
Witter dan wit
King Sacha
Het Zipan-project
Hoe meer kijkers
De wereld volgens Kiekeboe
Het idee van Dédé
Kiekebanus (this album also belongs to the series of Urbanus)
Drempelvrees
Havana Gilla
Kunst en vliegwerk
De babyvampier
Blond en blauw
De aqua-rel
Lang zullen ze leven
Het lijk had gelijk
In het spoor van Dédé
Misstoestanden
De Simstones
De hoed van Robin
De S van Pion
Black e-mail
De affaire Chichi
De Heeren van Scheurbuyck
In tweevoud
Taxi Comitée
Alles kitsch
De Incabouter
Kielekiele Boe
Verkeerd verbonden
Mona, de musical
99 Plus
In vuur en vlam
De potloodmummie
Heil Bod
De Himbagodin
Het Boerka Complot
Vrolijke vrolijke vrienden
Tiznoland
De DT fout
Een echte Vitalko
Baas boven baas
Dédé bij nacht
En in kwade dagen
De wokchinees
Bij verdiensten
Het boemerangeffect
Boek.Bv
Drie bollen met slagroom
Kort en bondig
Geld terug
Joyo De Eerste
De Kangoeroeclub
Doodeenvoudig / Eenvoudig dood
Vluchtmisdrijf
Stinkend rijk
Vrouwen komen van Mars (originally: En seks natuurlijk)
Tienduizend dagen
De Pepermunten
Nood in Macadamia
Grof Wild
Het SS-Syndroom
Omtrent Oscar
Alle Eendjes
Een dagje Dédé
Schatjes op zolder
Code E
Schijnheilig bloed
Bistro Dodo
Geen rook
Zonder vuur
Bubbelspel
De dode brievenbus
Tot op de bodem

Special release

Kiekeboe Down Under

Notes

↑ Kempeneers, Michel (2006-11-30). "Merho over 30 jaar Kiekeboe". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch) (Belgium). Retrieved 2008-09-23.
1 2 jns (Belga) (2006-11-29). "Kiekeboe viert dertigste verjaardag". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch) (Belgium). Retrieved 2008-09-23.
↑ "Boekenverkoop Vlaanderen stijgt met 8%" (in Dutch). Boek.be. 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
↑ Geeraerts, Glenn (2005-10-05). "Kiekeboe krijgt twee nieuwe vaders". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch) (Belgium). Retrieved 2008-09-23.
↑ "Stripfestival focust op 30 jaar Kiekeboe". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch) (Belgium). 2007-07-14. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
↑ Simons, Marc (2007-08-27). "Merho komt handen te kort om te signeren". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch) (Belgium). Retrieved 2008-09-23.

External links

Official site

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