Urbanus (comics)

Urbanus (comics)
Urbanus and Amedee the fly.
Publication information
Publisher	Loempia Standaard Uitgeverij
Formats	Original material for the series has been published as a set of graphic novels.
Original language	Dutch
Genre
Creative team
Writer(s)	Urbanus
Artist(s)	Willy Linthout

Urbanus is a Flemish celebrity comic strip loosely based on Flemish comedian and singer Urbanus. The stories are written by Urbanus himself and drawn by Willy Linthout. The first story was published in 1982 and is still in syndication as of this day, being the longest-running and most successful Flemish comic strip based on a celebrity. The comics sell well in the Netherlands too, due to Urbanus' popularity there.

In the series Urbanus is portrayed as an eleven to twelve-year old version of himself, despite his full-grown beard. Just like the real Urbanus he lives in Tollembeek, but here end all similarities. Urbanus is portrayed as a bad young boy who frequently tries to trick the local villagers, his parents, his teacher, his fellow students and gets into trouble for it. The style of comedy is absurd, black and often vulgar. All animals in this comic strip are able to talk. Pop culture references to TV shows, comics, cartoons, films and Urbanus' own merchandise are frequently made. The authors deliberately use Flemish dialect instead of standard Dutch and also deliberately keep the drawing style naïve and simple, inspired by the series of Marc Sleen.

The albums are usually long adventure stories, but some are one-page gags as well.

Willy Linthout drew the first Urbanus story in November 10, 1982, without interference of Urbanus himself. As the comedian felt Linthout didn't quite capture his style he became the series' permanent collaborator from the second album on. From December 16, 1982 until April 25, 1996 all albums were published by Uitgeverij Loempia, a publishing company created by Linthout and Jef Meert. Since 1996 Standaard Uitgeverij does the publishing.

The main characters are:

In 1992 a partial animated adaptation of the 18th "Urbanus" album "Het Lustige Kapoentje" was made in collaboration with 20th Century Fox. Urbanus voiced himself. It was released on video, but didn't have much success.

Some animated shorts were made in 1999, based on the gag comics. They are made available on Urbanus' official site.

In 1997 Urbanus and Linthout made a crossover comic strip named "Kiekebanus", in which characters from their series meet characters from Merho's series De Kiekeboes. In another De Kiekeboes album, "Bij Fanny op Schoot" (2005), Urbanus and his family where also guest stars.