Krimson
| Krimson | |
|---|---|
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Standaard Uitgeverij (Belgium) |
| First appearance |
Suske en Wiske: Het Rijmende Paard (1963). |
| Created by | Willy Vandersteen |
Krimson is a Flemish comic book character and the main antagonist in the Belgian comic strip series Suske en Wiske. He is a doctor, billionaire and supervillain who wants to take over the world.
Krimson made his debut in the album "Het Rijmende Paard" ("The Rhyming Horse" (1962-1963), in which he appears as a cranky millionaire with his own private chauffeur who nearly runs Suske and Wiske over with his car while the children try to cross a forest path on horseback. Later he sends the owner of their manège a threatening letter, signing it too. It's here that the audience first learns his name. When Suske and Wiske tell Tante Sidonia and Lambik about Krimson Lambik happens to have heard from him. In fact, he panicks and tells them "he is the biggest criminal in the world." Later in the story Krimson becomes the protagonists' major opponent when he tries to catch the Rhyming Horse to use it for smuggling, but is defeated when his plane crashes. In the same story Krimson's dependence on pills and butler Achiel are introduced.
Krimson's physical appearance was based on a man, Henri Vinoelst, who often visited the manège where Vandersteen's daughter was a regular customer. Initially he resembled Vinoelst so much that the man complained about being misrepresented. As a result Vandersteen was forced to make him less recognizable by stylizing Vinoelst's features and giving Krimson a goatee.
Krimson returned in "De Sissende Sampan" ("The Hissing Sampan") (1963), where it turns out he exploits children in Hong Kong as child laborers on local papaver fields for drug trafficking. However, this is only revealed on the next to final page when he explains that he survived the plane crash in the previous story. He ends up in jail, but in the next story, "Het Zoemende Ei" ("The Buzzing Egg") (1964) he escapes and tries to gain the mysterious Buzzing Egg, an extra-terrestrial artefact which crash landed in the Brazilian jungle. The Egg eventually turns out to be a robot who will solve all of man's conflicts on Earth and bring world peace. Krimson is so humbled that he gives the robot a bouquet, but it turns out to be a bomb. To him war means money and therefore he doesn't want world peace. Jerom is able to dismantle the bomb in the nick of time, but the robot melts because it can't take the Earth's temperatures. From this album on he became the series' most recurring antagonist.
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