Jef Nys

Jozef "Jef" Nys (born January 30 1927) is a Belgian comic book creator. He is mostly known for his comic strip "Jommeke".

Biography

Jozef Nys was born in Berchem, Belgium in 1927.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Jef Nys". In België gestript, pp. 145-146. Tielt: Lannoo.] Jef Nys studied at the technical school while following lessons at the Art Academy in the evening until he was sixteen. In 1943 and 1944, he studied full time at the Art Academy of Antwerp until it had to close due to the threat of the flying bombs. His colleagues at the Academy included Bob de Moor and Ray Goossens. After the war, he started working at "'t Pallieterke", a satirical weekly newspaper, where he made cartoons, illustrations, and his first comics. Between 1946 and 1955, he made some short-lived comics for different newspapers, before starting "Jommeke" in 1955 for a very popular weekly parochial newspaper "Kerkelijk Leven", which had some redactorial pages (including the comic) for the whole of Flanders, and local pages for every parochy.

"Jommeke" started as a one page gag comic about a boy of about 6 years old, but when it started appearing in the daily newspaper "Het Volk" in 1958, it changed into a comic story of 44 pages about a 10 year old, with his friends and family. Every day, he made 2 strips, in the tradition of the Flemish newspaper comics like "Spike and Suzy" and "Nero", but aimed at a younger audience and with less political comments.

Nys also started in 1963 the fairytale comic "Langteen en Schommelbuik (Longtoe and Wobblebelly)", which ended after 11 stories because the work on Jommeke became too time consuming. Apart from the continuous stories in the newspaper, a few hundred weekly "Jommeke" gags appeared on the back cover of the Flemish comic magazine "Ohee".

Nys worked for many years solely for Catholic newspapers and magazines, and produced many biographies of religious figures. However, in 1970, he divorces his wife and breaks with the Catholic Church.

Nowadays, Jef Nys (aided by a few collaborators) still makes "Jommeke", after more than 200 albums and 50 million copies sold. Some of his comics have been translated in French, English and German, but he has only been truly successful in Flanders, where he is considered as one of the four great comic artists, together with Willy Vandersteen, Marc Sleen and Bob de Moor.

Bibliography

*De avonturen van Kadodderke (The adventures of Kadodderke) in" 't Pallieterke' ", 1946
*Adam leeft nog (Adam still lives) in" 't Pallieterke' ", 1948
*De Familie Knol (The Family Knol) in" 't Pallieterke' ", 1948
*De lotgevallen van Jef Neus (Whatever happened to Jef Nose) in "Gazet van Antwerpen", 1952-1955
*Amadeus en Seppeke (Amadeus and Seppeke), 4 stories in "Het Handelsblad", 1954-1955
*Jommeke in "Kerkelijk Leven", 1955-1958
*Five biographies (Pieter Breughel, Berten Rodenbach, Pius X, Bernadette and Godelieve van Gistel) in "Kerkelijk Leven", 1955-1959
*Six biographies (Johannes XXIII and five other lives of priests and missionaries, including one of Pierre-Jean De Smet) in" 't Kapoentje", 1958-1965
*Langteen en Schommelbuik, 11 stories in" 't Kapoentje", from 1963 on
*De Lustige Kapoentjes (The joyful rascals) in" 't Kapoentje", 1965-1967
*De Jommekesclub (The Jommeke club) in "Ohee", from 1970 on
*Jommeke in "Het Volk", more than 200 adventures from 1958 on

Regular albums have appeared for "Jommeke", "Langteen en Schommelbuik", "De Lustige Kapoentjes", and his biographies. Most of his other works have appeared in limited, bibliophile editions. Currently, only "Jommeke" and "Langteen en Schommelbuik" are easily available in shops.

Awards and honours

* 1997: A statue of "Jommeke" in Middelkerke, Belgium
* 1997: A stamp issued by the Belgian Post
* 1998: A medal issued by the Belgian National Bank
* 2003: Gouden Adhemar at Strip Turnhout, Belgium
* 2006: A statue of "Annemieke and Rozemieke" (from the "Jommeke" comic) in Middelkerke

Notes

Resources

*Danny De Laet (1981), "De geesteskinderen van Jef Nys", in "De avonturen van Amadeus en Seppeke!" page 171-176, Antwerpen, De Dageraad. ISBN 90-6371-121-2