In the Icons series we always add a new portrait to the hall of fame of North Holland greats. This week it is cartoonist Peter van Dongen.
Biography
Name: Peter van Dongen
Born: Amsterdam, 1966
Profession: cartoonist, illustrator
Honors list: Stripschappenning (1990, 1999, 2005), Best edited books (1999)
Prix du Lion (1999), Stripschapprijs (2018)
Peter van Dongen is working in full concentration on a new album in pencil Blake and Mortimer. This strip was created by Jacob in 1946. P Edgar for the magazine Tintin. And now by Van Dongen. Initially he worked together with colleague Teun Berserik, but now they each work separately. Just like with successful comics like Asterix and Lucky Luke happened, the publisher also wanted to breathe new life into this comic. Peter van Dongen knew about this and decided to give it a try together with Berserik. Successfully.
Test page
“We sent an email to the publisher in Brussels,” says Van Dongen. “We were given a test scenario for two pages, but we were only allowed to make one. Then I said to Teun: No, we’re not doing that. We’ll make both. Then they see how much we want it. And they were immediately convinced. They were blown away and that was exactly the intention. Then they also said: this is already so good, in principle you are now already our new illustrators for Blake and Mortimer. If you screw up in ink now, you’ve done something really stupid.”
“Five hundred thousand people looking over your shoulder is something, but it doesn’t put paralyzing pressure on my shoulders”
Half a million
Blake and Mortimer is successful in our country, but in France, the comic strip country par excellence, it became a superlative success. Peter van Dongen holds one of his albums in his hand and says: “This book had a circulation of 450,000 in France alone. And then you add the other countries in Europe. Together there are five hundred thousand books.”
“Five hundred thousand people looking over your shoulder is something, but it doesn’t put paralyzing pressure on my shoulders.”
“But imagine: Asterix has a circulation of two million in France. When Asterix and we with Blake and Mortimer came out at the same time, it stood Asterix at number one and we at number two among the best-selling books in France. And not just comic books, but books in general.”
Rampokan
The success of his own comic strip Rampokan is in stark contrast to that of Blake and Mortimer. That has nothing to do with their quality, because these adventures were also received with great praise. Van Dongen received several prizes for it.
Rampokan is set in the former Dutch East Indies. The main character, Johan Knevel, was born in the East Indies before the war, but lives in the Netherlands to study. After the war, he returns to the Indies in the service of the Dutch army.
“I actually didn’t know anything about the history of my mother’s native country. Then I thought: maybe I should read something about that. I got so much information out of it. Rampokan was the first book about the so-called police actions. I am the first Dutch illustrator to introduce this onto the market. That was 1998.”
Identity
“In a certain way it has enriched my identity. In the Netherlands I am Indian and you are linked to Dutch history in Indonesia. But in Indonesia you are a European. Then Rampokan was eventually translated into Indonesian, you are suddenly claimed by Indonesians. You suddenly create something that they also recognize themselves in. That may be made by a foreigner, but a foreigner with Indonesian roots. Then suddenly you are that lost brother who comes back. That moved me in a way.”
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